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Automation - Is there a way to trigger a rule to add a sub-tasks on a all stories in a board

Sherwin Soriano
Contributor
June 5, 2025

I mean without editing or creating, the existing stories in a particular board, I like all of them to have a sub-task named "Build" for example.

Is this automation or like bulk edit?

1 answer

1 accepted

6 votes
Answer accepted
Akash Singh
Community Champion
June 5, 2025

@Sherwin Soriano

If your goal is to run the automation only once, you can achieve this by using a Manual trigger in your automation rule. Here’s how:

  1. Set up the trigger: Choose Manual trigger from the "work item" as your trigger. You can also limit who can run the rule by restricting it to an admin group (see the screenshot below).
    s1.png

  2. Add branching: Insert a Branch rule / related issues component and set the Type of related issues to JQL.

  3. Write your JQL query: Construct a query that reflects your board's filter and adds conditions to:

    • Exclude completed work items

    • Limit the results strictly to issues of type Story

    I recommend testing the query separately to ensure it returns only the intended results.
    s2.png

  4. Add the action: Within the branch, add an action to Create a sub-task with the summary set to "Build".
    s3.png

  5. Save the rule: Give the automation rule a clear, descriptive name and save it.

  6. Run the automation: Navigate to a work item on your board, open its issue view, and click the Actions dropdown (next to the Status field). You’ll see the option to run the manual automation from there.
    s4.png

  7. Disable the rule: After running the rule once, make sure to disable it to prevent accidental re-use.

Sherwin Soriano
Contributor
June 5, 2025

Thank you for the fast response @Akash Singh !!! We will check and test this one out! :)

Bill Sheboy
Rising Star
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June 6, 2025

Hi @Akash Singh 

The JQL branch approach will not work if the rule is triggered from a work item on the board and to which you want to add the subtask.

The reason is the JQL branch has a hidden behavior that automatically excludes the trigger issue's key from the JQL expression.  (This is one challenge with posting bot-generated answers: they do not include this information.)

The workaround for this behavior is to add that specific subtask separately:

  • trigger: manual
  • action: add subtask (to the trigger issue)
  • branch: on JQL...
    • action: add subtask

 

Kind regards,
Bill

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