Jira CLI

Use jira-cli to interact with a self-hosted Jira Server/Data Center instance via the Jira REST API v2.

Platform Support

• scripts/jira-cli is a launcher script.
• Prebuilt binaries are expected in scripts/bin/ for:
  • macOS arm64 (jira-cli-darwin-arm64)
  • Linux x86_64 (jira-cli-linux-x86_64)
• If no compatible binary exists and source + Cargo are available, launcher falls back to cargo run --release.

When To Use

• The user asks to read, search, or inspect Jira issues.
• The user asks to create or update a Jira issue.
• The user asks to transition an issue to a different status.
• The user asks to link two Jira issues.
• The user asks to add or read comments on an issue.
• The user asks to validate Jira config or debug connectivity.

Setup

Read Setup Guide.

Command Contract

Global flags (before subcommand):

• --project-root <path> (optional; default cwd)
• --format <json|text> (default json)
• --output <path> (optional output file)

Subcommands:

• get-issue <KEY> — fetch a single issue
  • --fields <comma-separated> (optional)
• search — search with JQL
  • --jql "<query>" (required)
  • --max-results N (default 50)
  • --fields <comma-separated> (optional)
• create-issue — create a new issue
  • --project <KEY> (required)
  • --type <Bug|Task|Story|...> (required)
  • --title <summary> (required)
  • --description <text> (optional)
  • --assignee <username> (optional)
  • --priority <High|Medium|Low> (optional)
• update-issue <KEY> — update an existing issue
  • --title, --description, --assignee, --priority (at least one required)
• transition <KEY> — transition issue to a new status
  • --transition-id <id> or --status-name <name> (exactly one required)
• list-transitions <KEY> — list available transitions for an issue
• link-issue <KEY> — link two issues
  • --link-type <name> (required, e.g. "blocks", "relates to")
  • --target <KEY> (required)
• list-link-types — list all available issue link type names
• add-comment <KEY> — add a comment to an issue
  • --body "<text>" (required)
• list-comments <KEY> — list all comments on an issue
• config validate — test connectivity and print authenticated user

Output Envelope

All commands return a JSON envelope:

{
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "ok": true,
  "command": "get-issue",
  "data": { ... },
  "meta": { "duration_ms": 42 }
}

On error:

{
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "ok": false,
  "command": "get-issue",
  "error": { "code": "JIRA_API_ERROR", "message": "..." }
}

Operational Guardrails

• MUST use scripts/jira-cli for all Jira interactions.
• MUST NOT call the Jira API directly (curl, fetch, reqwest, etc.).
• MUST NOT read .agents/jira-cli/jira.toml or .env files directly.

Command Patterns

Validate config:

scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo config validate

Get an issue:

scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo get-issue PROJ-123

Search by JQL:

scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo search --jql "project = PROJ AND status = 'In Progress'" --max-results 10

Create an issue:

scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo create-issue --project PROJ --type Bug --title "Login fails on Safari" --description "Steps to reproduce..." --priority High

Update an issue:

scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo update-issue PROJ-123 --title "Updated title" --assignee jsmith

List and apply a transition:

scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo list-transitions PROJ-123
scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo transition PROJ-123 --status-name "In Progress"

Link issues:

scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo list-link-types
scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo link-issue PROJ-123 --link-type "blocks" --target PROJ-456

Add and read comments:

scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo add-comment PROJ-123 --body "Investigating root cause."
scripts/jira-cli --project-root /path/to/repo list-comments PROJ-123

Agent Guidelines

• Default to --format json for machine parsing.
• Use list-transitions before transition when the transition ID is unknown.
• Use list-link-types before link-issue when the link type name is uncertain.
• Use config validate when debugging connectivity issues.
• Pass --project-root explicitly to avoid working-directory ambiguity.