jira

Jira Issue Management

Use the jira CLI to look up, create, edit, transition, assign, comment on, and link Jira issues.

When to Use

• The user mentions a Jira issue key (e.g., DP-123)
• The user asks to look up, check, or get details on a Jira ticket
• The user wants to list or search for issues in a project
• The user wants to create, edit, transition, assign, comment on, or link issues
• The user needs context from a Jira issue to inform their work

Instructions

Phase 1: Identify the Request

Determine which operation the user needs:

Intent	Operation
View issue details	view
Search/list issues	list
Create a new issue	create
Edit fields on an issue	edit
Change issue status	move
Assign/unassign an issue	assign
Add a comment	comment
Link two issues	link
Open in browser	open

Phase 2A: View / Search (read operations)

Viewing a single issue

jira issue view ISSUE-KEY --plain

To include recent comments:

jira issue view ISSUE-KEY --plain --comments 5

To get full raw JSON data for deeper inspection:

jira issue view ISSUE-KEY --raw

Listing/searching issues

# List issues in the default project
jira issue list --plain --no-truncate

# Filter by status
jira issue list --plain -s "In Progress"

# Filter by assignee (use "me" for current user)
jira issue list --plain -a "user@example.com"

# Filter by type and status
jira issue list --plain -t Bug -s "To Do"

# Filter by priority
jira issue list --plain -y High

# Filter by label
jira issue list --plain -l backend

# Search by text
jira issue list "search query" --plain

# Combine filters
jira issue list --plain -s "In Progress" -a "me" -y High

# Use raw JQL for complex queries
jira issue list --plain -q "assignee = currentUser() AND status = 'In Progress'"

# Specify a different project
jira issue list --plain -p PROJECT_KEY

# Limit results
jira issue list --plain --paginate 20

Phase 2B: Create (write operation)

Always use --no-input to avoid interactive prompts.

# Basic creation
jira issue create -tTask -s "Summary here" -b "Description here" --no-input

# With priority, labels, assignee
jira issue create -tBug -s "Bug title" -yHigh -lbug -lurgent -a "user@example.com" -b "Bug description" --no-input

# Create subtask under a parent
jira issue create -tSubtask -P PARENT-KEY -s "Subtask title" -b "Details" --no-input

# In a specific project
jira issue create -p PROJECT -tStory -s "Story title" -b "As a user..." --no-input

# With custom fields
jira issue create -tStory -s "Story" --custom story-points=3 --no-input

# Pipe description from stdin for long bodies
echo "Long description here" | jira issue create -tTask -s "Summary" --no-input

Issue types: Task, Bug, Story, Epic, Subtask

Phase 2C: Edit (write operation)

Always use --no-input to avoid interactive prompts.

# Edit summary
jira issue edit ISSUE-KEY -s "New summary" --no-input

# Edit description
jira issue edit ISSUE-KEY -b "New description" --no-input

# Change priority
jira issue edit ISSUE-KEY -y High --no-input

# Add labels (append)
jira issue edit ISSUE-KEY -l newlabel --no-input

# Remove a label (prefix with -)
jira issue edit ISSUE-KEY --label -oldlabel --no-input

# Change assignee
jira issue edit ISSUE-KEY -a "user@example.com" --no-input

# Edit custom fields
jira issue edit ISSUE-KEY --custom story-points=5 --no-input

# Combine multiple edits
jira issue edit ISSUE-KEY -s "Updated title" -yHigh -l backend --no-input

Phase 2D: Transition / Move

# Move issue to a new status
jira issue move ISSUE-KEY "In Progress"
jira issue move ISSUE-KEY "Done"

# Move with a comment
jira issue move ISSUE-KEY "Done" --comment "Completed in PR #123"

# Move and reassign
jira issue move ISSUE-KEY "In Review" -a "reviewer@example.com"

Phase 2E: Assign

# Assign to a user
jira issue assign ISSUE-KEY "user@example.com"

# Assign to self
jira issue assign ISSUE-KEY $(jira me)

# Unassign
jira issue assign ISSUE-KEY x

Phase 2F: Comment

Always use --no-input to avoid interactive prompts.

# Add a comment
jira issue comment add ISSUE-KEY --no-input "Comment text here"

# Multi-line comment
jira issue comment add ISSUE-KEY --no-input $'First line\n\nSecond paragraph'

# Internal comment (not visible to external users)
jira issue comment add ISSUE-KEY --no-input "Internal note" --internal

Phase 2G: Link

# Link two issues
jira issue link ISSUE-1 ISSUE-2 "Blocks"
jira issue link ISSUE-1 ISSUE-2 "Duplicate"

# Unlink
jira issue unlink ISSUE-1 ISSUE-2

Phase 2H: Sprint & Epic

# List sprints
jira sprint list --plain

# Add issues to a sprint
jira sprint add SPRINT_ID ISSUE-KEY

# Add issues to an epic
jira epic add EPIC-KEY ISSUE-KEY

# Remove from epic
jira epic remove ISSUE-KEY

Phase 2I: Open in Browser

jira open ISSUE-KEY

Phase 3: Present Results

For read operations, summarize clearly:

• Key and Summary: The issue identifier and title
• Status: Current workflow state
• Type: Bug, Story, Task, Epic, etc.
• Priority: The issue priority level
• Assignee: Who is responsible
• Description: What the issue is about (summarize if very long)
• Comments: Recent discussion if relevant

For write operations, confirm what was done:

• State the action taken and the issue key
• Show the new state if relevant (e.g., new status after a move)

When the user needs issue context for coding work, focus on:

• What needs to be done (acceptance criteria, description)
• Any technical details mentioned in comments
• Related issues or blockers

Guidelines

• Always use --plain flag when listing/viewing issues so output is parseable (avoid the interactive TUI)
• Always use --no-input flag on create/edit/comment to avoid interactive prompts
• Use --no-truncate with list commands to show full field contents when details matter
• If the jira CLI is not configured or authentication fails, inform the user and suggest running jira init
• Confirm before mutating: For write operations (create, edit, move, assign, comment, link, delete), confirm the action with the user before executing unless they gave an explicit and unambiguous instruction
• If a project key is ambiguous or missing, ask the user which project to query
• When an issue key is mentioned in a branch name or commit message, offer to look it up
• Summarize long descriptions and comment threads instead of dumping raw output
• The default project is DP (Data Pipelines) — only specify -p when targeting a different project