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I want to clone a list of work items with specific labels when I transition an epic

Negar Jalalian_ej18n9

i spent many hours asking Rovo and bot and copilot for help . none of them could help .
what I need to do is :
when I transition an epic to a specific status , I want automation for Jira lookup a JQL and find all work items (either task or subtask) with label = template and clone them and ideally link them to the same epic, in this screenshot I removed my ideal step to link to epic because it didn't work . I reallyyyyyy hope someone can help me

Automation 2.jpg

Accepted answers

Trudy P Claspill

Hello @Negar Jalalian

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

If you are not getting the results you expect, what results are you actually getting? How do those results not match your expectations?

Please provide a screen image showing the details of the For each step.

Please provide screen images showing all the details in the rule execution audit log for when the rule ran but didn't produce the results you wanted. Make sure you click the ">" characters to expand all the details.

What is the Space scope of the rule? Are the Epic being transitioned in the same Space as the template items you want to clone?

Negar Jalalian_ej18n9

after having a lot of discussion with Atlassian support , creating task was possible with automation of Jira . but about Subtask , cloning subtask was possible but it was created under original task not the cloned task and Atlassian support said this is not possible with Automation with Jira . he suggested me to think of pther plugin and I can't get budget for extra app . I'm thinking of using import CSV solution instead of automation

Negar Jalalian_ej18n9

after having a lot of disucssion with Atlassian support . I could clone the task which was linked to Epic and it was fine but when it came to subtasks , cloning subtasks were done to the orignal task not the cloned task. and that was a big problem . this was a limitation in automation for Jira and I'm evaluating to do the whole job by importing CSV instead of using automation job ..meaning importing : Epic, task and subtask

All comments

Connor_l49hkb

Hi @Negar Jalalian I think you should move your branch to directly after the trigger. Here's a breakdown of what it could look like.

Trigger: Work item transitioned from Open to Clone Template
- Condition: Issue type equals Epic
Branch flow / related work items: JQL
- JQL query: Project = BC AND Type IN (Task, Sub-task) AND Labels = Template
Action: Clone work item into Business Central (Note: This is nested in the branch)
- Choose fields to set:
  - Parent: Trigger work item

Trudy P Claspill

Hello @Negar Jalalian

Welcome to the Atlassian community.

If you are not getting the results you expect, what results are you actually getting? How do those results not match your expectations?

Please provide a screen image showing the details of the For each step.

What is the Space scope of the rule? Are the Epic being transitioned in the same Space as the template items you want to clone?

Negar Jalalian_ej18n9

Hi Connor

I tried your way and still no action performed

automation 3.jpg

Ash H.

Hi, my name is Ash from Appfire,

It sounds like you're looking to streamline your Epic workflow by automatically duplicating a specific set of issues whenever an Epic moves through a transition. In native Jira Cloud, you can achieve a similar result using Jira Automation. You would set up a rule triggered by an "Issue transitioned" event (filtered for your Epic issue type). Within that rule, you can use a "Lookup issues" action with a JQL query to find the specific work items with the labels you need. Then, you can use a "Create issue" or "Clone issue" action within a "For each: smart value" loop to duplicate those items. One thing to keep in mind with native automation is that linking these new clones back to the transitioning Epic can sometimes require a few extra steps to ensure the "Parent" or "Epic Link" field is correctly populated for each new item.

If you find yourself needing more advanced control or want to keep this logic directly within your workflow's post-functions, Jira Misc Workflow Extensions (JMWE) is a great fit for this. JMWE includes a "Create issue(s)" post-function that is specifically designed to handle cloning multiple issues based on a JQL search. When you configure this on your Epic's transition, you can define the JQL to pull only the items with your specific labels. A really helpful feature here is the ability to automatically link these newly created issues to the "current issue" (your Epic) as part of the same step. This keeps your project structure intact without needing to build complex loops or manual linking rules.

Hope it helps!
Ash, Expert Services

Clara Belin-Brosseau_Elevatic

Hi @Negar Jalalian

Cloning scenarios like this one are notoriously difficult to achieve with native Automation rules, you're definitely not the only one who's struggled with this!

As an alternative, I can suggest trying our app Elements Copy & Sync. It handles this kind of use case very well. It allows you to clone a filtered set of work items based on a label without having to build and debug complex automation chains.

Here's how you'd configure it step by step:

1. Create a new "Copy & Synchronize work items" recipe.

2. Configure the Source (JQL filter)

In the Source tab of the recipe, use a JQL query to target only your template items, for example: project = YOUR_PROJECT AND label = template

This ensures only the right items get cloned.

Capture d’écran 2026-06-10 à 10.38.42.png

3. Configure the Destination In the Target tab, select the target space where the cloned work items should be created.

5. Enable subtask creation (if needed) If your template items include subtasks, make sure to toggle on "Copy subtasks" so the full hierarchy gets cloned.

6. Trigger the recipe with Automation

Once saved, you can trigger with a simple Jira Automation rule that just fires the recipe when the epic transitions, keeping your automation lean and your cloning logic separate and reliable.

Capture d’écran 2026-06-10 à 10.57.37.png

The whole setup takes just a few minutes, and from there running it is a matter of seconds.

You can check the detailed documentation here and there's a free trial on the Atlassian Marketplace if you'd like to test it on your use case.

Hope this helps, feel free to ask if you have any questions!

