JIRA MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables Claude AI to interact with JIRA for project management, issue tracking, and release planning. This server provides seamless integration between Claude and your JIRA instance.

Features

MCP Tools

1. search_jira_issues

Search for JIRA issues using JQL (JIRA Query Language).

Parameters:

• jql_query (str, required): JQL query string

• max_results (int, optional): Maximum number of results (default: 100)

• include_comments (bool, optional): Include issue comments (default: False)

Example:

search_jira_issues(
    jql_query="project = MYPROJECT AND status != Closed",
    max_results=50,
    include_comments=True
)

2. get_jira_issue_details (Enhanced)

Get comprehensive details about a specific JIRA issue, including subtasks and linked issues.

Parameters:

• issue_key (str, required): JIRA issue key (e.g., "PROJECT-123")

• include_comments (bool, optional): Include comments (default: True)

• include_subtasks (bool, optional): Include child issues/subtasks (default: True)

• include_linked_issues (bool, optional): Include related issues with link types (default: True)

Returns:

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "Retrieved issue PROJECT-123",
  "issue": {
    "key": "PROJECT-123",
    "summary": "Implement New Feature",
    "description": "Add support for the new feature...",
    "status": "In Progress",
    "type": "Story",
    "priority": "High",
    "assignee": "John Doe",
    "reporter": "Jane Smith",
    "created": "2025-01-01T10:00:00.000+0000",
    "updated": "2025-01-15T15:30:00.000+0000",
    "fix_versions": ["Release 1.0", "Release 2.0"],
    "labels": ["BETA6", "JC_Validation_Clear"],
    "comments": [
      {
        "author": "John Doe",
        "created": "2025-01-10T12:00:00.000+0000",
        "body": "Started implementation"
      }
    ],
    "subtasks": [
      {
        "key": "PROJECT-124",
        "summary": "Design API",
        "status": "Done",
        "type": "Sub-task"
      },
      {
        "key": "PROJECT-125",
        "summary": "Implement Parser",
        "status": "In Progress",
        "type": "Sub-task"
      }
    ],
    "linked_issues": [
      {
        "link_type": "blocks",
        "key": "PROJECT-100",
        "summary": "Hardware Support",
        "status": "Open"
      },
      {
        "link_type": "relates to",
        "key": "PROJECT-200",
        "summary": "Related Feature",
        "status": "In Progress"
      }
    ]
  }
}

Example:

# Get full issue details with all relationships
get_jira_issue_details("PROJECT-123")

# Get issue without comments
get_jira_issue_details("PROJECT-123", include_comments=False)

# Get only basic issue info (no relations)
get_jira_issue_details(
    "PROJECT-123",
    include_comments=False,
    include_subtasks=False,
    include_linked_issues=False
)

3. add_jira_comment

Add a comment to a JIRA issue.

Parameters:

• issue_key (str, required): JIRA issue key (e.g., "PROJECT-123")

• comment_body (str, required): Comment text in JIRA wiki markup format

Note: JIRA uses wiki markup, NOT markdown. See formatting rules in the docstring.

4. edit_jira_comment

Edit an existing comment on a JIRA issue.

Parameters:

• issue_key (str, required): JIRA issue key

• comment_id (str, required): The ID of the comment to edit

• comment_body (str, required): New comment text in JIRA wiki markup format

5. update_jira_issue

Update fields on a JIRA issue. Only fields that are explicitly provided will be updated.

Parameters:

• issue_key (str, required): JIRA issue key (e.g., "PROJECT-123")

• summary (str, optional): New issue title/summary

• description (str, optional): New description in JIRA wiki markup format

• priority (str, optional): Priority name - "Highest", "High", "Medium", "Low", "Lowest"

• assignee (str, optional): Username or account ID. Use empty string "" to unassign

• labels (list, optional): Array of label strings. REPLACES all existing labels

  • Note: JIRA labels cannot contain spaces — use underscores (e.g., "JC_Validation_Clear"). JIRA's web UI displays underscores as spaces.

