Jira MCP Server

Retired as of September 29, 2026. This project no longer receives feature updates, bug fixes, or dependency and security maintenance. Existing code remains available under the MIT license. For new Jira Cloud integrations, use the official Atlassian Rovo MCP Server.

This local Model Context Protocol (MCP) server exposes Jira operations to MCP clients over stdio. Its implementation combines jira-python with direct Jira Cloud REST API v3 requests.

The API-token authentication gap this project originally addressed is now covered by Rovo. See the migration guide for authentication requirements, client setup, and workflow checks before switching.

Compatibility

• Python 3.10 or higher.

• Jira Cloud with an Atlassian account email and API token using basic_auth.

• An MCP client that can launch a local stdio server.

The direct API client uses /rest/api/3. Jira Server and Data Center compatibility, including PAT-only authentication, has not been validated and is not supported by this retirement release. Earlier documentation claiming those configurations were supported was incorrect. Retained legacy authentication branches do not establish end-to-end compatibility.

Related MCP server: JIRA MCP Tools

Available tools

Legacy installation

Use a checkout of this repository to obtain the final code and documentation. Previously published packages may predate the retirement fixes.

From source with uv

Install uv, then:

git clone https://github.com/InfinitIQ-Tech/mcp-jira.git
cd mcp-jira
uv sync

From source with pip

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install .

The historical package installation commands are uv pip install mcp-server-jira and python -m pip install mcp-server-jira.

Legacy configuration

Set these environment variables for Jira Cloud:

export JIRA_SERVER_URL="https://your-domain.atlassian.net"
export JIRA_AUTH_METHOD="basic_auth"
export JIRA_USERNAME="your_email@example.com"
export JIRA_TOKEN="your_api_token"

JIRA_USERNAME is the Atlassian account email. JIRA_TOKEN is its Jira Cloud API token. JIRA_PASSWORD and token_auth remain in legacy code, but are not the recommended Jira Cloud configuration. Keep credentials out of version control.

The repository includes .env.example. To use a .env file with uv, pass it explicitly:

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your Jira Cloud credentials.
uv run --env-file .env mcp-server-jira

With environment variables already set, run either:

uv run mcp-server-jira

or, after pip installation:

python -m mcp_server_jira

Docker

The server uses stdio rather than an HTTP listener. Keep stdin open when launching it through an MCP client:

docker build -t mcp-jira .
docker run --rm -i --env-file .env mcp-jira

Example local MCP client configuration

For clients that support the mcpServers command configuration, such as Claude Desktop, use absolute paths to uv and the repository checkout:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "/absolute/path/to/mcp-jira",
        "run",
        "mcp-server-jira"
      ],
      "env": {
        "JIRA_SERVER_URL": "https://your-domain.atlassian.net",
        "JIRA_AUTH_METHOD": "basic_auth",
        "JIRA_USERNAME": "your_email@example.com",
        "JIRA_TOKEN": "your_api_token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Client configuration locations and supported transports vary. This example describes the legacy local server, not a Rovo configuration or a claim that every client has been tested.

Migration and maintenance

Follow Migrating to Atlassian Rovo MCP before removing the local connector. Rovo is an Atlassian-hosted service with different authentication, tool names, and response schemas. There is no automatic configuration migration.

Users who retain or fork this code are responsible for future maintenance and compatibility with Jira and MCP clients.

License

MIT