How to create stories automatically for a reoccuring story in different features

[Nisha Garg]

I would like to create reouccring regression stories in different feature with the help of automation

[Trudy Claspill]

Hello @Nisha Garg 

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

Are you working with Jira Cloud or Jira Data Center? When you click the Help button near your avatar and select About Jira, what version information do you see?

Are you familiar with how to create Automation Rules? Do you have access to create Automation Rules?

Automation Rules can be created by Jira Application Administrators. They may also be created by Jira Project/Space Administrators if that permission has been granted to them. If you do not have one of those roles then you probably will not be able to create the Automation Rules yourself.

You can find free, on-demand training about creating Automation Rules in Jira Cloud from the Learning link at the top of all Atlassian Community pages. Here is an example search to help you find the topics/courses:

https://community.atlassian.com/learning/catalog?product=Jira&search=automation

You can refine that search to match your level of knowledge.

There are not courses specific to Automation Rules in Jira Data Center. The courses for Jira Cloud can help you get started, but there are differences in the functionality that is available between Cloud and Data Center.

You can also leverage Atlassian's documentation:

Jira Cloud Automation: https://support.atlassian.com/cloud-automation/docs/jira-cloud-automation/

Jira Data Center Automation: https://confluence.atlassian.com/automation/

To get specific advice from the community we encourage you to try creating rules and then ask us specific questions. It is recommended that you work in a test Jira environment or with a project/space that is not actively used for production work, to avoid negative impact to production data.

If you have questions, when you ask then please provide screen images showing the entire rule you have constructed, the details of the rule execution audit log for when the rule ran, and an explanation of what you wanted/expected to happen versus what you observed actually happening. That information will be necessary for us to help you debug your rules.

[Monika Ambrozowicz_Seibert_]

Hi @Nisha Garg as others have suggested, Jira automation lets you create recurring work items, including stories. There is some learning curve if you have never tried it before, but @Trudy Claspill gave you the useful resources to get started with it, and it's totally worth it because once you're into Jira automation, you're going to use it a lot, it's extremely powerful. 

However, native automation doesn't give you a clean way to create a whole set of pre-structured regression stories across multiple features in one go. You'd need separate rules for each story or feature, and there's no user-facing way to pick a template or fill in variables like feature name, target sprint, or assignee at creation time. 

If you're open to a Marketplace app, Templating.app is worth having a look. Full disclosure: I am affiliated with the team behind the app. 

Templating.app lets you define issue hierarchy templates (epics, stories, subtasks) with pre-set fields and then trigger them via Jira Automation on a schedule. For your regression use case, you could build a template that contains all the standard regression stories you need across your different features, set up your variables (e.g., feature name, sprint, assignee), and then have a scheduled Jira Automation rule fire the template automatically at whatever cadence you need - per sprint, per release, or whatever fits your workflow.

This way you're not maintaining a dozen separate automation rules, and the story structure stays consistent across runs.

Let me know if you have questions about how the Jira Automation integration works with the templates - I'd be happy to help. 

[Olga Cheban _TitanApps_]

Hi @Nisha Garg !

Native Jira Automation can create a story on a schedule using the "Scheduled" trigger paired with a "Create issue" action. You set the fields you want pre-filled inside the rule itself. If you need a checklist of steps inside each story, you can add another action to populate the description or a custom field with that content.

The trade-off is that everything lives inside the automation rule. Updating the test steps means editing the rule each time, and you'll need a separate rule (or branching logic) for each feature area that needs its own regression flow. And also there's a learning curve to go through if you want to set up rules with native Automation for Jira.

You can simplify things if you use third-party tools for this. I can recommend trying out our Smart Templates and Smart Checklist for Jira as they work well together for this use case. 

Smart Templates for Jira allow you to save any work item as a reusable template - with pre-filled fields, assignees, descriptions, checklists, and child work items. The solution also includes a built-in Scheduler that can create new stories from your template according to your schedule. If you don't need a schedule, you can generate a new story from your template with one push of a button, basically.

Here's an example of such a template. It uses variables for dynamic values that change from one work item to another.

And here's an example of a schedule inside Smart Templates. This automation generates a work item with the test case every two weeks (for regression testing).

You can pair it with Smart Checklist for Jira. This solution allows you to add a structured list of steps inside your Jira work item and save it as a reusable checklist template. For your case, you can just add the checklist to your story and save it as a template with Smart Templates.

This option is easier to set up as it's more straightforward and user-friendly compared to the native Automation for Jira. The template is also much easier to edit when it's not hidden inside several rules. With Smart Templates, all your templates live on a dedicated tab, where you can easily manage them.

I hope this helps!

[John Funk]

Hi Nisha - Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

See if this Article helps you.

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-articles/Creating-a-Flexible-Recurring-Task-Issue/ba-p/2040862

[Germán Morales _ Hiera]

Hi Nisha,

Assuming you are on Jira Cloud and you have permission to create automation rules, I would start with a simple scheduled rule.

Example approach:

1. Trigger: Scheduled
- Run weekly, monthly, or whatever cadence matches your regression cycle.

2. Optional JQL in the trigger:
- Use this if you only want the rule to run for specific Features.
- For example, filter Features by project, label, component, fix version, or status.

3. Action: Create work item
- Work type: Story
- Summary: Regression testing - {{now.format("MMM yyyy")}}
- Description: Add your standard regression checklist or test scope.
- Parent: set this to the Feature if the Story should be created under a specific Feature.

4. If the same story needs to be created under multiple Features:
- Use a scheduled trigger with JQL to find the Features.
- Then use a branch over the matched work items.
- Inside the branch, create one Story for each Feature and set the Parent to the current Feature.

I would also add a label like `regression-auto` to the created stories. That makes it easier to report on them later and to prevent duplicates if the rule runs again.

[Varsha Joshi]

Hi @Nisha Garg 

You could write some automation - use a manual trigger or trigger based on some event. Have you tried that?

[Nisha Garg]

Hi Varsha, 
Can you please give me steps for it? 

[Varsha Joshi]

Trudy has some great suggestions on how to get started. I would suggest give it a try and then post if you run into any issues.