Hello,
It seems that due to limitations in how automation handles variables and the inability to manage dual branching (such as combining relation + if/else), I struggled to implement what should have been a relatively simple automation.
Background
The initial design was to have a manual rule that would create several tasks from an epic and then link them together. This worked well as a single-threaded automation, using a variable to store the previously created KEY_ID and then utilizing that {{key_id}} in the linked issue block.
Things became more complicated when the team decided to utilize the 'input' feature for manual triggers, including checkboxes, as some tasks are optional. Since automation filters act as 'gates,' my script was interrupted whenever someone chose not to create a 'Design' (or any other) task.
To address this, I attempted to use branches with IF/else conditions, where I checked each user input and then proceeded with task creation (or skipped it). However, I encountered a problem with using Variables because they can't be passed from one branch to another or to the 'master' branch.
I decided to create custom fields to serve as persistent storage for issue IDs and then used {{smart.values}} during the linking stage. Unfortunately, this approach became messy and unreliable because all branches execute in parallel rather than in sequence, as the UI might suggest. As a result, sometimes a new issue was created faster than the previous task could store the value in the custom field, leading to failed links or even errors due to missing values.
Since there is no built-in delay function, I tried strategically placing re-fetches without success. I also added dummy actions and filters to slow down some branches so they would execute only after the previous step was completed and the data had populated into 'storage'. Yet, the results remained unreliable.
Finally, I decided to create two separate automations:
- One to create a group of tasks.
- Another to link them together using the logic shown in the image below.
And now I'm stuck even on this seemingly simple automation!
If I set the trigger issue as the Epic itself and then use the 'for children relation' branch, I'm unable to utilize IF-ELSE conditions to process each task one by one, check its presence, and then create a link.
If I set the trigger issue as one of the child tasks, it seems I can't retrieve a list of its siblings. Moreover, if I use the 'for parent' branch to go one level up, I can't then target the siblings.
I've tried using JQL filtering, such as:
summary ~ "[BE]" AND parent = "{{triggerIssue.key}}" (or triggerIssue.parent.key for case then i attempted to use a simple task as trigger)
In the preview, this returns '1' result, but when I run the rule, it always finds nothing. Is this a bug?
Anyway, I'm open to more ideas!
