GitHub Sub-Issues Feature

GitHub has recently launched a hierarchical issue management feature called sub-issues, which allows developers to break down larger tasks into smaller, manageable components. This feature was developed to improve the organization of tasks and enhance tracking efficiency among teams.

Image courtesy of GitHub Blog

Overview of Sub-Issues

Sub-issues enable the creation of a parent-child hierarchy among tasks. For instance, a larger parent issue can be subdivided into discrete sub-tasks, each of which can be assigned to different teams such as marketing or development. This flexibility allows for better tracking and visibility over project progress.

The implementation of this feature involved significant changes to GitHub's data models and rendering logic. GitHub engineers opted to build a new hierarchical structure rather than modifying the existing task list functionality. This decision ensures that the relationships between parent and child issues are effectively maintained, facilitating easier management of complex projects.

Data Modeling and Implementation

From a data modeling perspective, the sub-issues table is designed to store relationships between parent and child issues. For example, if Issue A is the parent of Issue B, this relationship is stored in the sub-issues table, allowing GitHub to automatically update the parent issue's progress based on its sub-issues.

Sub-issues are modeled using MySQL relationships and exposed via GraphQL endpoints, which enable efficient data retrieval. This design choice allows teams to manage their tasks more effectively, providing them with the tools needed to track dependencies and ensure that no items fall through the cracks.

Benefits of Using Sub-Issues

The introduction of sub-issues has led to significant improvements in project management for GitHub teams. Teams have reported better visibility and control over their work by breaking down tasks into smaller, actionable items. This structured approach also facilitates easier identification of dependencies, making it simpler to manage larger projects.

Additionally, GitHub has rolled out other enhancements alongside sub-issues, such as issue types for classifying issues into bugs or features, advanced search capabilities for complex querying, and an increased limit of 50,000 issues in GitHub Projects. These features collectively contribute to a more organized and efficient project management experience.

Getting Started with Sub-Issues

To create sub-issues, users with at least triage permissions can navigate to the desired parent issue and use the "Create sub-issue" option. They can add a title and description, assign labels, and set milestones for each sub-issue. Users can create up to 100 sub-issues per parent issue, with the possibility of nesting up to eight levels deep.

For comprehensive guidance on creating and managing sub-issues, refer to the GitHub documentation.

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