Every issue in ISO Mate has a unique key, shown as its title, made of a prefix and a sequential number such as PROJ-12 or USR-5. The prefix comes from the issue project when the issue belongs to one, and otherwise from the issue type. The number increments automatically for each prefix within your account.
Project based keys
When you create a project from the Projects page in the DevOps group, you give it a key of 2 to 10 uppercase letters or numbers. The key is fixed at creation and cannot be changed afterward. Every issue you create under that project takes the project key as its prefix, so a project with the key PROJ produces PROJ-1, PROJ-2, PROJ-3, and so on, whatever the issue type. This groups all of a project’s work under one recognizable prefix.
You choose an issue’s project in the create issue dialog, or later from the Project field on the issue detail. Leaving it set to No project switches the issue to a type based key.
Type based keys
When an issue is not linked to a project, ISO Mate builds the prefix from the issue type:
- EPC: Epics, for example EPC-1, EPC-2, EPC-3.
- USR: Stories, for example USR-1, USR-2, USR-3.
- TSK: Tasks, for example TSK-1, TSK-2, TSK-3.
- BUG: Bugs, for example BUG-1, BUG-2, BUG-3.
- SUB: Subtasks, for example SUB-1, SUB-2, SUB-3.
How numbering works
Each prefix has its own counter within the account, so you might have PROJ-1 through PROJ-20 alongside TSK-1 through TSK-50 and BUG-1 through BUG-12 at the same time. A new issue takes the next number after the highest existing key for its prefix.
Keys stay stable
An issue keeps the key it was given when it was created. Changing an issue from Task to Bug, for example, does not rewrite its key, so references in commit messages, comments, documentation, and external tools stay valid over time.
Finding issues by key
The key appears wherever an issue is referenced: as the issue title, on subtask links, in sprint and release tables, and in git branch names generated for the issue. You can search issues and filter by project to see everything under one project prefix. Through the ISO Mate MCP server you can also fetch an issue directly by its key, such as PROJ-7, and filter issues by an exact key or by a prefix.