jira-easy-mcp

Another Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for Jira, without Auth token. Provides tools for complete Jira automation including issues, projects, boards, sprints, comments, worklogs, and more.

Tested on: Jira Server / Data Center 7.13, 8.20, 9.12 and 10.3 (every tool, automated, see Development & Testing)

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🔑 Why This MCP?

Works with Basic Authentication (username + password) — no API tokens required!

Most Jira MCP servers require OAuth or API tokens, which many organizations restrict or don't allow. This MCP uses HTTP Basic Authentication, so you can connect using just your Jira username and password. Perfect for:

• 🏢 Enterprise environments where admins don't allow API token creation
• 🔒 Self-hosted Jira Server instances without OAuth configured
• ⚡ Quick setup without going through IT approval processes

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Quick Start

VS Code (Workspace Configuration)

Create .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace root:

{
  "servers": {
    "jira": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "jira-easy-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "JIRA_BASE_URL": "https://your-jira-instance.com",
        "JIRA_USERNAME": "your-username",
        "JIRA_PASSWORD": "your-password",
        "JIRA_PROJECTS_FILTER": "ABC,DEF,XYZ",
        "JIRA_RESPONSE_FORMAT": "JSON"
      }
    }
  }
}

Add to your VS Code settings for accessing in all workspaces.

Note: JIRA_PROJECTS_FILTER and JIRA_RESPONSE_FORMAT are optional. Projects filter limits access to specified projects. Response format can be JSON (default) or TOON (text-oriented notation).

Claude Code

claude mcp add jira \
  -e JIRA_BASE_URL=https://your-jira-instance.com \
  -e JIRA_USERNAME=your-username \
  -e JIRA_PASSWORD=your-password \
  -- npx -y jira-easy-mcp

Codex CLI

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.jira]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "jira-easy-mcp"]
env = { JIRA_BASE_URL = "https://your-jira-instance.com", JIRA_USERNAME = "your-username", JIRA_PASSWORD = "your-password" }

Other clients

Cursor: ~/.cursor/mcp.json or .cursor/mcp.json (use "mcpServers": { ... } wrapper)
Windsurf: Add to your Windsurf MCP settings (use "mcpServers": { ... } wrapper)
Claude Desktop: Edit claude_desktop_config.json (macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/, Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\; use "mcpServers": { ... } wrapper)
Gemini CLI: ~/.gemini/settings.json (use "mcpServers": { ... } wrapper)

All use the same command, args, and env configuration as VS Code above.

Windows: if the client cannot start npx, use "command": "cmd" with "args": ["/c", "npx", "-y", "jira-easy-mcp"].

Tool limits: some clients (notably Cursor) cap how many tools they send to the model, historically around 40 across all servers. This server has 41; turn off the ones you don't need in the client's MCP settings.

Credentials from the OS keychain (optional)

To keep your password out of config files, omit JIRA_USERNAME/JIRA_PASSWORD and store a credential under the service name JiraMCP:

• macOS: security add-generic-password -s JiraMCP -a your-username -w (prompts for the password; on first start macOS asks to allow node to read it)
• Windows: cmdkey /generic:JiraMCP /user:your-username /pass (use /generic, not /add)

If several accounts are stored, set JIRA_USERNAME to choose one. When both JIRA_USERNAME and JIRA_PASSWORD are set, they are used and the keychain is not read. Keychain support uses the optional keytar package; if it can't be installed on your machine, use the environment variables.

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Common Use Cases

Task	Tool	Example Prompt
Search issues	jira_search	"Search for all open bugs assigned to me in project ABC"
Get issue details	jira_get_issue	"Show me the details of issue ABC-123"
View issue images	jira_get_issue_images	"Show me the screenshots attached to ABC-123"
Upload attachment	jira_upload_attachment	"Attach /Users/me/Desktop/error.png to ABC-123"
Create issue	jira_create_issue	"Create a new bug in project ABC with title 'Login button not working'"
Update issue	jira_update_issue	"Change the priority of ABC-123 to High and assign it to john.doe"
Edit custom fields	jira_update_issue + jira_get_edit_meta	"Set Severity on ABC-123 to Critical" (unique name or customfield_ id)
Add comment	jira_add_comment	"Add a comment to ABC-123 saying 'Fix deployed to staging'"
Change status	jira_transition_issue	"Move ABC-123 to Done"
Log time	jira_add_worklog	"Log 2 hours of work on ABC-123 for yesterday"
List projects	jira_get_projects	"Show me all projects I have access to"
View sprints	jira_get_sprints	"What's in the current sprint for project ABC?"
Link issues	jira_create_link	"Link ABC-123 as blocking ABC-124"
Generate filter URL	jira_generate_filter_url	"Create a shareable link for all open bugs updated in the last 7 days"

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Testing with MCP Inspector

The MCP Inspector provides a web UI to test all tools interactively:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector npx jira-easy-mcp

This opens a browser at http://localhost:6274 where you can:

• View all available tools
• Test each tool with custom parameters
• See the raw JSON responses

Note: Put these values inside inspector UI before connecting: JIRA_BASE_URL, JIRA_USERNAME, JIRA_PASSWORD.

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Custom fields

Jira REST API v2 identifies custom fields by id (customfield_10006). Values are the raw REST payload for that field type. Display names work only when they are unique (exact, case-sensitive) on the relevant screen.

