Jira Automation: How to start and close Epic automatically depending on contained issue transitions?

[Ingo Mohr]

Hi all,

I would like to start and close my Epics automatically by working on the epics's issues alone.

i.e.

* when I start the first of its issues, the Epic should be transitioned to a certain status in its workflow

* when I close the last of its issues, the Epic should be closed, too.

How can I do this w/ Jira automation?

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Ingo Mohr 

Yes, you could do this for specific status values or generically (with statusCategory). I encourage you to experiment and try both ways to learn about automation rules.

For example as generically, ignoring issue status:

• trigger: issue transitioned (status values do not matter)
• condition: issue type is Story, Task, or Bug
• related issues condition: epic exists
• if/else...
  • advanced compare condition: statusCategory is "in progress"
  • branch: on epic parent
    • condition: epic is not in progress
    • action: transition it to your in progress status
• else
  • advanced compare condition: statusCategory is "done"
  • action: lookup issues with JQL with the same parent that are not done
  • advanced compare condition: {{lookupIssues.size|0}} equals 0  (so, everything is done)
  • branch: on epic parent
    • condition: epic is not already done
    • action: transition it to your done status

Kind regards,
Bill

[Ingo Mohr]

Thanks @Bill Sheboy

I had to fiddle around a little bit - but I could get the rule up and running. :)

[Adam Ziecik]

@Bill Sheboy - I wonder if what you wrote here could be used to solve the issue we are trying to solve in the other post?

https://community.atlassian.com/t5/Jira-Software-questions/Close-Epic-when-Selected-Linked-Issue-Types-are-Closed/qaq-p/2297139?utm_source=atlcomm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=immediate_general_reply&utm_content=topic#U2315720

[Bill Sheboy]

Hi @Adam Ziecik 

I do not believe so, as this approach uses the Lookup Issues action, which is not supported by the Server/Data Center version you are using.

Please see the other thread for my additional suggestion.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Daniel Turczanski - JQL Search Extensions]

Hi @Ingo Mohr ,

If you have our JQL Search Extensions, you can create a scheduled daily or hourly rule to find the epics that need to be transitioned:

type=Epic AND statusCategory="To Do" AND (issuesInEpicToDoCount>0 OR issuesInEpicInProgressCount>0) 

You can find more examples in the documentation.

Thanks!

[Ingo Mohr]

Thank you @Daniel Turczanski for suggesting your plug-in. It's not my Jira instance, however. But still: good to know :)

[Mikael Sandberg]

Your automation should look something like this:

[Mikael Sandberg]

And if you look in the library you will find an automation that will close the epic once all stories are done.

[Ingo Mohr]

Thanks @Mikael Sandberg !

This worked - and I think this helps me get going too for other rules.

### Suggestion

However, while I was editing the rule, I asked myself why there isn't a feature to specify rules as a script - maybe directly with a Bitbucket Repo link - so that I can maintain rules in Bitbucket (with tags) and then refer to the tag of a rule script in Bitbucket...

Is this something you can take back to the team - as a community leader?

Thanks

Ingo