Link Items Between Pipelines
Pipelines often model parts of the same business process. A sales pipeline can reference a customer record, a daily progress report can point at the construction site it belongs to, and a support ticket can link to the account it was raised under. The Item Link field connects an item in one pipeline to a single item in another pipeline so this relationship is queryable, visible on the item, and preserved as records move through stages.
Prerequisites
| Target pipeline | The pipeline whose items you want to link to must already exist with at least one blueprint |
| Source blueprint | The blueprint where the link will live. Open Settings → Company Settings → Pipelines, select the source pipeline, and open Manage Blueprints |
| Permissions | Configuring blueprints requires the Admin company role |
If you want a working example before you build your own, the Construction template creates two linked pipelines (Sites and Reports) where every report references the site it belongs to.
Step 1: Add an Item Link field
- Open the source blueprint in the field builder
- Click "Add Field"
- Select the Reference category and choose Item Link
- Enter a label and name (for example, "Site" or "Customer")
- Open Item Link Settings and pick the Target pipeline from the dropdown
- Configure common settings such as Required, Description, and stage assignment as needed
- Save
The target pipeline is required before the field can be saved. Each Item Link field on a blueprint can point at a different pipeline, so a single blueprint can hold multiple links to different sources.
Step 2: Fill in the field on an item
When a user creates or edits an item that contains an Item Link field, two input methods are available:
| Pick from suggestions | Start typing the name of the target item. A dropdown shows matching items from the target pipeline, with the item's name and short code |
| Paste a short code | If the user has a short code shared with them (for example, from another team), they can paste it directly. The link is resolved at save time |
The short code is the auto-generated identifier shown on every item card. It is the only identifier users need to reference an item from another pipeline.
Step 3: View the linked item
Once saved, the field displays the linked item's short code and name on the source item's detail view and any list or card surface that includes the field. Clicking the link is not required; the contextual label gives enough information for most workflows.
Permissions and access
Item Link respects pipeline-level access control:
| Visible | If the viewer has read access to the target pipeline, the linked item's short code and name are shown |
| Inaccessible | If the viewer does not have access to the target pipeline, the link is preserved on the record but displayed as inaccessible. The viewer cannot see the target item's name or short code |
This means cross-pipeline links never leak data through visibility on the source item. Granting access to the target pipeline (via team permissions) is the way to expose linked content to a viewer.
Common patterns
| Parent record | A child pipeline (Reports, Tickets, Invoices) links each item to a single parent in another pipeline (Sites, Accounts, Deals) |
| Customer reference | A sales or support pipeline links each item to a row in a shared Customers pipeline so contact details stay in one place |
| Project reference | A task pipeline links each item to its project so multiple teams can operate on items that all roll up to the same engagement |
Limitations
| Single target | Each Item Link field references one item. To capture multiple linked items, add multiple Item Link fields or use separate child items in another pipeline |
| One target pipeline per field | The target pipeline is set per field. To link to items in different pipelines, add separate Item Link fields |
| No back reference | The target item does not automatically display incoming links. To navigate back, query the source pipeline by the linked short code or use Reports |
Next steps
- Add Custom Fields covers every field category and shared configuration option
- Configure an Automation to react to changes on items that contain Item Link fields