> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ravenna.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Parent & child tickets

> Create parent and child ticket relationships across channels and workspaces to break down complex projects and coordinate cross-team work.

Create parent-child relationships between tickets to organize complex work into manageable components. Parent and child tickets can exist across different <Tooltip headline="Channels" tip="Channels organize tickets by team, topic, or workflow" cta="Learn about channels" href="/documentation/platform/channels">channels</Tooltip> and <Tooltip headline="Workspaces" tip="Separate environments for different teams or departments" cta="Learn about workspaces" href="/documentation/platform/workspaces/overview">workspaces</Tooltip>, enabling cross-team collaboration and process tracking.

## Mental model

Parent-child relationships create a hierarchy between tickets. A parent ticket represents a larger piece of work, and its child tickets (subtickets) represent the component parts. Each ticket in the hierarchy is a full ticket with its own status, assignee, channel, and lifecycle.

Key distinction: parent-child tickets vs tasks.

| Feature             | Parent-child tickets                             | Tasks                                  |
| ------------------- | ------------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------------- |
| **Nature**          | Each is a full ticket with independent lifecycle | Checklist items within a single ticket |
| **Status**          | Each has its own status workflow                 | Complete/incomplete only               |
| **Cross-workspace** | Parent and child can be in different workspaces  | Tasks exist within one ticket          |
| **Assignee**        | Each ticket has its own assignee                 | Tasks can have multiple assignees      |
| **Depth**           | Unlimited nesting                                | 3 levels maximum                       |
| **Notifications**   | Each ticket has independent notifications        | Task assignees become ticket followers |

Use parent-child tickets when component work needs independent tracking, different assignees with full ticket lifecycle, or cross-team visibility. Use tasks for simple checklists within a single ticket.

***

## Relations vs links vs sharing

| Mechanism                    | Connects                        | Purpose                                              |
| ---------------------------- | ------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------- |
| **Relations (parent-child)** | Ticket to ticket within Ravenna | Hierarchical work breakdown with cascade behaviors   |
| **Links**                    | Ticket to external URL          | Reference to external resources (Jira, GitHub, docs) |
| **Sharing**                  | Ticket to additional channels   | Cross-team visibility without moving the ticket      |
| **Moving**                   | Ticket to different workspace   | Full ownership transfer                              |

***

## Cascade behaviors

Parent-child relationships have important cascade behaviors:

* **Archive**: Archiving a parent archives all children recursively through the entire hierarchy.
* **Unarchive**: Unarchiving a parent unarchives all children recursively. You can also bulk unarchive by selecting multiple archived tickets from the ticket list.
* **Delete**: Deleting a parent permanently deletes all children recursively. This is irreversible.

These cascades apply to the entire descendant tree, not just direct children.

***

## Cross-workspace relationships

Parent and child tickets can exist in different channels and workspaces. This enables patterns like:

* An IT parent ticket with HR child tickets for onboarding processes.
* A project management parent ticket with engineering, design, and QA child tickets in their respective workspaces.

Cross-workspace relationships are visible from both sides. Child tickets display their parent's ticket number and channel prefix. Parent tickets list their children with status and priority.

***

## Relations in views

* Tickets can be grouped or sorted by parent in list and table views.
* Parent tickets display a count of child tickets.
* Child tickets show a parent badge that links to the parent.

***

## Constraints and gotchas

* A ticket can have at most one parent. A ticket can have many children.
* Deleting a parent permanently deletes all descendants. This is the most destructive cascade behavior in the system.
* Archiving and unarchiving cascade through the entire hierarchy.
* Parent-child relationships are maintained across workspace moves. If a child ticket is moved to a different workspace, the relationship persists.
* There is no "related tickets" relationship type. Only parent-child hierarchy exists. For non-hierarchical connections, use links.
* Child ticket status does not automatically update the parent. Completing all children does not close the parent.
* Creating a child ticket from the parent's detail page automatically establishes the relationship.