Jira MCP server for AI agents

This MCP server integrates with Jira's REST API, allowing you to interact with Jira using natural language commands through Claude Desktop and other MCP clients. It enables you to manage projects, issues, comments, and workflows through simple, conversational queries.

Installation

Prerequisites

Python 3.9 or higher
A Jira instance (Cloud, Server, or Data Center)
uv (optional but recommended for dependency management)

Setting Up a Virtual Environment

# Install a Virtual Environment in the MCP server directory
python -m venv .

# Activate the virtual environment
source bin/activate

Installation with uv (Recommended)

# Install uv if you don't have it
pip install uv

# Install the Jira MCP server
uv pip install mcp-server-jira

Installation with pip

pip install mcp-server-jira

Configuration

Environment Variables

Configure the server using these environment variables:

JIRA_SERVER_URL: URL of your Jira server
JIRA_AUTH_METHOD: Authentication method ('basic_auth' or 'token_auth')
JIRA_USERNAME: Username for basic auth
JIRA_PASSWORD: Password for basic auth
JIRA_TOKEN: API token or Personal Access Token

Environment File

For local development, create a .env file in the root directory:

JIRA_SERVER_URL=https://your-jira-instance.atlassian.net
JIRA_AUTH_METHOD=basic_auth
[email protected]
JIRA_TOKEN=your_api_token

Authentication Methods

Basic Authentication (Jira Server/Data Center)

JIRA_SERVER_URL="https://jira.example.com"
JIRA_AUTH_METHOD="basic_auth"
JIRA_USERNAME="your_username"
JIRA_PASSWORD="your_password"

API Token (Jira Cloud)

JIRA_SERVER_URL="https://your-domain.atlassian.net"
JIRA_AUTH_METHOD="basic_auth"
JIRA_USERNAME="[email protected]"
JIRA_TOKEN="your_api_token"

Personal Access Token (Jira Server/Data Center 8.14+)

JIRA_SERVER_URL="https://jira.example.com"
JIRA_AUTH_METHOD="token_auth"
JIRA_TOKEN="your_personal_access_token"

Running the Server

Command Line

python -m mcp_server_jira

Docker

docker build -t mcp-jira .
docker run --env-file .env -p 8080:8080 mcp-jira

Claude Desktop Integration

To use with Claude Desktop:

Install the server using one of the methods above
In Claude Desktop:
- Go to Settings -> Developer
- Click Edit Config
- Open the JSON configuration in your editor
- Add the following JSON:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "<PATH TO UV>",
      "args": [
          "--directory",
          "<PATH TO JIRA MCP>",
          "run",
          "mcp-server-jira"
      ],
      "env": {
          "JIRA_SERVER_URL": "https://<ORG>.atlassian.net/",
          "JIRA_AUTH_METHOD": "token_auth",
          "JIRA_USERNAME": "<USERNAME>",
          "JIRA_TOKEN": "<TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Available Features

The MCP server provides the following capabilities:

get_projects: Retrieve all accessible Jira projects
get_issue: Get detailed information about a specific issue
search_issues: Search for issues using JQL (Jira Query Language)
create_issue: Create new Jira issues
add_comment: Add comments to existing issues
get_transitions: View available workflow transitions for an issue
transition_issue: Move issues to different statuses

Example Usage with Claude

After integration, you can interact with Jira by asking Claude questions like:

"Show me all my projects in Jira"
"Get details for issue PROJECT-123"
"Create a new bug in the PROJECT with summary 'Fix login issue'"
"Find all open bugs assigned to me"
"Add a comment to PROJ-456 saying 'Working on this now'"
"What transitions are available for PROJ-789?"
"Move ticket PROJ-123 to 'In Progress'"

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":"uv","args":["--directory","<PATH TO JIRA MCP>","run","mcp-server-jira"],"env":{"JIRA_SERVER_URL":"https://<ORG>.atlassian.net/","JIRA_AUTH_METHOD":"token_auth","JIRA_USERNAME":"<USERNAME>","JIRA_TOKEN":"<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": "uv",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "<PATH TO JIRA MCP>",
                "run",
                "mcp-server-jira"
            ],
            "env": {
                "JIRA_SERVER_URL": "https://<ORG>.atlassian.net/",
                "JIRA_AUTH_METHOD": "token_auth",
                "JIRA_USERNAME": "<USERNAME>",
                "JIRA_TOKEN": "<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": "uv",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "<PATH TO JIRA MCP>",
                "run",
                "mcp-server-jira"
            ],
            "env": {
                "JIRA_SERVER_URL": "https://<ORG>.atlassian.net/",
                "JIRA_AUTH_METHOD": "token_auth",
                "JIRA_USERNAME": "<USERNAME>",
                "JIRA_TOKEN": "<TOKEN>"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect