Installation and Setup

HierarchyView is a Forge app for Jira Cloud. Jira natively shows child issues only for Epics, and even then the view is tied to a single issue. HierarchyView adds a project tab where the Jira project is the team: you add the epics that matter, save them on that project's board, and track nested children, progress (by count or story points), cancelled work, and a period snapshot of original vs added vs removed children. From Apps → HierarchyView you can still look up any parent issue key without saving it. Classic projects that use Epic Link instead of the parent field are supported via an automatic fallback.

HierarchyView runs on Atlassian Forge inside Jira Cloud. You need a Jira Cloud site and permission to install Marketplace apps (a Jira administrator may need to approve it). Follow these steps after installing. Screenshots can be clicked to view full size; press Close, click outside the image, or press Escape to return.

1. Open the HierarchyView listing on the Atlassian Marketplace and click Try it free.

   

2. Choose the Jira Cloud site where you want HierarchyView, then click Review. On the Review screen, Atlassian shows trial and billing details for your site — click Install to finish. A Jira administrator may need to approve the app for your organization.

   

3. Open a Jira project. HierarchyView appears as a project tab next to Board — you do not need to configure anything in Jira project settings first. The board is saved for this project; you do not pick a team inside the app.

   

4. In the Add epic field, type an issue key (for example PROJ-42), start typing a summary to search this project, or paste several keys at once (comma, semicolon, or whitespace). Press Enter or click Add to board. You can add a key even when search returns no rows. A board holds up to 25 epics.

   

5. Each added epic appears as a card with a progress bar. Click Show children to open the nested child tree. Issue keys link to Jira. Use Count or Pointed to switch how progress is calculated. The Period snapshot at the bottom of the board captures the children that were present when the board was last saved.

   

6. Optional: to inspect a parent without adding it to a project board, open Apps → HierarchyView in the Jira sidebar. Lookup is the one-off search on that page. Enter or search for a parent issue key, then click View.

   

   

7. Optional for admins: open HierarchyView Settings from the Settings link on the HierarchyView page (top right) or under Manage apps in the Jira sidebar.

   

   On the settings page, choose a project to mirror its issue types, enable types for upcoming features, then click Save Settings. Lookup and the project board work for any issue key regardless of these selections. See the Settings section below for details.

   

You are ready to use HierarchyView. To track epics again later, open a Jira project and click the HierarchyView tab. To inspect a parent once, go to Apps → HierarchyView, enter or search for an issue key, and click View.

After you add epics on a project tab, the page is organized in three main areas:

• Add epic — search this project, type a key, or paste several keys. Newest epics appear at the top.
• Epic cards — type, key (linked to Jira), summary, status, and a progress bar. Show children expands a nested tree. Remove from board drops that epic from this project only.
• Period snapshot — the child issues captured when the board membership last changed. Stories added after that capture are not in this list; stories that left an epic show as removed.

For what those numbers mean, when to use lookup instead of the board, and how progress, cancelled, and scope work, see the user guide.

HierarchyView Settings is available to Jira administrators under Manage apps or from the Settings link on the HierarchyView page:

• Project picker — choose a project to display its issue type layout. This mirrors what you see under Project settings → Issue types.
• Issue types — enable Epic, scheme, and available issue types for upcoming HierarchyView features. Selections apply site-wide. Enabling or disabling types does not block the project board or lookup — any parent issue key still loads.
• Dashboard — returns you to the last project board you opened, or to Apps lookup if you have not opened a project tab yet.

Click Save Settings after changing options. A confirmation message appears when settings are saved successfully.

If a site has no active subscription, HierarchyView shows HierarchyView license required. Ask a Jira administrator to start a Marketplace trial or purchase a license from Settings → Apps → Manage apps.

Questions, bugs, or setup help? Email support@perpetualagile.com. You can also reach us through our support page for SLA details and Atlassian Support options.