Jira MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Jira API integration. This server enables AI assistants like Claude to interact with Jira Cloud instances for issue management, search, comments, workflow transitions, and attachment handling.

Features

• Issue Management: Get, create, update, and assign Jira issues with custom field support
• JQL Search: Search issues using Jira Query Language
• Comments: Add and retrieve comments on issues
• Workflow: Get available transitions and change issue status
• Metadata Discovery: Get field requirements and allowed values for projects
• User Search: Find users by email or name for assignments
• Projects: List all accessible projects
• Attachments: List, upload, delete attachments and retrieve their content — text files returned as text, images rendered inline via Claude vision
• Token Efficient: 5 compound tools instead of 16 flat tools — ~50% fewer tokens per session

Installation

Using npm (Recommended)

npm install -g @nexus2520/jira-mcp-server

From Source

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/pdogra1299/jira-mcp-server.git
   cd jira-mcp-server
   

2. Install dependencies:

   pnpm install
   

3. Build the project:

   pnpm run build
   

Prerequisites

• Node.js >= 16.0.0
• A Jira Cloud account with API access
• Jira API token (generate from Atlassian Account Settings)

Configuration

Environment Variables

• JIRA_EMAIL: Your Atlassian account email
• JIRA_API_TOKEN: Your Jira API token
• JIRA_BASE_URL: Your Jira instance URL (e.g., https://yourcompany.atlassian.net)

Claude Desktop Configuration

Add the following to your Claude Desktop MCP settings file:

Location:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Configuration (if installed via npm):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@nexus2520/jira-mcp-server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "JIRA_EMAIL": "your-email@company.com",
        "JIRA_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token-here",
        "JIRA_BASE_URL": "https://yourcompany.atlassian.net"
      }
    }
  }
}

Configuration (if built from source):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "/absolute/path/to/jira-mcp-server/build/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "JIRA_EMAIL": "your-email@company.com",
        "JIRA_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token-here",
        "JIRA_BASE_URL": "https://yourcompany.atlassian.net"
      }
    }
  }
}

Getting Your Jira API Token

1. Go to Atlassian Account Settings
2. Click "Create API token"
3. Give it a label (e.g., "Claude MCP")
4. Copy the generated token
5. Use it in your configuration

Tool Architecture

This server exposes 5 compound tools — each with an action parameter that selects the operation. This design reduces the token overhead of tool definitions by ~50% compared to 16 flat tools, leaving more context for actual work.

Available Tools

jira_issues

Manage the full lifecycle of Jira issues.

Required: action

Tips:

• Always call jira_search with action=create_metadata before creating issues to discover required custom fields and allowed values.
• Pass assignee: "-1" to unassign an issue.
• description accepts plain text or an Atlassian Document Format (ADF) object.
• customFields is a key-value map: {"customfield_10000": "value"}.

Examples:

Get details for PROJ-123
Create a Bug in project PROJ with summary "Login button broken"
Update PROJ-123 priority to High
Assign PROJ-123 to john.doe@company.com

jira_search

Search and discover Jira resources.

Required: action

Common JQL examples:

project = PROJ AND status = Open
assignee = currentUser() AND status != Done
priority = High AND created >= -7d

Tips:

• Use create_metadata before jira_issues create to understand what fields are required for a project/issue type.
• Use users to look up account IDs for assignments — pass the returned account ID or email to jira_issues assign.

jira_comments

Read and write comments on a Jira issue.

Required: action, issueKey

comment accepts plain text or an ADF object.

Examples:

Get all comments on PROJ-123
Add a comment to PROJ-123: "Fixed in PR #456"

jira_workflow

Manage issue status transitions.

Required: action, issueKey

Tip: Always call get_transitions first — transition IDs vary per project and issue type. The transitionId from the response is what you pass to transition.

Examples:

Get available transitions for PROJ-123
Move PROJ-123 to "In Progress" (use get_transitions first to find the ID)

jira_attachments

Manage file attachments on Jira issues.

Required: action

Content types returned by get_content:

• Text files (text/*, application/json, application/xml): returned as readable text
• Images (image/*): returned as base64 — Claude will render them inline
• Other types (PDF, zip, etc.): returns file metadata with a descriptive message

Tips:

• Use list first to get attachment IDs before calling get_content or delete.
• fileName in upload overrides the filename shown in Jira (defaults to the file's basename).

Examples:

List attachments on PROJ-123
Get the content of attachment 136904
Upload /tmp/report.pdf to PROJ-123
Delete attachment 136904

API Reference

This server uses the Jira REST API v3.

Troubleshooting

"Error: JIRA_EMAIL and JIRA_API_TOKEN are required"

Make sure you've set the environment variables in your MCP configuration.

Authentication errors

• Verify your API token is correct
• Ensure your email matches your Atlassian account
• Check that your JIRA_BASE_URL doesn't have a trailing slash

Permission errors

The API token uses the permissions of the user who created it. Make sure your account has the necessary permissions for the actions you're trying to perform.

License

MIT

Author

Parth Dogra

Contributing

Feel free to open issues or submit pull requests for improvements!