Problem

Teams that run a cross-project hierarchy in Jira can't reproduce that hierarchy when they create work items from Slack.

In the Create work item dialog in the Jira Cloud for Slack app, the Parent field only
returns parent-level work items that live in the project selected in the dialog. There is no way to pick, type, or paste a parent that lives in a different project, and no way to widen the search.

Suggested solution

In the comment on JRACLOUD-89910, Atlassian noted it was investigating an improvement that would let users enter a work item key directly, specifically because that works within the search performance constraints. The same approach would resolve this request:

1. Allow a work item key to be entered directly into the Parent field in the Slack create dialog. If the key resolves to a valid parent-level work item and the user has browse
   permission on it, accept it, regardless of which project it belongs to.
2. Alternatively, trigger a cross-project search once the user has typed a recognizable project key prefix, so the lookup stays bounded to one project rather than searching every parent on the site.

Either option avoids an unbounded site-wide search, so the stated performance constraint is respected.

Secondary request: document the current behaviour

This behaviour is not covered in the Jira Cloud for Slack documentation. Customers and support have no reference confirming whether the project scoping is intended, which makes it hard to set expectations. Please document the scoping of the Parent field in the Slack create dialog, whatever the outcome of this request. This overlaps with JRACLOUD-77731.

Current workaround

No known workarounds are available at this time. 

Steps to reproduce

1. Connect Jira Cloud and Slack using the Jira Cloud for Slack app.
2. Create a parent-level work item, for example an epic, in project ABC.
3. In Slack, run /jira create or use the Create work item message action.
4. Select project XYZ and a standard work item type such as Task or Story.
5. Open the Parent field and search for the epic in project ABC.

Actual result: only parent-level work items from project XYZ are returned. The epic in
project ABC cannot be selected, typed, or pasted.

Desired result: a parent in another project can be set, at a minimum by entering its work
item key.

Related

• JRACLOUD-80281 - the same gap, raised as a bug in December 2022 and closed in December 2023 as "Timed out".
• JRACLOUD-89910 - the equivalent scoping in Jira's own child-issue picker, including Atlassian's performance rationale and the work-item-key proposal referenced above.
• JRACLOUD-88746 - cross-project parenting for team-managed epics, delivered March 2024.
• JRACLOUD-77731 - request to document Jira Cloud for Slack feature restrictions.