Jira Skill

You are a Jira specialist. This skill covers two interfaces for working with Jira:

Jira CLI - Command-line tool for terminal operations
Jira MCP Server - MCP tools for programmatic access (mcp__jira__* functions)

Jira MCP Server

When using MCP tools (mcp__jira__*), follow these patterns:

User Management and Assignment

Search for users before assigning:

1. Search: mcp__jira__jira_users_search(query="Full Name")
2. Extract account_id from results
3. Assign: mcp__jira__jira_issues_assign(issue_key, account_id)

Error Handling - Empty Response Pattern

CRITICAL: Empty response errors are often successes

The Jira API returns HTTP 204 (No Content) for successful operations that don't return data. The MCP server may report these as errors:

Error: Invalid Response Payload (b""): EOF while parsing a value at line 1 column 0
Error: Some(204)

Best Practice: Always verify operations with GET requests

# After assign/update that returns empty response error:
1. Call mcp__jira__jira_issues_get(issue_key)
2. Check if the operation actually succeeded
3. Report success based on verification, not error message

Example Pattern:

# Try to assign
assign_result = mcp__jira__jira_issues_assign("PROJ-123", account_id)
# May return error but succeed

# Verify the assignment worked
issue = mcp__jira__jira_issues_get("PROJ-123")
if issue.assignee.account_id == account_id:
    # Assignment succeeded despite error message

Issue Links

Creating links between issues:

mcp__jira__jira_issuelinks_create(
    inward_issue="PROJ-123",
    outward_issue="OTHER-456",
    link_type="Relates"  # or "Blocks", "Duplicates", etc.
)

Common Workflows

Create issue with all details:

1. Search for assignee: mcp__jira__jira_users_search(query="Name")
2. Create issue: mcp__jira__jira_issues_create(...)
3. Verify with: mcp__jira__jira_issues_get(issue_key)

Update existing issue:

1. Update: mcp__jira__jira_issues_update(issue_key, fields...)
2. Verify: mcp__jira__jira_issues_get(issue_key)

Link related issues:

1. Create link: mcp__jira__jira_issuelinks_create(...)
2. Verify: mcp__jira__jira_issues_get(issue_key) # check links in response

Jira CLI

The Jira CLI provides command-line access to Jira for terminal operations.

Core Commands

Authentication

bash

# Check authentication status
jira auth check

# Login to Jira
jira auth login

Issue Management

bash

# View issue details
jira issue get ISSUE-123

# Create new issue
jira issue create --project PROJ --type Bug --summary "Issue summary" --description "Description"

# Update issue
jira issue update ISSUE-123 --summary "New summary"

# Add comment to issue
jira comment add ISSUE-123 "Comment text"

# List comments on issue
jira comment list ISSUE-123

Issue Transitions

bash

# List available transitions for an issue
jira transition list ISSUE-123

# Transition issue to new status
jira transition ISSUE-123 "In Progress"

Searching with JQL

bash

# Search issues with JQL
jira search "project = PROJ AND status = Open"

# Search with output format
jira search "assignee = currentUser()" --format json

# Search with field selection
jira search "project = PROJ" --fields summary,status,assignee

Project Operations

bash

# List all projects
jira project list

# Get project details
jira project get PROJ

Watching and Assigning

bash

# Watch an issue
jira watch add ISSUE-123

# Stop watching an issue
jira watch remove ISSUE-123

# Assign issue
jira assign ISSUE-123 username

# Assign to self
jira assign ISSUE-123 me

Common Workflows

Viewing Your Work

bash

# View issues assigned to you
jira search "assignee = currentUser() AND status != Done"

# View issues you're watching
jira search "watcher = currentUser()"

# View recent activity
jira search "updatedDate >= -7d AND assignee = currentUser()"

Creating and Updating Issues

bash

# Create a bug
jira issue create --project PROJ --type Bug \
  --summary "Login button not working" \
  --description "Steps to reproduce..."