Read (jira_get_issue)

Default response: system fields plus custom fields that currently have a value, each as { "id", "name", "value" }. Comments, worklogs, and attachments are omitted unless you pass include: ["comments"] (and/or worklogs, attachments). Null custom fields are omitted unless customFields: "all" or you pass fields.

fields narrows the custom-field GET (ids like customfield_11205, or unique edit-screen names like Severity). Requested fields are returned even when null. Names come from this issue's expand=names, not from GET /field.

{
  "key": "ABC-123",
  "customFields": [
    { "id": "customfield_10006", "name": "Story Points", "value": 5 },
    { "id": "customfield_10107", "name": "Flagged", "value": { "value": "Yes" } }
  ]
}

Write (jira_update_issue / jira_create_issue)

Pass customFields keyed by id (customfield_10006) or by a unique name from jira_get_edit_meta / jira_get_create_meta. Ids need no extra GET. Names resolve against that issue type's meta; duplicate names fail closed (use the id). Do not call jira_get_fields before every write.

Schema type	REST value
string / number / date	"text", 5, "2011-10-03"
option (select)	{ "value": "Yes" } or { "id": "10100" }
user (Server)	{ "name": "username" } — not Cloud accountId
array of options	[{ "value": "A" }, { "value": "B" }] (itemsType: option)
clear	null

A field listed by jira_get_fields but missing from edit/create meta is not on that screen and cannot be updated.

Search (jira_search)

Default search returns system fields only (no custom fields, no comment/worklog/attachment dumps). fields is additive extras: system keys and customfield_ ids pass through; display names are resolved with a live uncached GET /field. Prefer ids. Ambiguous names fail closed.

Catalog (jira_get_fields)

Use this for JQL clause names, not as a pre-step for every create/update. For fields on an issue type, use jira_get_edit_meta or jira_get_create_meta.

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Optional Environment Variables

Variable	Default	Description
JIRA_PROJECTS_FILTER	(none)	Comma-separated project keys. Tools reject issue/project keys outside the list (issue IDs must be given as keys) and JQL is scoped to these projects. Board, sprint and link IDs are not checked
JIRA_RESPONSE_FORMAT	JSON	Response format: JSON or TOON
JIRA_LOG_LEVEL	INFO	Log verbosity: DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR
JIRA_TIMEOUT	30000	Request timeout in milliseconds
JIRA_RETRY_COUNT	3	Retries for timeouts, 429 and 502-504. Write requests (POST) are only retried on 429, so a slow Jira never gets duplicate issues, comments or links
JIRA_RETRY_DELAY	1000	Base delay between retries (ms)
JIRA_SSL_VERIFY	true	Set to false to skip SSL verification. For a company CA, prefer NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=/path/to/ca.pem
JIRA_CACHE_TTL	300	Cache TTL in seconds for static data

jira_get_issue_images downloads images through Jira's authenticated attachment URLs (/secure/attachment/..., Jira Server/Data Center). It returns up to five images by default (maximum ten), with a 10 MiB limit per image and 20 MiB per response. jira_upload_attachment reads a local file by absolute path on the machine running the server.

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Troubleshooting

Error	Fix
Authentication failed ... restart the MCP server	Wrong credentials. After the first failure the server stops logging in, so repeated agent retries cannot trigger Jira's CAPTCHA lockout. Fix the credentials and restart the server (or reload MCP servers in your client).
Login blocked by CAPTCHA	Too many failed logins. Log in to Jira once in a browser, then retry.
Jira redirected to ...	JIRA_BASE_URL is off: use https:// if Jira redirects there, or add the context path. A redirect to a login page means an SSO proxy sits in front of Jira.
No Jira REST API at ...	Usually a missing context path, e.g. https://host/jira instead of https://host.
fetch failed / certificate errors	Company CA: start the server with NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=/path/to/ca.pem. Last resort: JIRA_SSL_VERIFY=false.
... outside the allowed projects	The key is not in JIRA_PROJECTS_FILTER.

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Development & Testing

pnpm install
pnpm test              # unit tests + build (any OS, Node 18+)
node scripts/smoke.mjs # MCP handshake check (needs JIRA_BASE_URL set to anything)

Against a real Jira (Docker, Node 20.10+): the helper starts a throwaway Jira, completes setup with Atlassian's public 3-hour timebomb license, and seeds an admin (admin / Jira-IT-admin-1), a second user, and two Scrum projects (IT, OT).

pnpm jira:up 9.12 8080            # or 7.13, 8.20, 10.3 (Jira 10 also starts PostgreSQL)
JIRA_IT_BASE_URL=http://localhost:8080 pnpm test:integration
pnpm jira:down 9.12

pnpm jira:up 9.12 8080 /jira serves Jira under a context path. Each instance needs about 3 GB of Docker memory; run one at a time on small machines. The keychain tests only run where keytar works and no real JiraMCP credential exists, and they remove what they create. CI runs the unit tests on Linux, macOS and Windows (Node 18-24) and the integration suite against every version above.

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Compatibility

Jira Version	Status
Jira Server 7.12.1 / 7.12.3	✅ Tested manually
Jira Server 7.13	✅ Automated (all tools)
Jira Server / DC 8.20	✅ Automated (all tools)
Jira DC 9.12 (also under a /jira context path)	✅ Automated (all tools)
Jira DC 10.3	✅ Automated (all tools)
Jira Cloud	︖ Not tested (Use official MCP)

Requires Node.js 18+. CI runs the unit and MCP smoke tests on macOS, Linux and Windows (Node.js 18–24).

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