What an Epic Is and Why You Need One
An epic in Jira is a container for related work that is too large to fit into a single sprint. It groups together issues — the individual tasks, bugs, or features that make up your project — so your team can track progress on a bigger goal without losing sight of the smaller pieces.
Think of an epic as a parent task. If you are building a new checkout flow for an e-commerce site, that entire checkout flow is the epic. The individual issues inside it might be "Add payment method selector", "Build order confirmation page", or "Integrate with payment processor". Without an epic, these issues float separately and it is hard to see that they are all part of the same larger work.
Epics are useful because they let you plan across multiple sprints, report on progress toward a major goal, and keep your team aligned on what belongs together. They also make it easier to communicate with stakeholders — instead of listing ten separate issues, you can say "we are working on the checkout flow epic".
Key Takeaways
- Create an epic by going to your project, clicking Create, and selecting Epic as the issue type instead of Story or Task.
- Give your epic a clear name that describes the end goal, not the technical steps — "User authentication system" instead of "Set up OAuth library".
- Link existing issues to the epic by opening each issue and setting its Epic Link field, or by creating new issues directly inside the epic.
- Track epic progress in your backlog or on your board, where Jira shows you how many issues are done versus remaining.
- Close an epic only when all its linked issues are resolved; Jira will warn you if you try to close it with open work still attached.
Creating a New Epic from Scratch
Open your Jira project and click the Create button in the top left. A dialog will open asking you to fill in the issue details. In the Issue Type dropdown, select Epic instead of Story, Task, or Bug.
Fill in the Summary field with a name for your epic. Use language that describes the outcome or goal, not the technical approach. "Mobile app redesign" is better than "Update React components". The summary is what your team and stakeholders will see most often, so make it clear at a glance what the epic covers.
Add a description if the epic is complex or if team members who are new to the project will need context. You can explain the scope, the business reason for the work, or any constraints. Leave the Epic Link field blank — that field is for linking issues to an epic, not for creating one.
Click Create. Jira will assign the epic a key (like PROJ-42) and open it. You now have an empty epic ready to receive issues.
Adding Issues to Your Epic
You can add issues to an epic in two ways: by creating new issues inside the epic, or by linking existing issues to it.
To create a new issue directly inside the epic, open the epic and look for a button labeled Create Issue or Create Child Issue (the exact label depends on your Jira version). Click it, fill in the issue details as you normally would, and Jira will automatically set that issue's Epic Link to the epic you are in. This is the fastest route when you are building out the epic from the start.
To link an existing issue to the epic, open that issue and scroll down to the Epic Link field. Click it and search for the epic by name or key. Select the epic and save. The issue is now part of the epic. You can do this for multiple issues at once if your Jira version supports bulk editing — select the issues in your backlog, click Tools, and choose Link Issues.
As you add issues, Jira updates the epic's progress bar to show how many issues are in the epic and how many are done. This gives you a quick visual sense of how much work remains.
Organizing Issues Within an Epic
Once you have issues linked to your epic, you can organize them by priority, by sprint, or by the order in which they need to be completed. Open the epic and you will see a list of all linked issues.
Drag issues up or down in the list to set their order. Jira does not enforce this order — it is purely for your team's reference — but it helps when you are planning which issues to pull into the next sprint. Put the issues that have to be done first at the top.
You can also filter the epic's issue list by status (To Do, In Progress, Done) or by assignee. This is useful when you want to see only the work that is blocked, or only the issues assigned to one team member. Use the filter options at the top of the issue list.
If an issue turns out not to belong in the epic, open it and clear the Epic Link field. The issue will stay in your project but will no longer be part of the epic.
Tracking Progress and Closing an Epic
Jira shows epic progress in several places. In your backlog, each epic appears as a row with a progress bar showing the percentage of issues that are done. On your board, if you have configured it to show epics, you will see which epic each issue belongs to and can filter by epic to see only that work.
As your team completes issues, the progress bar updates automatically. When all issues in an epic are marked Done, Jira will let you close the epic. To close it, open the epic and click the status button (usually in the top right) and change it from Open to Done or Closed, depending on your workflow.
If you try to close an epic that still has open issues, Jira will show a warning. You can override it, but it is usually a sign that you have forgotten to link an issue or that an issue is stuck. Check before you close.
Some teams leave epics open for a week or two after all issues are done, so stakeholders can see the final state. Others close them immediately. There is no rule — it depends on how your team uses Jira for reporting.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
The most common mistake is making an epic too small. If your epic contains only two or three issues and will be done in a single sprint, it probably should not be an epic — it should be a single story. Epics are for work that spans multiple sprints or involves many moving pieces.
Another mistake is naming an epic in technical language. "Implement JWT authentication" tells you how, not what. "Secure user login" tells you the goal. Your stakeholders and new team members should understand what an epic is for without asking a developer.
Do not forget to link issues to the epic. If you create issues but do not set their Epic Link field, they will not show up in the epic's progress tracking and your team will lose the connection between the small work and the big goal.
Finally, do not try to close an epic while it still has open issues. It is possible to do, but it breaks the connection between the epic and its work, and future team members will be confused about whether the epic is actually done. Wait until all issues are resolved.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I have an issue belong to more than one epic?
No. In Jira, each issue can have only one Epic Link. If you need an issue to be part of multiple efforts, you can use labels or custom fields to tag it, but the Epic Link field accepts only one epic. If an issue truly belongs to two epics, it usually means you need to split the issue into two separate pieces of work.
What happens to an epic if I delete all the issues in it?
The epic stays in your project but becomes empty. You can delete the epic itself by opening it and clicking the More menu (three dots), then Delete. Deleting an epic does not delete the issues — they stay in your project and their Epic Link field is cleared.
Can I set a due date on an epic?
Yes. Open the epic and look for a Due Date field. Click it and set a date. Jira will not enforce the due date or warn you if issues are not done by then — it is informational only. Some teams use epic due dates to communicate deadlines to stakeholders.
How do I see all epics in my project at once?
In your backlog view, epics appear as collapsible rows at the top. Click the arrow next to an epic to expand it and see all its issues. You can also use the Epics panel on the left side of the backlog, which shows a list of all epics and lets you filter by epic. In some Jira versions, there is also an Epics report that shows all epics and their progress.
Can I move an issue from one epic to another?
Yes. Open the issue, find the Epic Link field, and click it. Search for the new epic and select it. The issue will move to the new epic immediately and the progress bars for both epics will update.