Olivier_OSTConsulting

Hi @Negar Jalalian,

"No actions performed" in the audit log almost always means the JQL branch matched zero work items, not that the clone step failed. Two things to check first:

Rule scope. If your rule is single-project and the label = template items live in a different project, the branch silently finds nothing. Open the rule details and confirm the scope includes the project where the template items actually sit.
The JQL itself. The field is labels, so use labels = Template. Paste the exact query into the regular issue search first: if it returns nothing there, it will return nothing in the rule.

Once the branch finds items, the setup you already tried (branch over JQL right after the trigger, then Clone work item with Parent set to the trigger work item) is correct for tasks.

Two structural limits to be aware of: Automation clones each work item flat, so a cloned task does not bring its sub-tasks along. And sub-tasks cannot be parented to an epic, so setting Parent on cloned sub-tasks will fail; you may want to restrict the JQL to tasks only.

If your template set is really a hierarchy (tasks with sub-tasks under them), marketplace clone apps do the JQL bulk clone with sub-tasks, links and field values preserved in one operation. We are the ones behind Easy Clone, if it can help!

Olivier

Trudy P Claspill

@Negar Jalalian

I saw your response to @Connor .

Please provide a screen image showing the details from the rule Audit Log for the execution when you transitioned an Epic to/from statuses matching the rule trigger. Make sure to click all the ">" characters within the log entry to reveal all the details.

Reasons your rule may not have worked as expected:

1. The Epic is not in the project with the key "BC" (from your JQL statement) and the rule scope doesn't include both the "BC" project and the project containing the Epic.

2. The JQL found no matching issues.

3. The rule actor doesn't have permissions to Clone Work items in the project where the Epic exists.

4. The rule actor doesn't have permissions to Create Work Items in the Business Control project.

5. The Clone action is missing some fields that are required to create the desired issues (Tasks & Sub-tasks)

6. The Clone action is trying to set the newly created issue Parent to the Epic that triggered the rule. Epics can't be parents to Sub-tasks. Epics are a Level 1 item in the issue type hierarchy while Sub-tasks are Level -1. Only issues at Level 0 can be parents to Sub-tasks.

Negar Jalalian_ej18n9

hi Trudy

I could fix half way with the help of support team but not the subtasks

subtasks are not cloned . I also made this rule still not helping

automation 5 try subtask.jpg

Trudy P Claspill

How do you know that the sub-tasks were not created?

Please provide screen images that show:

1. The details of the step that creates subtasks.

2. The details from the Audit Log for an instance where this rule ran and the subtasks were not created.

Click all the ">" characters to reveal all the details within the log entry.

Screenshot 2026-06-11 at 7.52.39 AM.png

Screenshot 2026-06-11 at 7.56.09 AM.png

Screenshot 2026-06-11 at 7.55.24 AM.png

Negar Jalalian_ej18n9

Olga Cheban _TitanApps_

Hi @Negar Jalalian !

From my experience, the two-rule clone-and-link approach you're attempting is technically doable in Jira Automation, but it can be pretty fragile in practice. I personally spent many hours trying to troubleshoot it when I was working on a guide about automation, and it wasn't much fun… Still, if this approach is working for you - fingers crossed that nothing breaks!

But, just in case, I wanted to add some information about an alternative approach. As you reuse your templates across multiple Epics, it might be worth looking at a purpose-built tool instead. I can recommend our solution Smart Templates for Jira. As it's designed for exactly this kind of scenario, the setup is simpler.

You just need to save your set of tasks and subtasks once as a template. After that, you can generate a fresh copy of those work items whenever you need them - manually or automatically on a schedule. No "template" labels or clone hacks required. This all works natively without Jira Automation rules. But, as you need the templates to be added on work item transition, you can integrate Smart Templates with Jira's Automation to achieve this.

For your specific use case, the integration with Jira Automation would look roughly like this:

In Smart Templates, make the Parent field a variable
Generate a webhook URL for the template
In your Jira Automation rule, on Epic transition, POST to that webhook and pass the triggering Epic's key as the Parent variable value

Here's an example of what this can looks like (in your case, the trigger will be different):

Smart Templates used with Automation for Jira.png

The new tasks and subtasks get created and linked to whichever Epic triggered the rule, every time.

Maybe this approach will also be useful to you

Luka Hummel - codefortynine

Hi @Negar Jalalian

To achieve your goal of cloning a list of work items with specific labels when an Epic transitions and linking them back to that Epic, you can use Jira Automation in combination with our app Deep Clone for Jira.

You can change your JQL query to only include tasks and use the Deep Clone Automation Action to trigger on those tasks.

Just make sure that in the selected Preset you have selected the Clone all subtasks and keep the hierarchy option as well as the Keep option for Parent. This will clone the subtasks and keep the Epic of the template as a parent.

Dorota Popowska - Vilisoft

Hi @Negar Jalalian ,

Before switching to CSV import, you may want to try Clone Expert for Jira.

It allows you to clone an Epic together with its tasks and subtasks while preserving the hierarchy. This means that cloned subtasks are created under the corresponding cloned task, rather than remaining linked to the original one.

One of the key features of the app is the ability to preview the entire structure before cloning, choose whether to clone all or only selected work items, adjust their fields individually or in bulk, and select the destination project.

This should cover the scenario you described without requiring you to rebuild the entire structure through CSV import.

Best,

Dorota from Vilisoft

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