“Relates to” issue relationships in public preview

[sunnyi101]

If you manage connected work across several issues, you’ve probably had to paste links into issue descriptions or comments just to show that two issues are related. Those links don’t show the current state of the other issue, aren’t visible from both issues, and can easily get lost.

The new Relates to issue relationship is now available in public preview. You can connect two issues without implying that one blocks, duplicates, contains, or closes the other.

🔗 How “Relates to” works

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Add a Relates to relationship from the issue sidebar by searching for the issue you want to connect.

• The relationship appears on both issues.
• Each related issue shows its current open or closed state.
• The relationship doesn’t change the state of either issue.
• You can remove the relationship directly from the sidebar.

This gives teams a structured way to connect work that belongs together without treating it as a dependency or hierarchy.

What’s coming next

We’re continuing to build on Relates to during the public preview. Upcoming work includes:

• REST API and GraphQL support for managing related issue relationships.
• Webhook support so integrations can respond when relationships are added or removed.
• Exploring smarter suggestions that help you find related issues.

We’ll share more as this work becomes available. Your feedback during the public preview will help shape what we prioritize.

💬 Feedback

We’d love to hear how these updates work for your team:

• Does Relates to make it easier to connect work without using dependencies or sub-issues?
• What other relationship or field workflows would you like us to support?

Share feedback, report issues, or suggest ideas in this discussion.

[Shivakumarcr7]

rtyui

[Shivakumarcr7]

The “Relates to” relationship seems useful for connecting issues that are related but aren't necessarily dependencies. Unlike “blocked by” or “blocks,” it doesn't imply that one issue must be completed before the other. This could make it easier to keep related work connected while still allowing each issue to have its own independent status and workflow.

[fnesveda]

Hi, would it be possible to add "Relates to" relationships between issues and PRs alongside just issue <-> issue relationships? It would be super useful to have a way to say "this PR is related to issue XYZ (but it does not close the issue)".

In general a lot of new features (e.g. issue fields) are present only on issues, but it would be super useful to have them on PRs as well, to make project management easier.