Support "Stacked" / Linked Issue Expansion in JQL Results

Hi  @Singh_ Rahul_ENG_ 

Hey @Singh_ Rahul_ENG_ 
First, welcome to Community!

Native Jira search is flat, and there is no built-in way to expand linked issues in the same view. Manually checking hundreds of stories for traceability matrices takes way too much time.
If you are open to using a Marketplace app, you can get this exact view using SearchMate - Advanced JQL Search for Linked Issues.

Here is how it solves your traceability problem:
See links in one view: SearchMate works directly inside the standard Jira Issue Navigator. You just add the Linked Work Items column to your screen. It displays the connected items so you can see the connection paths without opening individual issues.

Simple JQL: You can build your report using our custom search function. For your specific use case, a query like issueKey in linkedItemsFromQuery("project = ABC AND issuetype = Story AND sprint = 'Drop 4'") will do the job.

Trace deeper paths: SearchMate lets you nest the same query function up to two levels deep. This helps you trace extended paths like Requirement → Story → Test Case.

No link direction confusion: You do not need to worry about complex inward or outward link syntax. SearchMate automatically interprets the link types and directions.

This setup gives you the quick traceability matrix you need without exporting to CSV or writing external scripts. Visit SearchMate's Atlassian Marketplace page to learn more.

Full disclosure, I am on the team that makes SearchMate. Hope this helps!

Best,
Birkan

Hi @Singh_ Rahul_ENG_ , Welcome to the Atlassian Community!

Opening each story one by one just to check its linked issues is the real time sink here. There's an app that puts the whole thing on one screen: Report X

It maps to your ask like this:

1. Plug in your JQL: Your project = ABC AND issuetype = Story AND sprint = "Drop 4" query works as is.
2. Define the hierarchy you want to see: You pick which work type sits at each level, so your Requirement → Story → Test Case → Bug chain is just a four-level setup. Report X then builds the stacked view from your work item links, with every linked work item nested under its parent, exactly like the tree you sketched.
3. Filter after the results are in: Once the hierarchy is built, you can narrow it down further right there, no re-running queries or jumping between screens.

Everything sits in a table with the columns you need (status, assignee, priority, and so on); you can customize the columns too as per your needs, and you can save the view to come back to it anytime. Since you're in a regulated space, the same view works as a live traceability matrix, which makes audit prep a lot lighter.
 

Hope this helps!

You can start a free 30-day trial of Report X and try out all the traceability & reporting features.

Disclosure: I'm from Optimizory, the team behind Report X. If you try it and need anything, feel free to reach out to me here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shivam-sharma72/

Hi @Singh_ Rahul_ENG_,

Until those suggestions ship, this is doable today with marketplace apps, if that's an option for you.

E.g. JXL for Jira is a spreadsheet-style view over any JQL, and its custom structures can build the hierarchy from work item links rather than just the parent field.
Scope a sheet to your stories in "Drop 4", and each story expands to show its linked Test Cases, Requirements, and Tasks nested underneath, essentially the stacked view you sketched.

You choose which link types and directions count as the "parent" relationship and which issue types sit on each level, so a Requirement → Story → Test Case chain works as well.

Every row shows whatever columns you need, and the whole thing can be filtered, grouped, and exported. Traceability checks over a few hundred issues become a scanning job instead of an open-each-issue job.

This is how link-based structures look:

Disclosure: I work on JXL.

All the best, Paul

Hello @Singh_ Rahul_ENG_ 

There are existing Atlassian suggestions covering parts of this requirement:

JRACLOUD-21936  nested JQL function calls;
JRACLOUD-9197  nested or parent-child presentation in search results;
JRACLOUD-93962  richer linked-item information in the search list.

Best,

Arek🤠