In YouTrack, you can link issues to show the relationship between them. When you add a link from one issue to another, links are added to both issues.
Issue link types have a property that determines their direction. The direction determines how issues relate to one another. Issue link types can have one of the following link directions:
Direction
Description
Directed
This direction means that there is a subordinate relationship between the issues. For example, the Depend link type indicates that issue A is required for issue B. Inversely, issue B depends on issue A. In this case, the link type indicates that issue A must be resolved first. When you add the is required for link to issue A, a depends on link is automatically added to issue B.
Undirected
These link types merely demonstrate that the two issues are related to each other.
Aggregation
This direction means that the issues can be combined in some way. These links indicate that the issues duplicate each other or are parts of the same task.
Directed and aggregation links use different inward and outward names that indicate the direction of the relationship between the linked issues. YouTrack provides the following default links for issues:
Name
Direction
Description
depends on
Directed
The inward name for the Depend issue link type. Indicates that the target issue must be resolved before the linked issue.
is required for
Directed
The outward name for the Depend issue link type. Indicates that the linked issue must be resolved before the target issue.
duplicates
Aggregation
The inward name for the Duplicate issue link type. Indicates that the target issue describes the same condition. Resolving the target issue also resolves the linked issue.
is duplicated by
Aggregation
The outward name for the Duplicate issue link type. Indicates that the linked issue describes the same condition as the target issue. Resolving the linked issue also resolves the target issue.
relates to
Undirected
The inward and outward name for the Relates issue link type. Indicates that the two issues are related to one another, but are not dependant.
subtask of
Aggregation
The inward name for the Subtask issue link type. Indicates that the effort represented by the linked issue contributes to the resolution of the target issue.
parent for
Aggregation
The outward name for the Subtask issue link type. Indicates that the effort represented by the target issue contributes to the resolution of the linked issue.
An administrator can add other issue link types to YouTrack with different names, however, the behavior of these links is determined by their direction. All link types that use the same direction setting behave similarly. For more information, see Issue Link Types.
View Linked Issues
You can see issue links in a few different locations.
On the Issues list, expand the issue detail to see the list of linked issues. Linked issues are grouped by issue link type.
Move the pointer over a link to display the issue summary and key custom fields.
In single issue view, the list of linked issues is displayed just below the issue description. This presentation is also used when you open a card in view mode on an agile board.
Link Issues
Issue links help you track the relationships between the issues that you are responsible for and the issues that influence your work in some way. You can also link issues to indicate that they can be resolved as part of a larger task.
To create a link between issues:
Select the issues that you want to add links to:
In the Issues list, select one or more issues.
Open an issue in single issue view.
Click the Link issue button in the toolbar. If you're viewing a single issue that already has links to other issues, you can also click the Link issue control in the links panel.
The link issue dialog opens. The ID for the selected issue or issues is displayed in the header.
Select an issue link type from the list in the header.
Select one or more target issues from the list. Use the search box at the top of the list to filter the list of issues.
Click the Link issue button.
Delete Links
To remove a dependency between issues, delete the issue link.
To delete a link:
Locate the issue that you want to remove a link from and open the issue in single issue view.
If the list of linked issues is hidden, click the control to show the list of linked issues.
Click the Remove link icon for the issue link that you want to delete.
The link is removed from the current issue.
The link to the current issue is removed from the target issue.
Search for Linked Issues
You can search for issues with specific link types or find issues that are linked to a specific issue. To find issues with links, use the following search attributes:
Search Attribute
Value
Description
<link name>
<issue ID>
Returns issues that are linked to the specified issue with the specified issue link type. For example, to find all issues that depend on issue TST-1234, enter: depends on: TST-1234
has
links
Returns all issues that have links of any type.
has
<link name>
Returns issues that have links with the specified link type. For example, to find all issues which are duplicated by other issues, enter: has: {is duplicated by}
links
<issue ID>
Returns all issues that contains links to the specified issue.
