childrenOf

The childrenOf function allows you to identify all descendant issues from a specified subquery. This function is vital for:

Visualising the structure and breakdown of large tasks, initiatives, or epics, helping teams understand the scope and scale of work involved.
Providing a comprehensive view of all related lower-level tasks, from children to grandchildren.
Facilitating the tracking of progress across multiple levels of a project's hierarchy.

How to find child issues in Jira: The childrenOf JQL function video demo

childrenOf(Subquery)

Subquery: A JQL query string that identifies the parent issues for which descendant issues are to be retrieved. This could be targeted to specific projects or issues.
Second parameter (optional): You can use a second JQL query to the childrenOf(Subquery) that acts as a filter on descendant issues. We strongly recommend using this option to avoid filters that require significantly longer processing times because of their recursive nature.

Identifying all descendant issues of a specific initiative:
To examine the full extent of issues that stem from a particular initiative, you can use:
issueFunction in childrenOf("issue = EXAMPLE-1")
This query helps you see how many tasks, sub-tasks, and further breakdowns have been planned or are underway related to a specific initiative.
Finding children issues in a project excluding subtasks:
If you want to focus on significant tasks (excluding subtasks) within a project, the query might look like:
issueFunction in childrenOf("project = DEMO", "issueType != Subtask")
Using a second JQL query in this example narrows the results further.
Narrow down search results using a second JQL query:You can use a second, optional, JQL query to narrow down search results retrieved using childrenOf. The second query acts as a filter on the descendant issue results. For example:
1
```
issueFunction in childrenOf("project = ABC and issuetype = initiative", "issuetype = Bug and created >= -30d")
```