Allow automations to read Relationships and map them to Custom Fields or other Relationships
future
Marco Slabbers
Hello ClickUp Support,
I am currently building a structured operations system in ClickUp that manages customers, orders, and external services. The goal is to use ClickUp as a lightweight ERP-style workflow for an agency environment.
However, I have encountered a limitation in Automations that prevents implementing a fully relational workflow.
My scenario:
1. I create an order task (e.g. “Test Order”).
2. The order is linked to a customer using a Relationship field.
Example:
Order → Relationship → Customer: “Test Customer”
3. From the order, I create another task via a Relationship called External Service (e.g. subcontractor work).
ClickUp automatically links the new task back to the order, which works perfectly.
Desired behaviour:
When the new “External Service” task is created, I would like ClickUp to automatically inherit the Customer relationship from the parent order.
Example result:
External Service Task
→ Relationship: Order = Test Order
→ Relationship: Customer = Test Customer (automatically inherited)
Currently this is not possible because:
• Automations cannot read Relationship values from another task
• Relationship fields cannot populate Custom Fields automatically
• Custom Fields cannot dynamically create Relationships
Why this matters:
If ClickUp allowed automations to read Relationship values and reuse them, it would enable fully relational workflows similar to ERP systems.
Example ERP-style structure:
Customer
→ Order
→ External Services
→ Invoices
→ Communication
With relational inheritance, ClickUp could automatically propagate key relationships (such as the customer) across all dependent tasks.
This would enable:
• automated data inheritance
• consistent relational structures
• ERP-style task hierarchies
• far fewer manual steps in complex workflows
Feature request:
Allow Automations to:
1. Read a Relationship value from another task (e.g. Parent Task)
2. Write that value into:
• another Relationship field
• a Custom Field
3. Reference Relationship fields in Automation conditions
This single capability would dramatically improve relational workflows and make ClickUp viable for more advanced operational systems.
Thank you for considering this request.
Best regards
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Zach - ClickUp
marked this post as
future
Zach - ClickUp
Hey Marco! Relationship fields in automations are effectively read-only right now. You can add a static one as an action, but traversing an existing relationship to propagate its value into a new task isn't supported. Your order → customer → external service chain needs exactly that: "whatever Customer this Order has, copy it to the new task."
One workaround worth trying if you're open to AI features: a Super Agent triggered by your automation can read the parent task's fields and use the Update task tool to set the relationship on the new task. It requires enabling the Tasks and subtasks toolset and making sure the Agent has access to the relevant lists. Not native automation logic, but it can bridge the gap today.
No timeline on native support, but it's a real gap for CRM and ERP-style setups.