MCP Atlassian Attachments

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for downloading Jira Cloud attachments by attachment ID to local disk.

Supplement to the official Atlassian MCP server. The official Atlassian MCP server covers search, issue management, and content operations but does not support downloading attachment files to disk. This server fills that gap.

Requirements: Python 3.13+, an Atlassian Cloud account, and an API token with at least the read:jira-work scope.

Authentication

Scoped tokens are recommended to limit access to exactly the permissions needed.

Note: The granular read:attachment:jira scope is not sufficient — Jira's attachment metadata endpoint (/rest/api/3/attachment/{id}) requires read:jira-work to resolve issue-level permissions. A classic (unscoped) API token also works.

Create an API token

1. Go to id.atlassian.com/manage-profile/security/api-tokens
2. Click Create API token
3. Choose "Create API token with scopes" and select the read:jira-work scope, or choose "Classic API token" for full access
4. Copy the generated token

Quick start

The fastest way to try the server is with the MCP Inspector. Set the three required environment variables and run:

From the published package (no clone needed):

ATLASSIAN_SITE_URL=https://yourorg.atlassian.net \
ATLASSIAN_EMAIL=your.email@example.com \
ATLASSIAN_API_TOKEN=your-api-token \
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uvx mcp-atlassian-attachments

From a local clone:

ATLASSIAN_SITE_URL=https://yourorg.atlassian.net \
ATLASSIAN_EMAIL=your.email@example.com \
ATLASSIAN_API_TOKEN=your-api-token \
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run mcp-atlassian-attachments

Configuration

Set environment variables or create a config file. Environment variables take priority.

Environment variables:

export ATLASSIAN_SITE_URL="https://yourorg.atlassian.net"
export ATLASSIAN_EMAIL="your.email@example.com"
export ATLASSIAN_API_TOKEN="your-api-token"

Config file (~/.config/mcp-atlassian-attachments/config.json):

{
  "site_url": "https://yourorg.atlassian.net",
  "email": "your.email@example.com",
  "api_token": "your-api-token"
}

Tools

Tool	Description	Required params
download_jira_attachment	Download a Jira attachment by ID.	attachment_id, output_dir

Common parameters

Parameter	Type	Description
attachment_id	string	Jira attachment ID
output_dir	string	Local directory for the saved file. Created automatically if it does not exist.
filename	string (optional)	Override filename. Uses metadata filename when omitted.
overwrite	bool (optional)	Replace an existing file. Defaults to false.

Output

The tool returns a JSON object:

{
  "product": "jira",
  "attachmentId": "439535",
  "filename": "screenshot.png",
  "mimeType": "image/png",
  "size": 496724,
  "path": "/your/output/dir/screenshot.png",
  "sourceUrl": "https://yourorg.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/attachment/content/439535"
}

MCP host configuration

Add the following to your MCP host's config file. The JSON is the same for Cursor (.cursor/mcp.json), Claude Desktop (claude_desktop_config.json), and Claude Code (.claude.json).

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "atlassian": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-atlassian-attachments"],
      "env": {
        "ATLASSIAN_SITE_URL": "https://yourorg.atlassian.net",
        "ATLASSIAN_EMAIL": "your.email@example.com",
        "ATLASSIAN_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Security

• ATLASSIAN_API_TOKEN is never logged or included in error messages.
• The computed Authorization header is never exposed in tool output or errors.
• File writes are confined to the provided output_dir.
• Filenames are sanitized to prevent path traversal.

Tests

uv run pytest tests/ -v

Roadmap

• download_confluence_attachment_tool — Confluence Cloud uses a different API (/wiki/api/v2/) and a different identifier model. Planned for a future release.

License

MIT. See LICENSE.