Documentation
Everything the app does, in the order you meet it.
Getting started
- Install Templates for Jira from the Atlassian Marketplace. A Jira admin installs it for the site; everyone who can browse a project sees that project's templates.
- Save your first template from an epic you already have: open the epic, choose Save as template in the "…" menu, give it a name and pick whether it belongs to this project or to all projects. Its children and their subtasks are captured in their current order; due dates become offsets from the day the template is applied.
- Edit it under Apps → Templates: add variables such as
{{customer}}to summaries, reorder items with drag or the arrows, add or remove children, set due and start offsets, estimates and other fields. - Apply it from a work item's "…" menu (Apply template) to add the tree under that item, or from the Templates page to create a new tree in a project.
Concepts
A template is a tree
A root work item (often an epic), its children, and their subtasks: up to three levels and 200 items. Each item has a work item type, summary, description, optional due and start offsets, an estimate and any other field the Jira REST API accepts.
Order is guaranteed
Items are created one after another, top to bottom, parent before child. Jira ranks them in creation order, so the epic reads the way you designed it. Large trees take a few seconds; the run view shows progress and links every created item.
Work item types are matched by name
A template stores type names ("Epic", "Story", "Sub-task"). When you apply it in a project, each name is matched against that project's types, case-insensitively, with common aliases ("Subtask" matches "Sub-task"). If a name has no match, the preview says so before anything is created.
Two apply modes
| Mode | What happens |
|---|---|
| Add under this work item | The template's root becomes a child of the open work item, with the whole tree below it. Use it to add a standard epic under an initiative, or a standard story set under an epic. |
| Fill this work item | The open work item's summary, description and fields are written from the template's root, then the children are created under it. Use it when the epic already exists and you want its contents standardised. |
If Jira refuses an item
The run stops at that item and shows Jira's own message, for example a required field or a type not allowed at that level. Fix the cause and press Retry from here. Items already created are kept and never created twice.
Variables
| Syntax | Meaning |
|---|---|
{{name}} | A value the person applying the template is asked for. Declare a label, default and whether it is required under Variables in the editor. |
{{name|fallback}} | Uses fallback when the value is empty. |
{{today}}, {{today+7}}, {{today-3}} | The apply date in ISO form, shifted by days. |
{{parent.key}}, {{parent.summary}} | The work item the template is applied under (empty when creating a new tree). |
{{index}} | The item's position among its siblings, starting at 1. |
Variables work in summaries, descriptions and any text field under Other fields. Unknown variables are left visible so you can see what was not filled.
Dates and estimates
Due in days after apply sets the due date relative to the day the template is applied. Start in days writes the start date field on sites that have one (Jira Premium). Estimate sets the original estimate.
Other fields
Any field can be set as JSON in the form the Jira REST API expects, for example {"labels": ["onboarding"], "priority": {"name": "High"}} or {"assignee": {"id": "<accountId>"}}. Custom fields use their id, such as customfield_10042. Text values may contain variables.
Descriptions
Descriptions are plain text: a blank line starts a new paragraph, lines beginning with - make a bullet list, 1. an ordered list, and # a heading. They are converted to Jira's rich text when applied, and converted back when you save an existing work item as a template.
Permissions
| Action | Who |
|---|---|
| See and apply a project's templates | Anyone who can browse the project; creating items also needs Create work items, fill mode needs Edit work items. Jira enforces its own permissions on every created item. |
| Create, edit, delete templates scoped to a project | Project admins of every listed project, or Jira admins. |
| Templates for all projects | Jira admins. |
Everything the app does in Jira is done as the user who presses the button, so reporters, history and notifications are the user's own.
Export and import
Export JSON downloads all templates; Import JSON loads them on the same or another site. Imported templates keep their ids, so importing the same file twice updates rather than duplicates.
Limits
- 200 items and 3 levels per template.
- Summaries are cut at 255 characters, Jira's limit.
- Run history is kept for 7 days.
- Large runs continue across several requests; keep the window open until "Done" appears, or find the run under Recent runs.
Frequently asked
Does it work in team-managed projects?
Yes. Templates match work item types by name, and team-managed projects with Epic, Task and Sub-task types work the same way as company-managed ones.
Where is my data stored?
In Forge storage inside your Atlassian site's region. The app has no servers of its own and makes no calls outside Atlassian. See Privacy.
Can a template create items in another project?
Not in this version. A template is applied into one project at a time; the project is chosen when you apply it.
Does it use automation steps?
No. The app creates items directly through Jira's API as you, so none of your automation allowance is used.
Changelog
- 1.0 (November 2026): first release. Templates with three levels, variables, relative dates, add-under and fill modes, save from an existing work item, project and site-wide scope, JSON export and import.