Can entity references have "types" like links in Jira?
In Drupal 7, this is possible with the Relation module.
Relations are entities.
So instead of creating entity references to link nodes, when using the Relation module, you create Relation entities, and these Relation entities can contain entity references to two or more entity references to connect them via a &quot;type&quot;.  In the case of the Relation module, this is an entity type.
Also, because relations are entities, you can add fields to them.  And the module provides Views integration and other useful features.
Unfortunately, the port of Relation to Drupal 8 has been abandoned and the maintainers now recommend using the features of core itself-- this is possible, but it's a lot more work than what Relation provided out of the box.
Creating a similar config to Relation module in D8

Make each &quot;type&quot; its own entity type.
Add entity reference fields to each type and set them appropriately.
Customize your Views accordingly.