a2atlassian
<p align="center">
<h1 align="center">🏢 a2atlassian</h1>
<p align="center">
<em>Agent-to-Atlassian</em>
</p>
<p align="center">
<strong>Give AI agents access to Jira and Confluence. Save credentials once, work from anywhere.</strong>
</p>
<p align="center">
Jira + Confluence · read-only by default · pre-configured connections · compact TSV output
</p>
<p align="center">
<a href="https://pypi.org/project/a2atlassian/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/a2atlassian.svg" alt="PyPI"></a>
<a href="https://pypi.org/project/a2atlassian/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/a2atlassian.svg" alt="Python"></a>
<a href="https://github.com/yoselabs/a2atlassian/blob/main/LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/github/license/yoselabs/a2atlassian.svg" alt="License"></a>
<a href="https://github.com/yoselabs/a2atlassian/actions"><img src="https://img.shields.io/github/actions/workflow/status/yoselabs/a2atlassian/publish.yml" alt="CI"></a>
<a href="https://registry.modelcontextprotocol.io/servers/io.github.yoselabs/a2atlassian"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/MCP-registry-blue" alt="MCP Registry"></a>
</p>
<p align="center">
<a href="#quick-start">Quick Start</a> ·
<a href="#mcp-tools">MCP Tools</a> ·
<a href="#security">Security</a> ·
<a href="#comparison">Comparison</a> ·
<a href="#setup-by-environment">Setup</a>
</p>
</p>
---
```
Agent: "What's the status of PROJ-42? Add a comment with the progress update."
↓
a2atlassian → get issue, add comment, transition to In Progress
↓
Agent: "Done — PROJ-42 updated and moved to In Progress."
```
## Why a2atlassian?
Existing Atlassian MCP servers (Rovo, sooperset) require Docker, `.env` files, and `mcp-remote` bridges. They dump 72 tools into agent context and have [known quirks](docs/) that silently fail. a2atlassian fixes all of that:
- **No Docker** — `pip install a2atlassian` and you're done
- **Pre-configured connections** — define projects in `.mcp.json` with `--register`, agent works immediately
- **Read-only by default** — write access is opt-in per connection
- **Connection scoping** — `--scope` limits which projects an agent can see
- **Compact output** — TSV for lists (30-60% fewer tokens), JSON for single entities
- **Dynamic tool loading** — MCP clients that support deferred tools (e.g., Claude Code) load tools on demand, keeping context lean
- **Error enrichment** — bad field names get suggestions, JQL typos get corrections, quirks get auto-fixed
- **Secrets stay in env** — `${ATLASSIAN_TOKEN}` in configs, expanded only at runtime
> **Scope today:** full Jira surface (issues, comments, sprints, boards, worklogs, links, versions, fields, watchers, projects) and Confluence core (pages CRUD, search, metadata-only writes).
## Quick Start
```bash
# Recommended — installs globally as a CLI tool
uv tool install a2atlassian
# Or with pip
pip install a2atlassian
```
### As an MCP Server (recommended)
**Claude Code** (with pre-configured connection):
```bash
claude mcp add -s user a2atlassian -- uvx --from a2atlassian a2atlassian-mcp \
--register myproject https://mysite.atlassian.net user@company.com '${ATLASSIAN_TOKEN}'
```
**Claude Code** (minimal — agent calls `login` on demand):
```bash
claude mcp add -s user a2atlassian -- uvx --from a2atlassian a2atlassian-mcp
```
**Claude Desktop / Cursor / any MCP client** (`.mcp.json`):
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"a2atlassian": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"--from", "a2atlassian", "a2atlassian-mcp",
"--register", "myproject", "https://mysite.atlassian.net",
"user@company.com", "${ATLASSIAN_TOKEN}"
],
"env": {
"ATLASSIAN_TOKEN": "your-api-token-here"
}
}
}
}
```
**Multiple projects:**
```json
{
"args": [
"--from", "a2atlassian", "a2atlassian-mcp",
"--register", "myproject", "https://mysite.atlassian.net", "user@a.com", "${TOKEN_A}",
"--register", "personal", "https://personal.atlassian.net", "user@b.com", "${TOKEN_B}"
]
}
```
**Scoped connections** (limit agent to specific saved projects):
```json
{
"args": ["--from", "a2atlassian", "a2atlassian-mcp", "--scope", "myproject"]
}
```
`--register` creates ephemeral in-memory connections (process lifetime, no files written). `--scope` filters which saved connections are visible. Both limit blast radius.
