Jira Issue Management

Create and manage Jira issues using the Jira REST API or MCP.

Setup

Option 1: Jira MCP Server

Install the Jira MCP server for seamless integration:

npx @anthropic/create-mcp-server jira

Option 2: Direct API

Set environment variables:

export JIRA_BASE_URL="https://yourcompany.atlassian.net"
export JIRA_EMAIL="your-email@company.com"
export JIRA_API_TOKEN="your-api-token"

Get your API token: https://id.atlassian.com/manage-profile/security/api-tokens

Creating Issues

Basic Issue

import requests
from requests.auth import HTTPBasicAuth
import os

def create_issue(project_key, summary, description, issue_type="Task"):
    url = f"{os.environ['JIRA_BASE_URL']}/rest/api/3/issue"

    auth = HTTPBasicAuth(
        os.environ['JIRA_EMAIL'],
        os.environ['JIRA_API_TOKEN']
    )

    payload = {
        "fields": {
            "project": {"key": project_key},
            "summary": summary,
            "description": {
                "type": "doc",
                "version": 1,
                "content": [{
                    "type": "paragraph",
                    "content": [{"type": "text", "text": description}]
                }]
            },
            "issuetype": {"name": issue_type}
        }
    }

    response = requests.post(url, json=payload, auth=auth)
    return response.json()

# Example
issue = create_issue("PROJ", "Fix login bug", "Users can't login with SSO", "Bug")
print(f"Created: {issue['key']}")

With Labels and Priority

def create_detailed_issue(project_key, summary, description,
                          issue_type="Task", priority="Medium",
                          labels=None, assignee=None):
    payload = {
        "fields": {
            "project": {"key": project_key},
            "summary": summary,
            "description": {
                "type": "doc",
                "version": 1,
                "content": [{
                    "type": "paragraph",
                    "content": [{"type": "text", "text": description}]
                }]
            },
            "issuetype": {"name": issue_type},
            "priority": {"name": priority},
        }
    }

    if labels:
        payload["fields"]["labels"] = labels
    if assignee:
        payload["fields"]["assignee"] = {"accountId": assignee}

    # ... make request

Common Issue Types

Type	Use For
Bug	Something broken
Task	Work item
Story	User-facing feature
Epic	Large initiative
Sub-task	Part of larger task

Updating Issues

Change Status

def transition_issue(issue_key, transition_name):
    # Get available transitions
    url = f"{JIRA_BASE_URL}/rest/api/3/issue/{issue_key}/transitions"
    transitions = requests.get(url, auth=auth).json()

    # Find matching transition
    transition_id = None
    for t in transitions['transitions']:
        if t['name'].lower() == transition_name.lower():
            transition_id = t['id']
            break

    # Execute transition
    requests.post(url, json={"transition": {"id": transition_id}}, auth=auth)

Add Comment

def add_comment(issue_key, comment_text):
    url = f"{JIRA_BASE_URL}/rest/api/3/issue/{issue_key}/comment"

    payload = {
        "body": {
            "type": "doc",
            "version": 1,
            "content": [{
                "type": "paragraph",
                "content": [{"type": "text", "text": comment_text}]
            }]
        }
    }

    requests.post(url, json=payload, auth=auth)

Searching Issues

JQL Queries

def search_issues(jql):
    url = f"{JIRA_BASE_URL}/rest/api/3/search"
    params = {"jql": jql, "maxResults": 50}
    response = requests.get(url, params=params, auth=auth)
    return response.json()['issues']

# Examples
my_bugs = search_issues("project = PROJ AND type = Bug AND assignee = currentUser()")
open_items = search_issues("project = PROJ AND status != Done")
recent = search_issues("project = PROJ AND created >= -7d")

Quick Commands

When user says... create this:

Command	Action
"log bug about X"	Bug issue with description
"create task for X"	Task issue
"what's on my plate"	JQL: assignee = currentUser() AND status != Done
"move X to done"	Transition issue to Done
"add comment to X"	Add comment to issue

Best Practices

1. Summary: Keep under 80 chars, start with verb (Fix, Add, Update)
2. Description: Include steps to reproduce for bugs
3. Labels: Use for categorization (frontend, backend, urgent)
4. Links: Reference related issues when relevant