Automation to clone to multiple projects in a loop

[Rees_ Ian]

I have an Initiative with a small number of child epics. When triggered on the Initiative issue, I want to clone each child Epic into multiple other projects (30).  Is there anyway of doing this other than cloning to each project in a long sequence.

[Bill Sheboy · Accepted solution]

Hi @Rees_ Ian 

For an automation-based approach, rules cannot nest-branches at this time.  And so possible approaches would be:

• Branch over the epics, and add 30 clone issue actions (one per project), as you described
• Branch over the epics, and call the REST API bulk create issue endpoint using the Send Web Request action
• Investigate marketplace apps for advanced cloning scenarios

Either of the first two will cause a long-running rule execution, and so perhaps could lead to additional problems that are difficult to clean-up if the rule fails.

Kind regards,
Bill

[Bogna Krystian_Deviniti_]

Hi, I think you could try using JQL to return all Epics and clone them manually (changing any necessary fields). I'm also attaching a link to Issue Templates for Jira (developed by the company I work for), in case you're interested in Marketplace add-ons. With this app, you can clone the entire issue hierarchy, including each child Epic, specify target projects (even multiple different projects), and use variables and field mappings to customize each clone per project if needed.

[Bogna Krystian_Deviniti_]

Sorry, I just realized you don't want to clone each project

[Luka Hummel - codefortynine]

Hi @Rees_ Ian

If you are willing to use a third party-app, you can try our app Deep Clone for Jira. Deep Clone lets you copy an entire Epic (or a complete initiative → epic → story → subtask tree) into many target projects without building a 30‑step rule in Automation.

Two ways to do it with Deep Clone

1. One‑click Epic/Tree Clone from the Initiative
   • Open the Initiative  > ⋯  > Deep Clone > Epic/Tree Clone
   • The dialog already lists every child Epic and its stories – just pick the target project, configure the data you want to clone and hit Clone. Repeat once per target project.
   • Each run keeps the full hierarchy, links, components, sprints, comments, status …

2. Fire‑and‑forget with a single workflow transition
   • Add a Deep Clone Post‑function Clone to the Initiative’s “Approved” (or similar) transition.
   • Add one post‑function per target project (takes ~2 min – no need to touch Automation).
   • Result: when you transition the Initiative once, Deep Clone spins up 30 parallel clone jobs – each copying the whole epic tree into its designated project.

Other features of Deep Clone for this scenario

• Bulk performance – clone up to 100,000 issues per job; runs in the background, so you can close the browser.
• Everything comes across – issue status, comments, work‑logs, attachments, versions, components, sprints and even custom hierarchy levels.
• Presets – save your 30‑project configuration once and reuse it whenever you start a new initiative.
• API & webhooks – prefer scripting? Call the REST endpoint in a loop or from Jira Automation with a single “Send web request” action.
• Cloud fortified & SOC 2 – enterprise‑ready security, audit logs and clone history for troubleshooting.