### As a CLI
```bash
# Save a connection (validates by calling /myself)
a2atlassian login -c myproject \
--url https://mysite.atlassian.net \
--email user@company.com \
--token "$ATLASSIAN_TOKEN"
# Same, pulling the token from 1Password via `op`
a2atlassian login -c myproject \
--url https://mysite.atlassian.net \
--email user@company.com \
--token "op://Personal/Atlassian/token"
# Enable writes
a2atlassian login -c myproject \
--url https://mysite.atlassian.net \
--email user@company.com \
--token "$ATLASSIAN_TOKEN" \
--no-read-only
# List / remove connections
a2atlassian connections
a2atlassian logout -c myproject
```
Tokens accept three forms: literal value, `${ENV_VAR}` reference, or
`op://vault/item/field` (resolved via the 1Password CLI at runtime).
## MCP Tools
### Connection Management
| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `login` | Save a connection — validates by calling /myself first |
| `logout` | Remove a saved connection |
| `list_connections` | List connections (no secrets exposed) |
### Jira — Read
| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `jira_get_issue` | Get issue by key — full fields, status, assignee |
| `jira_search` | Search by JQL with pagination — compact TSV output by default |
| `jira_search_count` | Count-only JQL — cheap pre-check for "is this going to be huge?" |
| `jira_search_fields` | Discover custom-field IDs by name |
| `jira_get_field_options` | List allowed values for a select / multi-select field |
| `jira_get_comments` | Get all comments for an issue |
| `jira_get_worklogs` | Get all worklogs for an issue |
| `jira_get_transitions` | Discover available status transitions |
| `jira_get_link_types` | List available issue-link types |
| `jira_get_watchers` | List watchers for an issue |
| `jira_get_projects` | List projects accessible to the connection |
| `jira_get_project_metadata` | Fetch creation metadata (issue types, required fields) |
| `jira_get_user_profile` | Resolve an email/accountId to a full user profile |
| `jira_get_boards` | List agile boards in a project |
| `jira_get_board_issues` | Issues on a board (paginated) |
| `jira_get_sprints` | List sprints on a board |
| `jira_get_sprint_issues` | Issues in a sprint (paginated) |
### Jira — Write (requires read-write connection)
| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `jira_create_issue` | Create a new issue |
| `jira_update_issue` | Update fields on an existing issue |
| `jira_delete_issue` | Delete an issue |
| `jira_transition_issue` | Move issue to a new status |
| `jira_add_comment` | Add comment (wiki markup, API v2) |
| `jira_edit_comment` | Update existing comment |
| `jira_add_worklog` | Log time on an issue |
| `jira_create_issue_link` | Link two issues |
| `jira_remove_issue_link` | Remove an issue link |
| `jira_set_watchers` | Replace the watcher set on an issue |
| `jira_create_sprint` | Create a sprint on a board |
| `jira_update_sprint` | Update sprint state / dates |
| `jira_add_issues_to_sprint` | Move issues into a sprint |
| `jira_create_version` | Create a project version |
### Confluence — Read
| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `confluence_get_page` | Fetch a page by id (body storage, version, space) |
| `confluence_get_page_children` | List direct children of a page (paginated) |
| `confluence_search` | CQL search; minimal per-match rows |
### Confluence — Write (requires read-write connection)
| Tool | Description |
|------|-------------|
| `confluence_upsert_pages` | Batch create-or-update with preserve-on-omit body semantics + per-page status + partial-failure shape |
| `confluence_set_page_properties` | Metadata-only write (page_width, emoji, labels) — physically cannot touch body or title |
### Output Formats
All tools accept a `format` parameter:
| Format | Default for | Description |
|--------|-------------|-------------|
| `toon` | Lists (search, comments) | TSV with header — shape once, data many. 30-60% fewer tokens than JSON |
| `json` | Single entities (get_issue) | Standard JSON with metadata envelope |
List responses use a compact TSV-style format (header row + tab-separated values) inspired by [TOON](https://toonformat.dev). This is the same approach a2db uses — column names appear once, then just values. For a 50-issue search result, this typically saves **40-60% of tokens** compared to JSON.
**TSV example (search results):**
```
# search (23 results, 50ms, truncated: False)
key summary assignee status
PROJ-142 Fix auth timeout Alice Smith In Progress
PROJ-141 Add search filters Bob Jones To Do
```
**JSON example (single issue):**
```json
{
"data": {"key": "PROJ-142", "fields": {"summary": "Fix auth timeout", ...}},
"count": 1,
"truncated": false,
"time_ms": 85
}
```
### Error Enrichment
When something fails, a2atlassian tells the agent what to do:
```
Field 'asignee' does not exist
Did you mean: assignee?
```
```
Connection 'myproject' is read-only.
Run: a2atlassian login -p myproject --read-only false
```
**Quirks handled automatically:**
- Assignee requires display name (not `712020:` account IDs) — auto-detected with hint
- Parent field must be plain string — `{"key": "PROJ-14"}` normalized to `"PROJ-14"` silently
- Issue type conversion not supported via API — clear Jira UI instructions provided
## Security
### Read-Only by Default
Every connection starts read-only. Write tools check the connection flag before executing:
```
Connection 'myproject' is read-only.
