Issue Templates / Docs / Creating templates / Child hierarchies

Child hierarchies

Last updated 23/06/2026

What you can build

A template can carry a full breakdown — an Epic with its Stories and their Sub-tasks — created and parented automatically when one Create form is submitted.

If your site is on Jira Premium and adds levels above Epic, a template can build your custom work item hierarchy too — for example Initiative → Feature → Epic → Story — with its own content at every level.

Custom hierarchies (Jira Premium)

• The root template can target any work item type — from the top of your hierarchy (e.g. Initiative) down to Story, or a same-level type such as Bug.
• The work item type pickers follow your hierarchy order (highest level first), and the child editor only offers types that sit below the parent. Adding a child defaults it to the level directly below its parent.
• Requirement: a work item type can only be used (as a root or a child) if it is in that project’s work item type scheme. Adding a level under Settings → Issue type hierarchy does not automatically add the type to a project — add it under Project settings → Work item types first, then reopen the template.
• Every level is parented through the Jira parent field, so the same template works for Story → Sub-task and for the levels above Epic.

Authoring

• Target a single project first — child work item types belong to one project.
• Each child row has a summary and a type; the pencil icon expands a detail editor for the child’s description and labels.
• Smart values work in child summaries and descriptions — {{parent.key}} and {{parent.summary}} resolve against each child’s own parent.

Creation behaviour

• Children are created right after the root work item, in parent-first batches, so every parent exists before its children.
• Large trees continue in the background; partial failures keep the successes and are reported in the logs.