• fix_versions (list, optional): Array of version names. REPLACES existing versions

  • ⚠️ WARNING: Fix versions are typically managed by release managers

• team (str, optional): Team name (uses configurable custom field ID)

Example:

# Update single field
update_jira_issue("PROJECT-123", summary="New Title")

# Update multiple fields
update_jira_issue(
    "PROJECT-123",
    summary="Updated Title",
    priority="High",
    description="New description with *bold* text"
)

# Update labels (replaces all existing)
update_jira_issue("PROJECT-123", labels=["bug", "urgent"])

# Unassign issue
update_jira_issue("PROJECT-123", assignee="")

# Update team
update_jira_issue("PROJECT-123", team="Platform Team")

Returns:

{
  "status": "success",
  "message": "Updated PROJECT-123: summary, priority",
  "updated_fields": ["summary", "priority"],
  "issue": {
    "key": "PROJECT-123",
    "summary": "Updated Title",
    ...
  }
}

6. rank_jira_issues

Rank (reorder) one or more JIRA issues relative to another issue using JIRA's Agile ranking API.

Parameters:

• issue_keys (list, required): List of issue keys to move (max 50)

• rank_before (str, optional): Rank the issues BEFORE this issue key (higher priority)

• rank_after (str, optional): Rank the issues AFTER this issue key (lower priority)

Note: Specify exactly one of rank_before or rank_after.

Example:

# Move single issue to top of backlog (before first issue)
rank_jira_issues(["PROJECT-10"], rank_before="PROJECT-1")

# Move multiple issues after a specific issue
rank_jira_issues(["PROJECT-5", "PROJECT-6", "PROJECT-7"], rank_after="PROJECT-2")

Returns:

• status: "success" - All issues ranked successfully

• status: "partial" - Some issues failed (includes successes and failures arrays)

• status: "error" - Complete failure with error message

Permissions: Requires "Schedule Issues" permission in JIRA.

7. reorder_jira_issues

Convenience function to reorder multiple issues into a specific sequence by chaining rank operations.

Parameters:

• issue_keys (list, required): Issues in desired order (first = highest priority)

• after_issue (str, optional): Reference issue to place all issues after

Example:

# Reorder issues in sequence (first issue becomes highest priority)
reorder_jira_issues([
    "PROJECT-100",  # First (highest priority)
    "PROJECT-101",  # Second
    "PROJECT-102",  # Third
])

# Place issues after a reference point
reorder_jira_issues(["PROJECT-5", "PROJECT-6"], after_issue="PROJECT-1")

Returns: Success/error status with operations_completed count

Key Enhancements

🎯 Single API Call Efficiency

The enhanced get_jira_issue_details uses JIRA's expand parameters to fetch issue details, subtasks, and linked issues in a single API call, reducing latency and API usage.

🔗 Automatic Relationship Resolution

No need for separate JQL queries like:

• ❌ parent = PROJECT-123 (for subtasks)

• ❌ issue in linkedIssues(PROJECT-123) (for linked issues)

Everything is fetched automatically!

🎛️ Flexible Options

Choose exactly what data you need with granular control over comments, subtasks, and linked issues.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.8+

• JIRA API Bearer token

Setup

1. Clone or download the repository

2. Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Key dependencies:

• fastmcp==0.4.1 - MCP server framework

• mcp==1.5.0 - Model Context Protocol SDK

• requests==2.32.3 - HTTP client for JIRA API

3. Set up environment variables:

Create a .env file or set environment variables:

export JIRA_SERVER_URL="https://your-jira-instance.atlassian.net"
export JIRA_API_TOKEN="your_jira_bearer_token_here"

On Windows:

set JIRA_SERVER_URL=https://your-jira-instance.atlassian.net
set JIRA_API_TOKEN=your_jira_bearer_token_here

Getting Your JIRA API Token

1. Log in to your JIRA instance

2. Navigate to Profile → Personal Access Tokens

3. Create a new token with appropriate permissions

4. Copy the token and store it securely

Required Permissions:

• Read issues

• Browse projects

• View comments

Usage

Starting the MCP Server

python jira_mcp_tool.py

The server will start and listen for MCP protocol messages from Claude.

Using with Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop MCP configuration:

macOS/Linux: ~/.config/claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/path/to/jira_mcp_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "JIRA_SERVER_URL": "https://your-jira-instance.atlassian.net",
        "JIRA_API_TOKEN": "your_token_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Example Workflows

1. Finding and Analyzing Issues

User: "Find all high-priority bugs in my project that are still open"

Claude uses: search_jira_issues(
    jql_query="project = MYPROJECT AND type = Bug AND priority = High AND status = Open"
)

2. Getting Complete Issue Context

User: "Show me all details about PROJECT-123 including what it blocks and its subtasks"

Claude uses: get_jira_issue_details("PROJECT-123")

Result includes:
- Issue details
- All subtasks
- All linked issues (blocks, is blocked by, relates to, etc.)
- Comments