# Update priority
jira issue update ISSUE-123 --priority High

# Add labels
jira issue update ISSUE-123 --labels bug,frontend

# Link issues
jira link add ISSUE-123 ISSUE-456 "blocks"

Moving Issues Through Workflow

bash

# Start work on issue
jira transition ISSUE-123 "In Progress"

# Mark as done
jira transition ISSUE-123 "Done"

# Reopen issue
jira transition ISSUE-123 "Reopen"

JQL Reference

Common JQL Patterns

bash

# Issues in specific project
jira search "project = MYPROJ"

# Open issues assigned to you
jira search "assignee = currentUser() AND status in (Open, 'In Progress')"

# High priority bugs
jira search "type = Bug AND priority = High"

# Recently updated issues
jira search "updated >= -1w"

# Issues created this sprint
jira search "sprint in openSprints() AND created >= startOfWeek()"

# Issues with specific label
jira search "labels = urgent"

# Issues in epic
jira search "'Epic Link' = EPIC-123"

JQL Field Reference

```
project
```
- Project key or name
```
status
```
- Issue status (Open, In Progress, Done, etc.)
```
assignee
```
- Assigned user (use
```
currentUser()
```
for yourself)
```
reporter
```
- Issue reporter
```
priority
```
- Priority level (Highest, High, Medium, Low, Lowest)
```
type
```
- Issue type (Bug, Story, Task, Epic, etc.)
```
labels
```
- Issue labels
```
created
```
- Creation date
```
updated
```
- Last update date
```
resolution
```
- Resolution status

JQL Functions

```
currentUser()
```
- Current logged-in user
```
startOfDay()
```
,
```
startOfWeek()
```
,
```
startOfMonth()
```
- Date functions
```
now()
```
- Current timestamp
```
openSprints()
```
- Currently active sprints
```
closedSprints()
```
- Completed sprints

Output Formats

bash

# JSON output (for scripting)
jira search "project = PROJ" --format json

# Table output (human-readable, default)
jira search "project = PROJ" --format table

# CSV output
jira search "project = PROJ" --format csv

Best Practices

Always authenticate first: Run
```
jira auth check
```
before operations
Use JQL for complex queries: More powerful than simple filters
Specify output format: Use
```
--format json
```
for scripting
Include field selection: Use
```
--fields
```
to limit returned data
Test transitions: Use
```
jira transition list
```
before transitioning
Be specific with JQL: Use quotes for multi-word values

Common Use Cases

Daily Standup Prep

bash

# What you worked on yesterday
jira search "assignee = currentUser() AND updated >= -1d"

# What you're working on today
jira search "assignee = currentUser() AND status = 'In Progress'"

Bug Triage

bash

# Unassigned bugs
jira search "type = Bug AND assignee is EMPTY AND status = Open"

# Critical bugs in project
jira search "project = PROJ AND type = Bug AND priority in (Highest, High)"

Sprint Planning

bash

# Issues in backlog
jira search "project = PROJ AND status = 'To Do' AND sprint is EMPTY"

# Issues in current sprint
jira search "project = PROJ AND sprint in openSprints()"

# Completed this sprint
jira search "project = PROJ AND sprint in openSprints() AND status = Done"

Error Handling

If you encounter authentication errors:

bash

jira auth login

If JQL syntax errors occur:

Check for proper quoting of multi-word values
Verify field names are correct
Use
```
AND
```
,
```
OR
```
,
```
NOT
```
operators (uppercase)

Quick Reference

bash

# View issue
jira issue get ISSUE-123

# Search
jira search "JQL query here"

# Create
jira issue create --project PROJ --type TYPE --summary "text"

# Update
jira issue update ISSUE-123 --field value

# Transition
jira transition ISSUE-123 "Status Name"

# Comment
jira comment add ISSUE-123 "Comment text"

# Assign
jira assign ISSUE-123 username

jira

NPX Install

Tags

SKILL.md Content

Jira Skill

Jira MCP Server

User Management and Assignment

Error Handling - Empty Response Pattern

Issue Links

Common Workflows

Jira CLI

Core Commands

Authentication

Issue Management

Issue Transitions

Searching with JQL

Project Operations

Watching and Assigning

Common Workflows

Viewing Your Work

Creating and Updating Issues

Moving Issues Through Workflow

JQL Reference

Common JQL Patterns

JQL Field Reference

JQL Functions

Output Formats

Best Practices

Common Use Cases

Daily Standup Prep

Bug Triage

Sprint Planning

Error Handling

Quick Reference