Jira MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for interacting with Jira’s REST API using the jira-python library. This server integrates with Claude Desktop and other MCP clients, allowing you to interact with Jira using natural language commands.

Features

• Get all accessible Jira projects
• Get details for a specific Jira issue
• Search issues using JQL (Jira Query Language)
• Create new Jira issues
• Add comments to issues
• Get available transitions for an issue
• Transition issues to new statuses

Installation

Prerequisites

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

Activate a virtual environment (recommended)

# Install a Virtual Environment (VENV) in the mcp server directory
python -m venv .
# Activate the virtual environment
source bin/activate

Using uv (recommended)

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

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

Using pip

pip install mcp-server-jira

Configuration

Environment Variables

Configure the server using 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 (Local Development)

You can also create a .env file in the root directory with your configuration:

JIRA_SERVER_URL=https://your-jira-instance.atlassian.net
JIRA_AUTH_METHOD=basic_auth
JIRA_USERNAME=your_email@example.com
JIRA_TOKEN=your_api_token

Usage

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 this server with Claude Desktop:

1. Install the server using one of the methods above
2. In Claude Desktop:
   • Go to Settings -> Developer
   • Click Edit Config
   • Open the json configuraiton in your editor of choice
   • Add the following JSON: (NOTE: The environment variables used are for token Auth and will not work with other authentication methods)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "<PATH TO UV> i.e. /Users/<MYUSERNAME>/.local/bin/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. Now 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”

Authentication

The server supports multiple authentication methods:

Basic Authentication

For Jira Server/Data Center with username and password:

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

API Token (Jira Cloud)

For Jira Cloud using an API token:

JIRA_SERVER_URL="https://your-domain.atlassian.net"
JIRA_AUTH_METHOD="basic_auth"
JIRA_USERNAME="your_email@example.com"
JIRA_TOKEN="your_api_token"

Personal Access Token (Jira Server/Data Center)

For Jira Server/Data Center (8.14+) using a PAT:

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

Available Tools

1. get_projects: Get all accessible Jira projects
2. get_issue: Get details for a specific Jira issue by key
3. search_issues: Search for Jira issues using JQL
4. create_issue: Create a new Jira issue
5. add_comment: Add a comment to a Jira issue
6. get_transitions: Get available workflow transitions for a Jira issue
7. transition_issue: Transition a Jira issue to a new status

License

MIT