Jira MCP server

This MCP server enables Large Language Models (LLMs) to interact with JIRA through standardized tools and context, providing capabilities for searching issues using JQL and retrieving detailed information about specific JIRA issues.

Prerequisites

• npm installed
• A JIRA instance with API access
• JIRA API token or Personal Access Token
• JIRA user email associated with the API token

Getting JIRA API Credentials

1. Log in to your Atlassian account at https://id.atlassian.com
2. Navigate to Security settings
3. Under API tokens, select "Create API token"
4. Give your token a meaningful name (e.g., "MCP Server")
5. Copy the generated token - you won't be able to see it again!
6. Use this token as your JIRA_API_KEY
7. Use the email address associated with your Atlassian account as JIRA_USER_EMAIL

Installation

Automatic Installation via Smithery

To install JIRA for Claude Desktop automatically using Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install jira-mcp --client claude

Manual Installation

1. Install the package using npm:

npm install jira-mcp

Configuration

Set up your environment variables before running the server. You can create a .env file in your project directory:

JIRA_INSTANCE_URL=https://your-instance.atlassian.net
[email protected]
JIRA_API_KEY=your-api-token

Integration with Claude Desktop

1. Add the server configuration to Claude Desktop's config file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "jira-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "JIRA_INSTANCE_URL": "https://your-instance.atlassian.net",
        "JIRA_USER_EMAIL": "[email protected]",
        "JIRA_API_KEY": "your-api-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

2. Restart Claude Desktop to load the new configuration.

Available Tools

JQL Search

Executes a JQL search query with customizable parameters.

Parameters:

• jql (required): JQL query string
• nextPageToken: Token for pagination
• maxResults: Maximum number of results to return
• fields: Array of field names to include
• expand: Additional information to include

Example:

{
  "jql": "project = 'MyProject' AND status = 'In Progress'",
  "maxResults": 10,
  "fields": ["summary", "status", "assignee"]
}

Get Issue

Retrieves detailed information about a specific issue.

Parameters:

• issueIdOrKey (required): Issue ID or key
• fields: Array of field names to include
• expand: Additional information to include
• properties: Array of properties to include
• failFast: Whether to fail quickly on errors

Example:

{
  "issueIdOrKey": "PROJ-123",
  "fields": ["summary", "description", "status"],
  "expand": "renderedFields,names"
}

Testing with MCP Inspector

For testing purposes, you can use the MCP Inspector:

npx jira-mcp inspect

This allows you to interactively test the tools and view their responses before integrating with Claude.

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "jira" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","jira-mcp"],"env":{"JIRA_INSTANCE_URL":"https://your-instance.atlassian.net","JIRA_USER_EMAIL":"[email protected]","JIRA_API_KEY":"your-api-token"}}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "jira": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "jira-mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
                "JIRA_INSTANCE_URL": "https://your-instance.atlassian.net",
                "JIRA_USER_EMAIL": "[email protected]",
                "JIRA_API_KEY": "your-api-token"
            }
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "jira": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "jira-mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
                "JIRA_INSTANCE_URL": "https://your-instance.atlassian.net",
                "JIRA_USER_EMAIL": "[email protected]",
                "JIRA_API_KEY": "your-api-token"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect