JIRA

EPIC JQL to find included Issues and Subtasks

EPIC JQL (Jira Query Language) lets you formulate search queries that exactly match your Jira configuration. If you want a Jira filter that shows everything inside an Epic, the main challenge is that subtasks do not belong directly to the Epic. They belong to parent issues such as Stories or Tasks, which is why a simple Epic query often misses them. To achieve this result you can use the JQL query in the advanced search.

A query such as "Epic Link" = EPIC-123 returns the standard issues inside the Epic, but it does not automatically include subtasks because subtasks do not carry the Epic Link field themselves. That is the core limitation teams run into when building dashboards, sprint views, or release filters for an Epic. In practice, this means you need either a second query for subtasks or an extended JQL function such as subtasksOf() or childIssuesOf() depending on your Jira setup and apps.

Approach-1

project = ABC AND “Epic Link” = ABC-1234 OR parent in (“ABC-1234”)

Replace the ABC with your project name, and replace the Epic Link ABC-1234 with your Epic.

Approach-2

1. Find all task under a given Epic (i.e. ABC-1234)

"Epic Link" = ABC-1234

2. Find all subtasks under returned issues above

issue IN subtasksOf(' "Epic Link" = ABC-1234’)

3. All together (Epic, Task & Subtask)

key = ABC-1234 OR "Epic Link" = ABC-1234 OR issue IN subtasksOf(' "Epic Link" = ABC-1234 ')

Approach-3

key = ABC-1234 OR "Epic Link" = ABC-1234 OR issueFunction in subtasksOf("\"Epic Link\"=ABC-1234")

This is more comprehensive than any of the above as it will return all lower-level tickets like technical tasks.

Approach-4

issue = ABC-1234 OR issueFunction in linkedIssuesOfAllRecursiveLimited("issue = ABC-1234", 2)

This is the most comprehensive as it will return all tickets lower as well as upper relation like technical tasks, capability, & initiative.

EPIC JQL Syntax with Examples

epicsOf() – Searches for epics that belong to issues that match the given subquery.

Example – JQL to show epics of stories fixed in a release.

issueFunction in linkedIssuesOf(“fixVersion = <insert version here>”, “has epic”)

issueFunction in epicsOf(‘fixversion = “<insert version here>”‘)

Example – JQL to filter epics with all done stories.

IssueFunction in epicsOf(‘issuetype=story AND Resolution IS EMPTY’)

This will return all epics that have unclosed stories. Save it as a filter and do another JQL expression for finding all the issues that are NOT in that filter.

New Query != Saved Filter

Example – JQL to find epics that belong to ‘Open’ issues.

issue IN epicsOf(“status = Open”)

Example – JQL to find epics without any issues in it.

type = Epic and issue NOT IN epicsOf(‘”Epic Link” IS NOT EMPTY’)

Example – JQL to find resolved epics that belong to not ‘Closed’ issues,

issue IN epicsOf(“status != Closed”) AND resolution IS NOT EMPTY

Example – JQL to find not Closed epics in which all their associated issues have been resolved.

status != Closed AND issue IN epicsOf(“resolution IS NOT EMPTY”) AND issue NOT IN epicsOf(“resolution IS EMPTY”)

Note: Since you need to enclose the provided subquery using double quotes, you must to escape any double quotes used in the subquery by preceding a backslash after the double quotes, alternatively you can use a single quote in some cases.

E.g. This will not work —> issue IN epicsOf(“resolution = “Didn’t Resolve” AND status = Closed”)

Instead use —> issue IN epicsOf(“resolution = \”Didn’t Resolve\” AND status = Closed”)

hasSubtasks() – Searches issues with/without subtasks, additionally you can further refine your query by using a number expression.

Examples:

Find issues without subtasks:

issue NOT IN hasSubtasks() or issueFunction not in hasSubtasks()

Find Stories that have three or more subtasks:

type = Story AND issue IN hasSubtasks(“>= 3”)

Find issues within the AEPPAYS project having less than 2 subtasks or with no subtasks at all.

project = AEPPAYS AND (issue IN hasSubtasks(“< 2”) OR issue NOT IN hasSubtasks())

issuesInEpics() – Searches issues within epics that match the given subquery..

