mcp-jira-server

An MCP server that gives AI assistants (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, etc.) access to Jira Cloud, built on the official jira Python library.

Tools

Related MCP server: MCP Atlassian

Setup

1. Install dependencies (Python 3.10+):

   python3 -m venv .venv
   source .venv/bin/activate
   pip install -e .

2. Create a Jira Personal Access Token (PAT) in your Jira instance.

3. Copy .env.example to .env and fill in your credentials:

   cp .env.example .env

JIRA_URL=https://your-domain.atlassian.net/jira
JIRA_PAT_TOKEN=your-pat-token

Note: for this server setup, include /jira at the end of JIRA_URL.

4. Run the server directly to sanity-check it starts:

   mcp-jira-server

   (It communicates over stdio and expects an MCP client on the other end, so it will just sit waiting for input — Ctrl+C to stop.)

Using with Claude Code

Claude Code auto-detects a mcp.json file at the project root. Copy the template and fill in your own values:

cp mcp.json.example mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/mcp-jira-server/.venv/bin/mcp-jira-server",
      "args": [],
      "env": {
        "JIRA_URL": "https://your-domain.atlassian.net/jira",
        "JIRA_PAT_TOKEN": "your-pat-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

mcp.json is gitignored because it holds a real PAT token — only mcp.json.example (no secrets) is meant to be committed. Reload the Claude Code window after adding/editing it, then run /mcp in a chat to confirm the jira server connected.

Alternatively, register it via the CLI instead of hand-editing the file:

claude mcp add jira \
  -e JIRA_URL=https://your-domain.atlassian.net/jira \
  -e JIRA_PAT_TOKEN=your-pat-token \
  -- /absolute/path/to/mcp-jira-server/.venv/bin/mcp-jira-server

Using with Claude Desktop

Add the same servers block shown above to claude_desktop_config.json.

Notes

• Authentication uses Jira PAT token auth.

• assignee fields accept either an Atlassian account ID or an email address.

• additional_fields on create_issue and the raw fields dict on update_issue let you pass any Jira field (including custom fields) that isn't otherwise exposed.