Relationships

Work depends on other work. Writing that down is the difference between a tracker and a list.

Hydrant has three kinds of link, and they’re independent. A parent doesn’t block its children, and “related” doesn’t imply anything at all.

Link	Says
Blocked by / Blocks	This can’t sensibly start or finish until that does. One direction.
Sub-issues	This is a piece of that. One parent per issue.
Related	Worth knowing about. No consequences.

Before you start

Two issues in the same workspace. Links don’t cross workspaces.
Anyone in the workspace can add and remove links. Who can do what.

Steps

Add a link

Open an issue and press Relations under the description. From a list, right-click a row and open Relations, which also offers shortcuts straight to Blocked by…, Blocks…, Related to…, Set parent… and Create sub-issue….
In the Relations dialog, press Add relationship and pick the kind: Related to, Child of, Parent of, Blocks or Blocked by. Hydrant spells out the direction (“#12 is blocked by…”) so you don’t build it backwards.
Search by title or #number and pick the other issue. Issues already linked say Already linked.

To link many issues to the same one, select them in the list and use Relations on the bulk bar. See Change several issues at once.

Changing an issue’s parent asks you to confirm, showing From and To. Press Confirm parent change. Hydrant refuses links that would go in a circle, whether that’s an issue blocking itself through a chain or becoming its own grandparent.

Browse and remove links

The Relations dialog has a tab for each kind, with counts: Blocked by, Blocks, Sub-issues and Related.

Under Blocked by, Dependency links switches between Active, Inactive (done, canceled or trashed blockers, kept for the record) and All links.
Under Sub-issues, Include Trash shows trashed children too.
The × beside a link removes it. Clear parent removes the parent.

Long lists get a search box and pages.

Read the summary

Beside the description, Relationships sums it up: what blocks the issue (the first three, with View all N blockers), then Blocks, Sub-issues with how many are done, and Related. Inactive blockers show as a separate “N inactive dependencies” line. With nothing in the way it says “No blockers. No excuses.”

Sub-issues also appear under the description, the first five with View all N sub-issues.

Read the chips

Rows and Board cards can show a Blocked chip, a red no-entry icon and a count (things in this issue’s way), and a Blocks chip, a gray arrow-to-bar icon and a count (things waiting on it). Hover one for its full name, or the blocker itself when there’s only one. Each opens a short list of up to five issues, with View all for the rest. Entries under Blocks may add “Also waits on N other issues”: clearing your blocker isn’t always enough to free them.

If the chips aren’t there, turn Blocked and Blocks on under Display › Display properties. Hierarchy does the same for parent and sub-issue cues.

Open the graph

Graph, on an open issue, draws one hop around it: its blockers on one side, what it blocks on the other.

Drawing shows the picture; Dependency list shows the same thing as a list.
Include resolved links adds finished blockers as dashed lines, kept for history. Solid lines are active.
Select a node to see its state, and center on a neighbor (double-click, or Shift+click) to go deeper.
Zoom in, Zoom out, Fit and Focused issue control the view.

From the keyboard: Tab moves between nodes, Enter selects and Shift+Enter centers. With the drawing focused, the arrow keys pan, + and - zoom, 0 fits it and F returns to the focused issue. The graph has its own address, so Back works and you can share the link.

Cancel or trash a blocker, carefully

Moving a blocker to a canceled stage, when something depends on it, first shows what happens: how many issues lose this blocker, how many blockers each has left, and whether each will then qualify for Available to start. Moving it to Trash always shows this. Read it, then confirm or press Keep issue unchanged.

The issues it blocked keep their links and statuses. Their assignees get an Unblocked notification.

What you should see

Links on both issues: add “#12 blocks #15” on #12, and #15 shows it under Blocked by. The Blocked chip on #15 counts it until #12 is finished.

If it goes sideways

The other issue doesn’t show up in search. It’s in Trash (restore it first) or in another workspace. Links stay inside one workspace.
“Already linked.” It is. Look under the other kind, or the other direction.
“This blocking link would create a cycle.” or “This parent would create a cycle.” Somewhere down the chain, the other issue already depends on this one. Look at the graph and untangle it.
Blocked count looks wrong. Only open blockers count: Done, Canceled and trashed ones don’t, Iced and Snoozed ones do. See Status, Refined and Blocked.
Finishing every sub-issue didn’t finish the parent. Correct. Relationships never complete anything on your behalf.
“Review current relationships.” Someone changed the links while you were editing. Review the refreshed list, then reapply your change.