3. Release Planning Analysis

User: "Analyze the completion status of PROJECT-123 and its dependencies"

Claude uses:
1. get_jira_issue_details("PROJECT-123") - gets issue with all relations
2. Analyzes subtasks completion
3. Checks linked issues status
4. Provides comprehensive report

4. Safe Label Operations

User: "Add the 'reviewed' label to PROJECT-123 without removing existing labels"

Claude uses:
1. get_jira_issue_details("PROJECT-123") - read current labels
2. Append new label: current_labels + ["reviewed"]
3. update_jira_issue("PROJECT-123", labels=new_labels)

This prevents accidentally wiping out existing labels like "BETA6" or "urgent"

5. Backlog Reordering

User: "Reorder these issues so they're prioritized in this order: PROJECT-100, PROJECT-101, PROJECT-102"

Claude uses: reorder_jira_issues([
    "PROJECT-100",  # Highest priority
    "PROJECT-101",  # Second
    "PROJECT-102"   # Third
])

Result: Issues are ranked in sequence in the backlog

Architecture

Component Overview

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│            Claude AI Assistant                   │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘
                  │ MCP Protocol
                  ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│          FastMCP Server Framework                │
│  ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐  │
│  │  @mcp.tool()                              │  │
│  │  - search_jira_issues()                   │  │
│  │  - get_jira_issue_details()               │  │
│  │  - add_jira_comment()                     │  │
│  │  - edit_jira_comment()                    │  │
│  │  - update_jira_issue()                    │  │
│  │  - rank_jira_issues()                     │  │
│  │  - reorder_jira_issues()                  │  │
│  └───────────────────────────────────────────┘  │
└─────────────────┬───────────────────────────────┘
                  │ HTTPS/Bearer Token
                  ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│         JIRA REST API v2                         │
│  - /rest/api/2/search (JQL queries)             │
│  - /rest/api/2/issue/{key}?expand=...           │
│  - /rest/api/2/issue/{key}/comment              │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

API Endpoints Used

Data Flow

get_jira_issue_details("PROJECT-123", include_subtasks=True, include_linked_issues=True)
    │
    ├─→ get_issue_with_relations()
    │       │
    │       └─→ GET /rest/api/2/issue/PROJECT-123?expand=subtasks,issuelinks
    │               │
    │               └─→ Returns: issue + subtasks + linked issues
    │
    ├─→ get_issue_comments()
    │       │
    │       └─→ GET /rest/api/2/issue/PROJECT-123/comment
    │               │
    │               └─→ Returns: comments list
    │
    └─→ Combine data and return comprehensive response

Testing

Running Unit Tests

# Using pytest
python -m pytest test_jira_mcp_tool.py -v

# Using unittest
python -m unittest test_jira_mcp_tool.py

Test Coverage

The test suite covers:

• ✅ Fetching issues with subtasks

• ✅ Fetching issues with linked issues

• ✅ Fetching issues with labels

• ✅ Handling issues with no relations

• ✅ Optional parameter combinations

• ✅ Error handling (404, API errors, exceptions)

• ✅ Input validation

• ✅ Missing authentication token

• ✅ Backward compatibility

• ✅ Issue ranking (single and bulk)

• ✅ Batch reordering operations

Manual Testing

Test the server with real JIRA issues:

# Start the server
python jira_mcp_server.py

# In Claude Desktop, try:
# "Get details about PROJECT-123"
# "Find all open bugs in project MYPROJECT"

Configuration

Environment Variables

Development

Project Structure

.
├── jira_mcp_server.py        # Main MCP server implementation
├── test_jira_mcp_tool.py     # Unit tests
├── util.py                   # Utility functions
├── requirements.txt          # Python dependencies
├── README.md                 # This file
├── LICENSE                   # MIT License
└── .env                      # Environment variables (git-ignored)

Adding New Tools

To add a new MCP tool:

1. Define function with @mcp.tool() decorator:

@mcp.tool()
def my_new_tool(param: str) -> Dict[str, Any]:
    """Tool description for Claude."""
    # Implementation
    return {"status": "success", "data": ...}

2. Add tests in test_jira_mcp_tool.py

3. Update this README

Code Style

• Type hints for all function parameters and returns

• Comprehensive docstrings (Google style)

• Error handling with try/except blocks

• Null-safe field extraction from JIRA responses

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Authentication Errors

Error: JIRA_API_TOKEN not found in environment variables

Solution: Set the JIRA_API_TOKEN environment variable.