Examples:

Find issues within ‘Open’ Epics:

issue IN issuesInEpics(“status = Open”)

Find ‘Unresolved’ issues within Epics that are ‘Closed’ and their resolution has been set to ‘Won’t Do’

issue IN issuesInEpics(“resolution = \”Won’t Do\” AND status = Closed”) AND resolution = Unresolved

Find issues within Epics from the AEPPAYS project that indeed belong to another project

issue IN issuesInEpics(“project = AEPPAYS”) AND project != AEPPAYS

linkedIssuesOf() – Searches issues linked to the given subquery. Additionally, you can further refine your query by specifying a link type.

Examples:

Find issues linked to ‘Open’ Bugs:

issue IN linkedIssuesOf(“type = Bug AND status = Open”)

Find ‘In Progress’ issues blocked by unresolved Impediments

status = “In Progress” AND issue IN linkedIssuesOf(“type = Impediment AND resolution IS EMPTY”, “blocks”)

Find issues (excl. subtask) on AEPPAYS project linked to any Requirement

project = AEPPAYS AND issue IN linkedIssuesOf(“type = Requirement”) AND type NOT IN subTaskIssueTypes()

parentsOf() – Searches issues which any of their subtasks satisfies the provided subquery.

Examples:

Find issues which any of their subtasks are ‘Open’:

issue IN parentsOf(“status = Open”)

Find ‘Unresolved’ issues in which any of their subtasks are ‘Closed’ and their resolution have been set to ‘Won’t Do’

issue IN parentsOf(“resolution = \”Won’t Do\” AND status = Closed”) AND resolution = Unresolved

Find issues which all their subtasks have been resolved

issue IN parentsOf(“resolution IS NOT EMPTY”) AND issue NOT IN parentsOf(“resolution IS EMPTY”)

portfolioChildOf() – Returns child issues (on Portfolio hierarchy) of issues specified by the provided subquery.

Examples:

Find all ‘Initiatives’ that belong to issues in a certain status::

issue in portfolioChildOf(“status = ‘To Do'”) and issuetype = Initiative

Find child issues of Initiatives and their associated Stories

issue IN portfolioChildOf(“type = Initiative”) OR issue IN issuesInEpics(“issue IN portfolioChildOf(‘type = Initiative’)”)

Find ‘Initiatives’ that don’t belong to Themes:

issue not in portfolioChildOf(“type = Theme”) and issuetype = Initiative

portfolioParentOf() – Returns child issues (on Portfolio hierarchy) of issues specified by the provided subquery.

Examples:

Find parent issues of issues in a certain status::

issue in portfolioParentOf(“status = ‘To Do’”)

Find all Initiatives of unresolved Epics you might use:

issue IN portfolioParentOf(“type = Epic AND resolution IS EMPTY”) and type = Initiative

Find ‘Themes’ that have no ‘Initiative’ children:

issue NOT IN portfolioParentOf(“type = Initiative”) AND type = Theme

subtasksOf() – Searches subtasks of standard issues which satisfies the provided subquery.

Examples:

Find subtasks of ‘Open’ issues:

issue IN subtasksOf(“status = Open”)

Find ‘Unresolved’ subtasks of ‘Closed’ issues which their resolution have been set to ‘Won’t Do’

issue IN subtasksOf(“resolution = \”Won’t Do\” AND status = Closed”) AND resolution = Unresolved

Find ‘In Progress’ subtasks of ‘Bug’ issues created in ‘AEPPAYS’ project:

issue IN subtasksOf(“issuetype = Bug AND project = AEPPAYS”) AND status = “In Progress”

Common mistakes

Using only "Epic Link" = EPIC-123 and expecting subtasks to appear.
Assuming subtasks inherit Epic fields directly; they do not.
Forgetting to escape quotes correctly inside subtasksOf() queries, especially around "Epic Link".
Mixing native Jira syntax with ScriptRunner functions in environments where the app is not installed.

Best practices

Save your working Epic-plus-subtasks query as a reusable filter for dashboards and boards.
Use one query for a single Epic and a separate reusable pattern for multiple Epics to keep filters easier to maintain.
Test the Epic-only query first, then add the subtask clause so it is easier to troubleshoot.
Document whether your team uses native Jira only or ScriptRunner, because the available functions differ significantly.

EPIC JQL Reference: Click Here

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6 years ago

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