Item Links

Links establish traceability relationships between items. They are essential for tracking how requirements flow to tests, how hazards are mitigated, and more.

Link types are configured in Link Types and define the allowed relationships. Each has a forward and a reverse label, and rules restricting which item types can be connected. The built-in defaults:

Link TypeReverseUse
Refines(BL) Is refined byRequirement decomposition — a design or technical requirement refines a higher-level one
Verifies(BL) Is verified byRequirement → Test traceability
Found(BL) Was found inA test case records an issue it uncovered
Impacts(BL) Is impacted byAn issue flags the requirements and tests it affects

On an item’s detail page, the Links card shows one section per link type applicable to the item’s type:

  1. Use that section’s search input to find the target item by ID or title
  2. Click a suggestion to add the link
  3. Click Save in the page header to persist — link edits are batched with your other changes

Each search box is hard-scoped to the valid target types for that link type, so only items you’re allowed to link ever appear. Typing runs a ranked search; focusing an empty box lists recent items to pick from. Every suggestion shows the target’s type icon, its ID, and its title. Items that are already linked (and the item itself) are excluded from search results.

If the link type has custom attributes, they appear as editable columns in the links table; a small settings icon on a link badge indicates it carries attribute values.

For anything more precise than a type-ahead, the search dropdown has an Advanced search… action at the bottom. It opens a dialog where you can:

  • Build a full Query Language expression (status, fields, other link relationships, …) — the link type’s valid target types are shown as a fixed Limited to scope and are always applied on top of your query, so off-type items can never be selected
  • Multi-select results with per-row checkboxes or Select all on page; results are paged
  • Click Link N items to add them all at once

Rows that are already linked (or the item itself) appear greyed with an “(Already linked)” note and can’t be selected.

Linked-item badges

Each existing link renders as a badge showing the target’s type icon, its ID, its title (truncated when long so the icon and status stay visible), and its current status. Click the badge to open the linked item.

You can also link items directly from the items list with link mode — see Working with Items.

Click the X button next to a link to remove it, then Save.

The Incoming links card (below outgoing links) shows items that link to the current item, grouped by the link types’ reverse labels. Incoming links are editable too — add or remove them with the same search and advanced-search pickers, and they are saved together with the page. Link attributes are owned by the source item, so they aren’t edited from the incoming side.

When a linked item is modified after a link was created, the link can become suspect — indicated by an amber warning triangle. This alerts you that the relationship may need to be re-evaluated. Which changes mark links suspect (and for which link types) is configurable — see Suspect Links configuration.

  • Review Changes — click the amber triangle next to a suspect link to open a diff dialog showing exactly what changed in the target since the link was last known good
  • Acknowledge — after reviewing, click Acknowledge in the dialog to clear that link’s flag
  • Acknowledge All — each link-type section with suspect entries offers an Acknowledge All shortcut

Suspect state is tracked against the git commit of the last known-good version, so the diff shows precisely what was modified since.

You can filter items by their link relationships using the Query Language:

verified_by IS EMPTY
links_to IN (type = testcase)
has_suspect_links = true