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Automation: How to clone Epic WITH Child Issues AND their Subtasks

Luke_5b0c79

I found this thread helpful at automating the "cloning" of Epics with Child Issues, however it does not pull in the Subtasks of those Child Issues.

There was also a question in that very thread about the same thing but that specific part was NOT answered.

This is what I have thus far. I tried to add another branch for cloning subtasks, since it doesn't seem to allow another "For" loop there, but I cannot add a branch WITHIN the prior branch (doesn't seem to like complex logic!).

Screenshot 2024-01-24 185206.png

Please help!

EDIT: To be absolutely clear, the desired functionality is this:

1/ Manually run automation rule inside Epic on Project ABC.

2/ Epic AND Child Issues AND Subtasks are cloned to same Project ABC.

[3/ Then I will manually move the Epic AND Child Issues AND Subtasks to Project XYZ, unless that can be automated too..]

Accepted answers

Bill Sheboy

Hi @Luke

For automation rules, branches cannot be nested...and branches which could be on more than one thing are run in parallel and asynchronously...with no guarantee of when the branch will complete, up to the last step of the rule. (This is apparently by design to improve rule performance.)

In your scenario, this means the first branch to clone the child issues of the epic could still be running when trying to run the next branch to clone the subtasks for the child issues. That is not going to work.

There are a few options for cloning issue hierarchies of more than 2 levels:

Purchase an addon from the Atlassian Marketplace for cloning
Build your own application which can clone the issues, keeping everything in sync
Try using multiple automation rules to clone the different level-pairings. This can be tricky to get correct, selecting the correct issues and setting the parent.

Kind regards,
Bill

All comments

Bill Sheboy

Hi @Luke

There are a few options for cloning issue hierarchies of more than 2 levels:

Purchase an addon from the Atlassian Marketplace for cloning
Build your own application which can clone the issues, keeping everything in sync
Try using multiple automation rules to clone the different level-pairings. This can be tricky to get correct, selecting the correct issues and setting the parent.

Kind regards,
Bill

Uday Kiran Bhaviri_cp1r58

You can build or create a template project with the required hierarchy Epic > Tasks > sub-tasks.

Design 1:

In the real project where you want to create all the issues, you can build a workflow for an issue type. In the workflow post function (use any of the third party add-on like JMWE or JWT) and do the clone operation using the JQL query to fetch all the issues from the template project.

Make sure to link them properly like setting the epic links, parent keys etc.

Design 2: You can write custom groovy or api to achieve this and call the script file either from the automation or in the workflow post function.

Hope this will be helpful.

Luke_5b0c79

Thanks Bill.

Right, ok – that was my hunch too but I thought maybe, maybe, there was a chance!

I think my biz is ruling out any more Atlassian apps & expenses, so that leaves some very hacky automation mixed with manual moving of items, or, writing something custom in house.

Luke_5b0c79

Hi Uday, the first option is very interesting, thanks.

Would you be able to provide an example of this as I didn't realise one could use the WF post functions in this way?

Luka Hummel - codefortynine

Hi @Luke

I'm Luka from codefortynine 👋

If you can convince your company to give you more budget for Jira apps, you might want to give our app Deep Clone for Jira a shoot.

Deep Clone can clone whole issue hierarchies including subtasks with our Epic/Tree Clone Feature.

Luke_5b0c79

Hi @Luka Hummel - codefortynine

I know Deep Clone, that's on my shortlist actually. We're just a bit budget restricted for now so I've been was trying a DIY solution in the meantime.

Many thanks.

Uday Kiran Bhaviri_cp1r58

As mentioned in the above create a template project with the required hierarchy as per your requirement

And then in the real project you can use the JMWE create multiple issues post function in the workflow to create that hierarchy of issues from the template.

Please go through the Multiple issue creation post function in JMWE

https://appfire.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/JMWEC/pages/466256916#Multiple-issue-creation

https://innovalog.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/JMWEC/pages/1110605827/Advanced+configuration+and+usage+of+the+Create+issue+s+post-function

https://www.google.com/amp/s/blog.isostech.com/quick-way-to-create-multiple-issues-using-the-jmwe-plugin%3fhs_amp=true

Hope this will be helpful.

Delfino Rosales

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-questions/Sharing-Efficiently-clone-Epics-and-their-children-in-Jira-Cloud/qaq-p/2655628

This script might solve your cloning needs

Dustin M_

Hey @Luke , I have a very similar problem!! Did you by any chance figure out a very hacky automation mixed with manual moving of items, or writing something custom in house to get this done lol? I've got double that. I have 5 issues at the 6th level, with about the same amount of children in the 5th level and so on down the line for each. Ive been really trying to figure out how to get this on a schedule trigger to be made once a year. One of our teams has the same deliverables every year but they are many. Id love to clone all those tickets with the starting info once a year with an easy automation or figure out a way to have a 6 levels of tickets and all within get created each year via automation. Fine to put the work in on the automation to save a lot of manual data entry in the future! Hoping all is well and you figured this out lol

Sandra Perez_u05uky

Hola, habría alguna manera de clonar solamente las historias de ese epic?

Coiram

Nice to have

Julie d_Antin _Elements_

Hi Luke,

Great question! As you've discovered, Jira's automation rules do not support nested branches, making it challenging to clone an epic along with its child issues and their respective subtasks. This limitation often leads teams to seek alternative solutions.

How Elements Copy & Sync can help

Our app Elements Copy & Sync is a great fit for this use case by offering:

Comprehensive cloning – Easily duplicate an epic along with all its child issues and their subtasks while preserving relationships.
Data integrity – Ensure that all fields, attachments, comments, and links are copied to maintain context.
Synchronization – Keep cloned issues in sync with the originals, so updates in one reflect in the other.
Automation integration – Set up recipes to automate the cloning process based on specific triggers or conditions.

While other apps offer cloning capabilities, Elements Copy & Sync goes beyond static duplication by offering the option to ensure ongoing synchronization between the original and cloned issues. This means that any updates to the original epic, its child issues, or their subtasks can be automatically reflected in the cloned versions, helping teams stay aligned.

For a step-by-step guide on setting up a copy recipe, you can refer to our documentation. Hope this helps!

Nina Gerke

@Luka Hummel - codefortynine I added deep clone and while it's great for manually triggering the clone, it does not work with automations that span across different boards.

We tried using it for our flow, which is:
Dev Board -> Passes internal testing -> Add label to trigger automation -> automation then clones original story to Testing board -> if failed testing, story gets re-cloned back to the Dev board.
Repeats until it passes testing.

I spent days knee deep in documentation and even tried to reach out to your team to see if there's a fix that I wasn't able to find and was left high and dry. We no longer use the Deep Clone app because it defeats the point of what we needed it for in the first place.

Luka Hummel - codefortynine

Hi @Nina Gerke welcome to the community!

I’m sorry to hear you’re having trouble implementing your use case. Unfortunately, I can’t find any tickets you’ve opened in our system. Please create a request in our support portal.

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