Mode: Cognitive/Prompt-Driven - No standalone utility script; use via agent context.
Jira PM (Project Management) - Provides integration with Atlassian Jira for issue tracking, project management, and workflow automation. Enables 90%+ context savings over direct MCP integration.
- Issue management: search, create, update, transition
- Project discovery and metadata retrieval
- Sprint management and issue tracking
- Comment management on issues
- JQL-based advanced queries
## Environment Variables
Required:
- JIRA_URL - Base URL of your Jira instance (e.g., https://yourcompany.atlassian.net)
- JIRA_API_TOKEN - API token for authentication (generate at Jira Account Settings -> Security -> API Tokens)
- JIRA_USER_EMAIL - Email address associated with the API token
Optional:
- JIRA_DEFAULT_PROJECT - Default project key for operations (e.g., PROJ)
- JIRA_API_VERSION - API version (default: 3)
1. Authentication: All requests use Basic Auth with JIRA_USER_EMAIL and JIRA_API_TOKEN
2. Progressive Disclosure: Load only necessary issue fields to minimize API calls
3. Validation: Verify project keys and issue keys before operations
4. Error Handling: Gracefully handle rate limits, authentication errors, and invalid inputs
Issues
| Tool |
Description |
Confirmation Required |
| search |
Search issues using JQL |
No |
| get-issue |
Get detailed issue information |
No |
| create-issue |
Create a new issue |
Yes |
| update-issue |
Update existing issue fields |
Yes |
| transition |
Change issue status/workflow state |
Yes |
Projects
| Tool |
Description |
| list-projects |
List all accessible projects |
| project-info |
Get detailed project information |
Sprints
| Tool |
Description |
| active-sprint |
Get currently active sprint for a board |
| sprint-issues |
List all issues in a specific sprint |
Comments
| Tool |
Description |
| get-comments |
Retrieve all comments on an issue |
| add-comment |
Add a comment to an issue |
Common Workflows
Issue Creation: List projects -> Get project info -> Create issue -> Add comment
Sprint Management: Get active sprint -> List sprint issues -> Update issue status -> Add comments
Issue Search: Use JQL for targeted searches -> Retrieve issue details -> Update issues
Primary Agent: planner
- Use Case: Project backlog management, sprint planning, requirement tracking
- Common Operations: Create issues, update priorities, manage sprints
Secondary Agent: developer
- Use Case: Issue tracking during development, status updates
- Common Operations: Search assigned issues, transition issues, add comments
Common Error Scenarios
- Authentication Errors: Missing or invalid API token, expired credentials, insufficient permissions
- Rate Limiting: Too many API requests in short period, implement exponential backoff
- Invalid Inputs: Non-existent project keys, invalid issue types, invalid transition IDs
- Network Errors: Connection timeouts, unreachable Jira instance
- Use JQL Efficiently: Craft precise JQL queries to reduce result sets and API calls
- Cache Metadata: Store project keys, issue types, and transitions locally
- Verify Before Create: Always verify project and issue type before creating issues
- Use Transitions: Respect workflow states when changing issue status
- Batch Operations: Group related API calls when possible
- Handle Errors Gracefully: Provide clear error messages and recovery suggestions
- Respect Rate Limits: Implement backoff strategies for high-volume operations
Context Optimization
- Lazy Loading: Only load issue details when explicitly requested
- Field Selection: Request only necessary fields from Jira API
- Caching: Store frequently accessed metadata (projects, issue types)
- Streaming: Not supported - all responses are complete payloads
- Pagination: Automatically handle large result sets
Context Savings: 90%+ compared to loading full Jira MCP server
Jira REST API Endpoints Used
- /rest/api/3/search - JQL search
- /rest/api/3/issue/{issueKey} - Get/update issue
- /rest/api/3/issue - Create issue
- /rest/api/3/issue/{issueKey}/transitions - Transition issue
- /rest/api/3/project - List projects
- /rest/api/3/project/{projectKey} - Get project details
- /rest/agile/1.0/board/{boardId}/sprint - Get sprints
- /rest/agile/1.0/sprint/{sprintId}/issue - Get sprint issues
- /rest/api/3/issue/{issueKey}/comment - Get/add comments
See https://developer.atlassian.com/cloud/jira/platform/rest/v3/ for full reference.
Iron Laws
- ALWAYS verify the project key exists before creating an issue — Jira silently ignores invalid project keys in some API versions, creating orphaned issues or returning cryptic errors.
- NEVER use
PUT /issue to change status — Jira status changes must go through valid workflow transitions via POST /issue/{key}/transitions; direct field updates bypass workflow validators and automation rules.
- ALWAYS use JQL for issue searches rather than fetching all issues and filtering client-side — returning all issues wastes quota and causes timeouts on projects with thousands of tickets.
- NEVER create duplicate issues without first searching for existing ones — duplicate tickets fragment tracking, confuse assignees, and produce misleading velocity metrics.
- ALWAYS include
summary, issuetype, and project fields when creating an issue — these three fields are the minimum required by Jira Cloud REST API v3; missing any produces a 400 error.
Anti-Patterns
| Anti-Pattern |
Why It Fails |
Correct Approach |
| Updating status via field PUT |
Bypasses workflow guards; invalid state transitions succeed silently; automation rules don't fire |
Use POST /issue/{key}/transitions with the correct transition ID |
| Fetching all issues and filtering locally |
Times out on large projects; wastes API quota; slow for paginated results |
Always use JQL with specific project/sprint/status filters |
| Creating issues without duplication check |
Splits work tracking; team sees multiple tickets for same task |
Search with JQL (project = X AND summary ~ "keyword") before creating |
Hardcoding field IDs (e.g., customfield_10016) |
Field IDs differ between Jira instances and cloud/server; breaks across projects |
Discover field IDs dynamically via /rest/api/3/field endpoint |
| No error handling for rate limits (429) |
Jira Cloud rate limits at ~300 requests/minute; unhandled 429 crashes automation |
Implement exponential backoff; check Retry-After header on 429 responses |
Memory Protocol (MANDATORY)
Before starting:
Read .claude/context/memory/learnings.md
After completing:
- New pattern -> .claude/context/memory/learnings.md
- Issue found -> .claude/context/memory/issues.md
- Decision made -> .claude/context/memory/decisions.md
ASSUME INTERRUPTION: If it is not in memory, it did not happen.