Connection Errors

Error: JIRA API error: 401 - Unauthorized

Solution:

• Check that your token is valid

• Ensure the token has required permissions

• Verify the token hasn't expired

Missing JIRA Server URL

Error: JIRA_SERVER_URL not found in environment variables

Solution: Set the JIRA_SERVER_URL environment variable to your JIRA instance URL.

404 Errors

Error: Issue PROJECT-123 not found

Solution:

• Verify the issue key is correct

• Check you have permission to view the issue

• Ensure the issue exists in JIRA

Import Errors

ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'fastmcp'

Solution: Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

Debug Mode

To enable debug output, uncomment the print statement in jira_mcp_server.py:

if __name__ == "__main__":
    print("Starting JIRA MCP Server...")  # Uncomment for debug
    mcp.run()

Security Considerations

Token Storage

• ✅ Store tokens in environment variables or secure secret management

• ❌ Never commit tokens to version control

• ❌ Never hardcode tokens in source files

API Permissions

Grant minimal required permissions:

• Read issues

• Browse projects

• View comments

• Edit issues (required for update_jira_issue)

• Add comments (required for add_jira_comment)

Avoid:

• Admin permissions

• Issue creation (unless needed)

• Project administration

• Delete permissions

Network Security

• All API calls use HTTPS

• Bearer token authentication

• No credentials stored in code

Performance

API Call Optimization

The enhanced get_jira_issue_details reduces API calls:

Before:

1. GET /rest/api/2/search (get issue)
2. GET /rest/api/2/search?jql=parent=PROJECT-123 (get subtasks)
3. GET /rest/api/2/search?jql=issue in linkedIssues(...) (get links)
4. GET /rest/api/2/issue/{key}/comment (get comments)
Total: 4 API calls

After:

1. GET /rest/api/2/issue/{key}?expand=subtasks,issuelinks (get all)
2. GET /rest/api/2/issue/{key}/comment (get comments)
Total: 2 API calls (50% reduction)

Rate Limiting

JIRA Cloud typically limits:

• ~300 requests per minute per user

• ~100,000 requests per day per app

This server includes no built-in rate limiting. For high-volume usage, consider adding:

• Request throttling

• Response caching

• Exponential backoff

Changelog

Version 2.2 (Current)

Backlog Ranking & Labels Support

• ✨ Added rank_jira_issues() tool for ranking issues using JIRA's Agile API

• ✨ Added reorder_jira_issues() convenience tool for batch reordering

• ✨ Added labels field to search_jira_issues() and get_jira_issue_details() responses

• 🎯 Enables safe "read → append → write" workflow for labels

• ⚡ Bulk ranking supports up to 50 issues per call

• ✅ 22 new unit tests for ranking and labels functionality

Version 2.1

Issue Editing Capability

• ✨ Added update_jira_issue() tool for updating issue fields

• ✨ Added get_jira_field_metadata() helper for discovering custom field IDs

• 🎛️ Supports: summary, description, priority, assignee, labels, fix_versions, team

• ⚠️ Fix versions include warning about release management coordination

• 📝 Only updates provided fields; omitted fields unchanged

• ✅ 17 new unit tests for update functionality

Version 2.0

Enhanced get_jira_issue_details

• ✨ Added automatic subtask retrieval

• ✨ Added automatic linked issues retrieval

• ✨ Added optional parameters for granular control

• ⚡ Optimized to use single API call with expand parameters

• 📝 Comprehensive docstrings and type hints

• ✅ Full test coverage

Version 1.0

Initial Release

• Basic search_jira_issues functionality

• Basic get_jira_issue_details functionality

• Bearer token authentication

Contributing

Guidelines

1. Code Quality

   • Add type hints

   • Write docstrings

   • Follow existing patterns

2. Testing

   • Add unit tests for new features

   • Ensure all tests pass

   • Maintain >80% coverage

3. Documentation

   • Update README for new features

   • Add inline comments for complex logic

   • Include usage examples

Submitting Changes

1. Test your changes thoroughly

2. Update tests and documentation

3. Submit with clear description of changes

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details.

Support

For issues or questions:

• Check the Troubleshooting section

• Review JIRA REST API documentation

• Check MCP protocol documentation at https://modelcontextprotocol.io

References

• Model Context Protocol

• JIRA REST API Documentation

• FastMCP Framework

• Claude AI

Enabling AI-powered JIRA analysis and project management