I’m trying to figure out how to get a list of all the issues in JIRA that don’t have any parent tasks. I’ve been messing around with this query:
issuetype in ('Epic', 'User Story') AND 'Epic Link' is EMPTY
But I’m not really sure if it’s giving me the right results. Does anyone know if this is the best way to do it?
Also, I’m kind of new to JIRA queries in general. If anyone knows a good place to learn more about how to write these queries, that would be super helpful. I’ve looked around a bit but haven’t found anything that really clicks for me.
I’ve grappled with this exact issue in my projects. The query you’re using is on the right track, but it might miss some cases. In my experience, a more comprehensive approach is to use:
issuefunction in hasNoParent()
This JQL function catches all issues without parents, regardless of type. It’s been a game-changer for me in identifying truly standalone issues.
As for learning resources, I found Atlassian’s Advanced Searching documentation incredibly helpful. It covers complex queries and functions that aren’t immediately obvious. Pair that with their JQL sandbox, and you’ll be crafting powerful queries in no time.
Remember, the key is to experiment and test your queries on a small subset of issues first. It helps avoid any surprises when running them on your entire project.
Based on my experience, the query you tried works for many cases but might not catch every standalone issue. I’ve found that exploring functions like parentsOf can sometimes yield broader results when combined with the right project filter. Testing in a sandbox environment helped me understand how different JQL functions interact. Although the official documentation is a solid starting point, hands-on practice really clarifies the finer points of writing effective queries.
hey there! have u tried using the ‘parent’ field in ur query? something like ‘parent is EMPTY’ might work better. it catches all issue types w/o parents. i learned a lot from atlassian’s jira query language tutorials - they’re pretty helpful for beginners. good luck with ur search!