Epics group related stories under a shared purpose so you can see what problem you're solving, who it's for, and how individual pieces contribute to the outcome.

While stories describe specific deliverable work, epics explain why that work exists and how it fits together. They help your team move from isolated tasks to a clear, shared initiative.

At their simplest, epics are lightweight containers. You define the goal, add supporting details, and associate the relevant stories so everything tied to an initiative lives in one place, without affecting how stories are scheduled or planned.

What's an epic?

An epic represents the broader objective behind a group of related stories.

Each epic includes a title that describes the initiative, one or more user stories that define the intended user outcomes, a description that captures goals and context, and a list of the stories that deliver the work. Below the list of stories, 'Created by' shows who created the epic.

User stories

Epics can include one or more user stories to describe the broader user-facing intent behind the work. Use the format:

As a [type of user], I want to [action or feature] so that [benefit or reason].

Unlike story-level user stories, which describe what a single story delivers, epic-level user stories describe the higher-level "who, what, and why" across the entire initiative. They help explain the purpose behind the work as a whole, not just the individual pieces.

As you write, Atono suggests previously used personas (type of user) and prompts you to complete each part of the user story.

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Add multiple user stories
If an epic supports multiple user needs or perspectives, press Return at the end of a user story to add another one.

Description

The epic description is a freeform space to document why the epic exists. Use it to capture goals, user journeys, high-level mockups, or anything else that helps your team understand the scope of the work.

When viewing an epic:

The description is initially shown in a shortened view to keep the page easy to scan.
If the description is longer, you can click View full description to open it in a dedicated view for reading and editing.

The description supports the same text formatting and attachments as stories and bugs.

Create an epic

You can create epics when you're planning work or while you're working inside a story.

From the Create new menu:

In the sidebar, click or hover over Create new.
From the menu, select Epic.
In the 'Create epic' dialog, enter a title and optional description.
Click Create epic.

From a story:

You can create a new epic while adding a story to an epic, which creates the epic and adds the story to it in a single step. For more details, see Add a story to an epic.

When splitting a story:

If you split a story that doesn't belong to an epic, you're prompted to create one for both resulting stories. If the story already belongs to an epic, both stories remain in it. For more details, see Split a story.

Add and manage stories

Inside an epic, you can create new stories as you define the work or add existing ones that already contribute to the same goal. This makes epics useful both for early planning and for organizing work that’s already underway.

Epics can contain up to 100 stories, and each story can belong to only one epic at a time.

View an epic's progress

Each epic includes a progress bar that shows how many of its stories are complete.

Stories in an epic also show their assigned team and current workflow step, so you can understand how work is progressing across teams.

Stories in the 'Won't do' category are excluded from the progress bar and the story count.

View stories in Everything

If an epic contains stories, you can open them together on the Everything page to review or update the work in bulk.

Open the epic.
Next to 'Stories', click the arrow (→) icon.

The Everything page opens with the 'Epic' filter set to the current epic. You can change or remove the filter as needed.

Add new stories

You can quickly sketch out work directly inside an epic by entering story titles as you think of them.

Open the epic.
Click + Add new story and start typing a story title.
Press Return to create the story.
Continue entering titles to add more.

Each story is created immediately. You can open them later to fill in details.

Add existing stories

If the work already exists, you can add those stories to an epic instead of creating new ones.

Open the epic.
In the 'Add existing story' search bar, search for a story.
Select the story.

You can also add a story to an epic from the story itself. For more details, see Add a story to an epic.

To add multiple stories at once, use the Everything page. For more details, see Add stories to an epic.

Order stories within an epic

You can reorder stories within an epic to reflect how the work fits together. For example, you might arrange stories based on priority, sequence, or dependencies between them.

Hover over the story you want to move.
When the drag handle appears, click and drag the story to a new position in the list.

Remove stories from an epic

You can remove a story from an epic at any time without affecting the story itself.

Open the epic.
Hover over the story and click the X.

You can also remove a story from its epic from the story itself. For more details, see Add a story to an epic.

View epics

You can open an epic from anywhere you’re already working with stories or browsing work across your workspace.

The Everything page: Use the item type filter to show only epics. You can also filter by specific epics and add an 'Epic' column to the table.
Search: Use the item type filter to view only epics, or the 'Epic' filter to narrow results to a specific epic.
A story: Open a story and click its epic in the story details panel to see the broader context.

Add tags to an epic

Tags help you categorize epics using key-value pairs, such as Component: api or Priority: high. You can use them to capture details that are specific to your workspace and find related work later.

In the epic header, click Add tag. If the epic already has tags, click the tag icon instead, which shows how many tags the epic has.
Start typing a tag key, then select an existing key or create a new one.
Enter or select a value, or create a new one.

You can apply each key only once per epic.

For more details on creating, applying, and managing tags, see Tags.

Reference epics

You can copy an epic's Item ID or URL, and mention other items in an epic so your team can see how the initiative connects to related work.

Copy an epic's Item ID

Copy the Item ID (for example, EPIC-21) to paste into other tickets or communications.

In the epic header, next to the Item ID, click the Copy ID icon. The Item ID is now saved to your clipboard, ready to paste elsewhere.

Copy an epic URL

Copy an epic's URL to share it with your team, so they can open the epic directly.

In the epic header, click the Copy URL icon. The URL to the epic is now saved to your clipboard.

Mention other items

If you mention a story, bug, or epic by its Item ID (for example, STORY-123, BUG-456, or EPIC-789) or paste its full URL from your workspace into an epic's user stories or description, Atono automatically shows it as a clickable pill with the item's Item ID and title. Hover over the pill to see key details, or click it to open the item. If a referenced item has been deleted, its pill is styled to show that and can't be clicked.

Attach files

Attach documents, designs, and other files to an epic to keep supporting material for the initiative in one place. For more details, see Attachments.

Add comments

Use comments to ask questions, share feedback, and discuss an epic with your team, and mention other users to bring them into the conversation. In the epic header, 'Add comment' changes to the comment icon with a count once the epic has open comments. For more details, see Comments.

Epic activities

Every epic includes an Activities section with a record of actions related to the epic, from changes to its content to the stories added or removed. This history helps your team track progress and understand how decisions were made over time.

For more details on how to sort, filter, and manage activities, see Activities.

Version history

Atono tracks changes to an epic's content, so you can see how it has evolved and restore an earlier version if needed. For epics, you open version history from a content update in the epic's Activities. For more details, see Version history.

Delete an epic

If an epic is no longer needed, you can delete it. Deleting an epic removes the grouping but doesn't delete its stories, which remain in their team backlogs and continue moving through their workflows independently.

In the epic header, click the ellipsis (...) icon and select Delete epic.
In the confirmation dialog, click Delete to confirm, or click X to cancel.