Re-run 'a2atlassian login -p myproject --read-only false' to enable writes.
```
The human operator controls write access — not the agent.
### Credential Storage
Connections saved via `login` go to `~/.config/a2atlassian/connections/` as TOML files:
- **File permissions:** `0600` (owner read/write only)
- **`${ATLASSIAN_TOKEN}` syntax** — env var references stored literally, expanded at runtime
- **No secrets in output** — `list_connections` shows project name, URL, and mode — never tokens
- **Ephemeral mode** — `--register` keeps credentials in memory only, never written to disk
### Connection Scoping
Use `--scope` to limit which saved connections a specific MCP instance can access:
```bash
# Project config — only myproject visible, even if other connections are saved
uvx --from a2atlassian a2atlassian-mcp --scope myproject
```
Project-level MCP configs (`.claude/mcp.json`) override global configs — each repo sees only its own connections.
### Rate Limiting
Built-in retry with exponential backoff for Atlassian's rate limits (429) and transient server errors (500). Two retries at 1s and 3s intervals before surfacing the error.
## Comparison
| Feature | a2atlassian | Rovo (official) | sooperset/mcp-atlassian |
|---------|-------------|-----------------|------------------------|
| **Setup** | `pip install` | OAuth + Docker | Docker + .env + mcp-remote |
| **Tools in context** | ~35 (loaded on demand) | ~72 | ~72 |
| **Connection management** | TOML + `--register` + `--scope` | Per-session OAuth | .env file |
| **Multi-project** | Yes (scoped) | No | One .env per setup |
| **Read-only default** | Yes (per-connection) | No | No |
| **Output format** | TSV + JSON | JSON | JSON |
| **Error enrichment** | Field suggestions, quirk fixes | Generic errors | Generic errors |
| **Quirk handling** | Auto-fix (assignee, parent) | Documented workarounds | Documented workarounds |
| **Rate limiting** | Built-in retry | No | No |
| **CLI** | Yes | No | No |
| **License** | Apache 2.0 | Proprietary | MIT |
## Roadmap
**Shipped:** Jira full surface (v0.3.0) · Confluence core + markdown-to-storage with full CommonMark + GFM fidelity (v0.4.0, v0.5.2) · 1Password `op://` token refs (v0.5.1) · metadata-only Confluence writes + preserve-on-omit body semantics (v0.5.2).
**Next:** `confluence_delete_page`, Confluence comments + attachments, Confluence integration-test path. Backlog in [`TODO.md`](TODO.md).
## Setup by Environment
### Local (macOS / Linux)
```bash
# Recommended
uv tool install a2atlassian
# Or with pip
pip install a2atlassian
# CLI
a2atlassian login -p myproject --url https://mysite.atlassian.net --email me@co.com --token "$TOKEN"
# Or add as MCP server (see Quick Start)
```
### CI / Automation
```bash
uv tool install a2atlassian
# Pre-configured — no login needed
uvx --from a2atlassian a2atlassian-mcp --register ci https://mysite.atlassian.net ci-user@co.com "${CI_ATLASSIAN_TOKEN}"
```
## Development
```bash
make bootstrap # Install deps + pnpm + git hooks
make check # Lint + test + coverage-diff + security (full gate)
make test # Tests with coverage
make lint # agent-harness + jscpd + actionlint (never modifies files)
make fix # Auto-fix + lint
make similar # Advisory: report similarly-named functions/classes
```
Linters: `ruff` + `ty` (via agent-harness), `yamllint`, `jscpd` (copy-paste
detection via pnpm), `actionlint` (GitHub Actions workflows). Pre-commit
hooks run `agent-harness fix` + lint on every commit. Install `pnpm` and
`actionlint` via `brew install pnpm actionlint`.
## License
Apache 2.0
---
<p align="center">
<sub>🏢 Agent-first Atlassian access since 2025.</sub>
</p>
<p align="center">
<sub>Built by <a href="https://github.com/iorlas">Denis Tomilin</a></sub>
</p>
<!-- mcp-name: io.github.yoselabs/a2atlassian -->
TDQS
Scored across 10 tools
Each tool has a distinct purpose with clear boundaries. Comment operations (add/edit/get) are well differentiated, issue retrieval is separate from workflow transitions, and connection management stands apart from Jira operations.
All tools use consistent snake_case formatting. Jira operations follow a clear jira_verb_noun pattern, while connection management tools use simpler verbs (login/logout/list_connections). The distinction between prefixed and unprefixed tools is logical but creates a minor inconsistency in the naming scheme.
Ten tools represents an appropriate scope for a Jira integration—sufficient to cover comment management, issue retrieval, workflow transitions, and authentication without bloat or fragmentation.
The surface covers reading, commenting, and workflow transitions well, but lacks essential write operations for issues themselves—specifically create_issue and update_issue (for fields). This creates a significant functional gap where agents can comment on and move issues but cannot create or modify issue content.