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

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.