Epics group related stories and tasks under one larger piece of work, such as a feature or an initiative, so you can plan and track it as a whole. This guide explains how to create an epic, add stories and tasks to it, update it, and use AI to break it down into tasks, all from the Epics tab of a project.

Who can create and manage epics?

What you can do with epics depends on the permissions your role has in Settings → Roles & Permissions, under the Epics group:

  • Create Epics — create new epics
  • View Epics — see the Epics tab and epic details
  • Edit Epics — change an epic’s details
  • Assign Epics — choose who owns an epic

Note: Epics can’t be deleted. When an epic is no longer needed, set its status to Cancelled.

Before you begin

Make sure you have:

  • An existing project
  • A clear title for the epic and, if you want one, an owner from the project team
  • The epic’s goals, timeline, and estimates, if you want to plan it in detail now (you can add them later)

Step 1: Open the Epics tab

Open your project, then go to Execution → Epics. A summary at the top shows how many epics and tasks the project has, and the percentage completed. Below it you can search epics and tasks, and filter the list by status, priority, or owner.

Each epic is listed with its key (for example, PRJ1234-E-001), title, status, progress, number of stories and tasks, owner, and target date. Select an epic’s row to expand it and see its stories (each with its tasks) and the tasks linked to it directly.

Step 2: Create an epic (quick mode)

Select New Epic. If the project has no epics yet, select Create Epic in the middle of the page instead. The Create Epic panel opens in quick mode, with just the essentials:

  • Title * — up to 255 characters. Required.
  • Assigned To — the epic’s owner. Search for a project team member by name or email. Optional, and you need the Assign Epics permission to choose someone.
  • Priority — Low, Medium, High, or Critical. Defaults to Medium.
  • Status — Planned, Active, Completed, or Cancelled. Defaults to Planned.

That’s enough to create an epic. Select Create Epic now, or continue to Step 3 to add more detail first.

Step 3: Add more detail (advanced mode)

Select Switch to Advanced to show the rest of the fields:

  • Description — what the epic covers, with basic formatting such as bold, italic, and lists. Up to 5,000 characters.
  • Objectives — what the epic should achieve. Up to 5,000 characters.
  • Acceptance Criteria — what must be true for the epic to count as done. Up to 5,000 characters.

Planning & Estimation

  • Start Date — when work on the epic begins. It can’t be earlier than the project’s start date.
  • End Date — the epic’s target date. It becomes available once you pick a start date, and must be on or after it.
  • Estimated Effort — the expected effort in hours, for example 40.5
  • Story Points — a whole number. The Fibonacci scale (1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13…) is recommended.

Tags & Custom Fields

  • Tags — type a tag and press Enter to add it
  • Custom Fields — select Add Custom Field to record your own name and value pairs

Select ← Back to Quick mode to hide these fields again.

Step 4: Create the epic

Select Create Epic. An “Epic created successfully” message appears, and the epic is added to the list with its own key.

Step 5: Add stories and tasks to the epic

There are two ways to add work to an epic:

  • Expand the epic’s row in the list and select Add Story or Add Task. The new story or task is linked to the epic automatically.
  • Choose the epic in the Epic field when you create or edit a task or story

Stories and tasks linked to the epic appear in its expanded row and in the Related tab of the epic’s panel. The epic’s Progress shows how much of its work is complete.

Step 6: Open and update an epic

Epics are edited in the epic’s panel. To open it, select the ⋯ menu at the end of the epic’s row, then View Epic. The top of the panel shows the epic’s key, status, and priority, along with:

  • AI Actions — generate tasks for the epic (see Step 7)
  • Copy Link — copy a direct link to the epic to share with others

Under the title you’ll see the owner, dates, story points, progress, and number of tasks. The panel has two tabs:

  • Overview — the Description, Objectives, and Acceptance Criteria. Select any of them to edit it, then select Done.
  • Related — the epic’s stories and tasks, with their code, title, status, and assignee

On the right, Epic Details lets you change the Status, Priority, and Owner, and set Start, Due, Est. Hrs, and Story Pts by selecting their values. Below that are Tags, Custom Fields, and Metadata (who created the epic, when, and when it was last updated).

To rename an epic, select its title, type the new name, and select Save.

Important: Changes in the epic’s panel aren’t saved until you select Save Changes. An “Epic updated successfully” message confirms the save.

Step 7: Generate tasks with AI

DeskFactor can suggest a task breakdown for an epic. The more detail the epic has (description, objectives, and acceptance criteria), the better the suggestions.

  1. Select Generate Tasks with AI from the epic’s ⋯ menu, or AI Actions → Generate Tasks in the epic’s panel.
  2. Check the Epic Context, then choose the Generation Options: the Task Breakdown Level (High Level for broad initiatives, Standard, which is the default and recommended, or Detailed for sub-task level) and which task types to include (Development, QA, Documentation, and Deployment; all except Documentation are selected by default). DeskFactor decides how many tasks to suggest.
  3. Select Generate Tasks. This usually takes a few seconds. If you cancel while it’s running, the progress is lost.
  4. In Generated Tasks, review the suggestions. Each one has a title, type, priority, estimated hours, and story points, and you can expand it to see its description and acceptance criteria. Edit the suggestions as needed, or select Regenerate Selected or Regenerate All to get new ones.
  5. Select the tasks you want to keep, then select Save Selected Tasks. A message confirms how many tasks were created. They’re added to the epic and tagged ai_generated.

Note: AI features depend on your organization’s plan, and AI generation has a daily limit.

What happens after?

  • The epic appears in the project’s Epics list with its key, status, progress, and owner
  • Stories and tasks linked to the epic are listed under it, and its progress updates as they’re completed
  • The epic can be updated at any time from its panel

Common Issues

New Epic isn’t available
Your role needs the Create Epics permission. Ask your Organization Administrator if you should have it.

“Required” appears under Title
Title is the only required field. Enter a title of up to 255 characters, then select Create Epic again.

Assigned To or Owner can’t be changed
Your role needs the Assign Epics permission to choose an epic’s owner.

The person I want isn’t listed as an owner
Only members of the project team can own an epic. Add the person to the project team first.

End Date can’t be selected
Pick a Start Date first. The end date must be on or after the start date.

Some start dates are greyed out
An epic can’t start before its project’s start date.

There’s no Edit or Delete option in the epic’s menu
Epics are edited in their panel: select View Epic from the ⋯ menu. Epics can’t be deleted; set the status to Cancelled instead.

My changes weren’t saved
Edits in the epic’s panel are saved only when you select Save Changes. Make your changes again and select Save Changes before closing the panel.

“This feature is not available on your current plan.”
AI task generation isn’t included in your organization’s plan. Contact your Organization Administrator.

“Daily AI generation limit reached. Please try again tomorrow.”
Your organization has used today’s AI generation allowance. Try again the next day.

The AI suggestions are too general
Add a fuller description, objectives, and acceptance criteria to the epic, then generate again. Choose Detailed for a finer breakdown.

The Tasks total at the top doesn’t match the epic rows added up
The total counts each task once. A task can appear under two epics, for example when it’s linked to one epic directly and to another through its story.

A new epic doesn’t appear in the list
Clear the search box and filters, then refresh the page.

Expected Result

  • A new epic exists in the project with its own key
  • It shows the title, owner, priority, and status you set
  • Any description, objectives, acceptance criteria, dates, estimates, and tags are saved and shown when you reopen it
  • Its stories and tasks are listed under it, whether you added them yourself or generated them with AI

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