How to make the Parent field required/mandatory on the issue create screen in company-managed projects

Platform Notice: Cloud Only - This article only applies to Atlassian products on the cloud platform.

Summary

How to make the Parent field required/mandatory on the issue create screen in company-managed projects

Environment

Jira Cloud

Diagnosis

Currently there is no option to make the Parent field ( previously Epic Link or Parent Link) as mandatory using Field Configuration.

We have the open Feature request: JRACLOUD-83074

Solution

We can make Parent field as mandatory using the Field required validator on the create issue transition in the workflow to check for the Parent field while creating the issue.

The step-by-step process is given below:

  1. Go to Project settings > Workflows > Editthe desired workflow and click on the Diagram view

  2. Select the transition "Create" before the first status.

  3. UnderOptions, click onValidators

  4. Click the Add validator button

  5. Select the Field Required Validator option

  6. Click the Add button

  7. For Fields required for this transition: select the Parent field you want to be required. If your field does not appear from the drop-down, click the drop-down and then start typing the name of that field to select it.

  8. For Error message column, specify an error message if the condition is not met. This is optional but recommended so the user understands what they missed

  9. Leave the 'Ignore Context' checkbox blank

  10. Click the Add button

  11. Click on Publish Draft > Publish to save the changes to the workflow.

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(Auto-migrated image: description temporarily unavailable)

By adding this workflow validator, you won't be able to create the issue until you add the value to the Parent field during the issue creation. For more information about workflow, please visitConfigure advanced issue workflows.

Note: There is no red asterisk next to the Parent field, because it is required by a workflow validator (rather than being made required in a Field Configuration). There is a feature request to add such UI highlight, here: JRACLOUD-76479 – Make validator required fields more visible on screens.

Updated on April 8, 2025

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