Processing Linked Issues on Cloud
Asked by Mitch Turner:

Hi  
I want to process the Parent issue when the child issue is transtitioned, across Projects, using the 'linked issue type' relationship with cloud JIRA automation.  

I have existing automation that creates a new issue in another project when the parent is set to 'ready for dev'  

As part of this it sets the created issue as the Child of the Trigger issue via a 'linked issue' relationship.  

this works fine.  

But I would like to close the Parent issue when the child is transtioned to done (for example)  

but seems that the branch for linked issues on cloud relies on the 'Parent' field and not the 'link type' relationship.  

As my relationship spans across projects - I can't use sub-task  

for the same reason - I also can;t use 'Story'  

<br />

I can lookup the Parent using JQL and return the Key - but there doesnt appear to be a branch option in cloud to do propcessing on issues returned via JQL  

<br />

perhaps I'm missing something simple?  

Seems that in Cloud is using the new 'Parent Field' tather than the issue link relationships for defining Parent/Child used in the branch automation.


Answers:
author: Matthias Gaiser _K15t_
body: [@Mitch Turner](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5560582) I understood that the suggested solution is not fitting to you and you rather want to have a solution for issue links. If you scroll further down the list of **Type of related issues** , you will also find Linked Issues where you can also filter for the **Link types.**

In this branch, you can then again perform any action you want on that linked issue.

This example adds a comment for every issue which is linked with the type **clones**:

![Screenshot 2024-08-06 at 07.56.55.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/340162i53ECC522A22725DB/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2024-08-06 at 07.56.55.png")

Is that more helpful?


author: Matthias Gaiser _K15t_
body: Hey [@Mitch Turner](/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/5560582)

welcome to the Atlassian Community.

Can you please add some more details, e.g. a screenshot with the relevant sections how you've configured that so far?

I'd go ahead and select the **Branch rule / related issues** action and select **Parent** as type of related issues.

If you perform actions below that branch, these will perform on the parent issue. See this example screenshot:

![Screenshot 2024-08-05 at 08.47.22.png](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/339939i46954B40D9640A02/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "Screenshot 2024-08-05 at 08.47.22.png")

Cheers,  
Matthias.

comments: author: Mitch Turner
body: All of the 'Parent' functions can't be used for the following reasons:  

1) JIRA cloud deprecated 'Epic Link' in favour of 'Parent Link'  
All of the Standard automation 'Parent' Processing now uses the old 'Epic Link' field value for processing. So if its not defined as the 'Parent Link' via the old Epic Link function - its not picked up by any 'Parent' processing functions.  

This also means that now the Parent issue MUST be of a certain issue type to qualify for 'Parent' - In my Case - both Parent and Child are the same issue type - meaning I can't use 'Parent Link' (Epic Link) to denote a Parent/child relationship.  

Im my particular circumstance -the Parent exists in another project - again - beside the point  

![parent_link_restrictions.jpg](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/340137i8C60851990681E31/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "parent_link_restrictions.jpg")  

In JIRA cloud - there are now essentially two types of Parent linking.  
1) New "Epic Link' type of Parent  
(which enforces issue type restrictions - must be an epic/story etc)

2) Existing 'Linked Issue' type of Parent  

So - unless the Parent is defined using the 'Parent Link' (Epic LInk) field - it won't be picked up by any of the 'Parent' automation functions like you have shown above.  

anyways - this is all beside trhe point.  

You can still make a 'Parent Link' without using the old 'Epic Link' function.  
You can do this via the 'Linked Issue' function like a 'is blocked by/depends on/ child of/Parent of etc.

Don't get hung up on the 'Parent' processing.  

I probably should have asked how to comment on a Linked Issue

So my question essentially extends to making a comment or doing processing on any of those issues found as 'Linked Issues'  

I think the issue is in defining the 'for each' process. as cloud is not as flexible.  

I can identify and find the ID of related issues  
But there's a simple problem with my the loop, as its posting a comment on the trigger issue and not the related issue. ...  

I'm pretty sure the cloud 'for each related issue' processing can;t be used - as it only has the following limited list of options, and none of these could be used to comment on any related issues aside from those types listed.  

unless of course I am missing something simple on how to use this....  

![options.jpg](https://community.atlassian.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/340131iB804A274F1E4A1E5/image-size/large?v=v2&px=999 "options.jpg")  

<br />


author: Mitch Turner
body: I guess this question boils down to:  

"How do you use JIRA Cloud Automation to process Linked issues"  

and I think the answer may be  
"You can't - because there is no for loop available for linked issues except those specified"


author: Mitch Turner
body: This also doesn't work if you use 'Child' as link type and the Child for the branch type.  

I guess it's computing Child based on Parent rather than the specific child link relationship being set, and also is using Parent Field (epic link) rather than Parent as a Link type.