Managing Jira Tickets

Manage Jira tickets via the Atlassian MCP. Every ticket must be self-contained, professional, and actionable without prior context. The skill applies only to Jira sites the Atlassian MCP is connected to; if the MCP is unavailable, stop and tell the user.

Prerequisites

1. Atlassian MCP server is available. MCP is the only path to Jira - never curl, never bare HTTP, never gh.
2. jira-syntax skill is loaded before composing any field content. Jira description and comment fields are wiki markup, not Markdown.

Discover project metadata (run first)

Before any create, edit, search, or transition operation, fetch the live metadata for the target site and project:

Use the values verbatim. Never memorize project keys, type names, transition IDs, label names, or account IDs across sessions.

Branching on what discovery reports:

Body shape

Tickets share three common sections; the middle is type-specific.

The per-type templates in assets/ realize this shape with the right middle sections for each type. Some sections are bracketed […] in the templates - drop them when there is no content.

Type classification

Pick exactly one. When two rows match, ask one question that decides between them.

Parent matching

Before creating a ticket

Duplicate check (BLOCKING)

Run before every createJiraIssue call. Use searchJiraIssuesUsingJql with a keyword query:

project = {KEY} AND text ~ "<keywords from the user's request>" AND statusCategory != Done
ORDER BY created DESC

• Exact duplicate. Stop. Report the existing ticket key.
• Partial overlap. Mention the related ticket. Ask whether to proceed.
• No match. Proceed.

Create

Body rules

• Language. English.
• Tone. Professional, concise, no filler.
• Privacy. Never include usernames, API keys, internal URLs, tokens, or personal information, regardless of whether the project is private or read-restricted. Jira is observed by people outside the immediate authoring team.
• Self-contained. A reader who has never seen this work must understand the ticket from the body alone.
• Cite source by file:line. When the ticket refers to existing code, constants, or behaviour, anchor each claim to a path and line range (e.g. src/services/foo.ts:123-145). File:line citations turn the ticket into a self-auditable record.
• Preserve verbatim quotes. When the ticket originates from a specific operator, reviewer, or customer report, include the exact wording in the Context section. Paraphrasing loses the reporter's mental model and removes the literal phrase a future searcher will type.
• No hard wrapping mid-sentence. Write each paragraph as a single line; Jira handles flow at render time. Hard-wrapping mid-paragraph creates spurious paragraph breaks in wiki markup and noisy diffs on edit.
• Bugs describe problems, not solutions. Steps to reproduce, Expected, Observed describe the problem. When the reporter investigated and has a concrete fix in mind, it goes into the optional Proposed solution section as a suggestion, not as a mandate that bypasses Requirements.
• Requirements. Required for Story and Bug. Optional for Task, Spike, Epic, Sub-task (include when a concrete completion signal exists). Write each requirement in MUST / MUST NOT form. Each is independently verifiable. Reserve MAY for genuinely optional outcomes.
• Markup. Jira wiki markup via jira-syntax (NOT Markdown).
• Never reference internal artefacts. ADR numbers, architecture section IDs, doc paths, ticket IDs in source-code comments - none of these belong inside the ticket body unless the user explicitly asked. Those identifiers live in specs, not in work items.

Body templates

Pick the template for the classified type from the table in "Type classification" above. Copy the ## Template block verbatim, then fill every section. Drop bracketed {...} placeholders that do not apply. Required sections (no brackets) stay.

Title rules

• Imperative mood, capitalize first word: "Add X", "Fix Y", "Implement Z".
• Backtick-wrap code identifiers: ` Validate --host flag for HTTP bind address `.
• Under 80 characters, no trailing period.
• No `[type]` prefix - the Jira issuetype field carries the classification.
• Self-contained without parent context. Good: "Validate webhook signatures before processing". Bad: "Validation".

Composing the createJiraIssue call

createJiraIssue:
  cloudId:        <from getAccessibleAtlassianResources>
  projectKey:     <KEY>
  issueTypeName:  Story | Bug | Task | Spike | Epic | Sub-task
  summary:        <title>
  description:    <wiki-markup body>
  parent:         <PARENT-KEY>          # required for Sub-task; optional for others
  additional_fields:                    # only non-default fields
    labels:       ["<label>", ...]
    customfield_NNNNN: <value>

On rejection of a custom field: drop that field, retry with required-only, surface the omitted field in the report so the user can backfill via editJiraIssue.

Batch creation

When creating multiple related tickets (e.g. an Epic with child Stories):

1. Present all planned tickets as a numbered list (title, type, parent, labels) before creating any.
2. Wait for user confirmation.
3. Create sequentially. Report each ticket key after creation.
4. Print a summary table when done:

| # | Key | Type | Parent | Title | Labels |
|---|-----|------|--------|-------|--------|

Confirm before create

Print this block. Wait for explicit user approval before calling createJiraIssue.

Draft:
  Project:   {KEY} ({name})
  Type:      {type}
  Parent:    {KEY or "none"}
  Title:     {composed title}
  Labels:    {labels or "—"}

Body:
  {full body, wiki markup}

Reply "create" to file the ticket, or send edits.

Silence, "ok", or unrelated follow-ups are not confirmation.

Report after create

Created: {KEY} — {title}
URL:     {browseUrl}
Type:    {type}{, parent: PARENT-KEY}
Labels:  {labels or "—"}
Inferred:
  - {field}: {value}     # each field set without explicit user input
Links:
  - {KEY-A} {linkType} {KEY-B}    # each created link, or "—"

Inferred is the user-care line: it lists every field the agent chose without being told. If empty, write —.

Search, Edit, Transition

MCP invocations for these three operations are catalogued in references/jira-recipes.md. Load that file when the user asks to find, modify, or transition a ticket. For broad searches over a populated project, follow the "Querying large projects without overflowing tool output" recipe in that file: pass narrow fields, cap maxResults, and avoid whole-project ORDER BY dumps. The rules below are policy and bind regardless of which recipe is used:

• Edit. Read current state via getJiraIssue before destructive edits (body replacement, label replacement, type change). Confirm destructive edits with the user before executing. Pass only the changing fields - do not resend unchanged fields.
• Transition. Match the user's intent ("close", "done", "in progress", "in review") to a transition name returned by getTransitionsForJiraIssue; transition IDs vary per project workflow. After transitioning, verify the new status via getJiraIssue.
• Linking. Use getIssueLinkTypes to confirm the type name and read its inward/outward labels. For "Blocks", inwardIssue is the blocker and outwardIssue is the blocked: a link created with inwardIssue = X and outwardIssue = Y renders in the UI as "Y is blocked by X". The inward/outward field names are not self-evident, so do not reason direction out from them - confirm against the type's own labels, and after creating any directional link verify orientation by re-reading one endpoint via getJiraIssue and inspecting issuelinks, or by checking the rendered relationship in the UI. This MCP exposes no delete-issue-link tool: a wrong-direction link succeeds silently and cannot be removed programmatically, so get direction right before the call and flag any stray link id for the user to delete manually. If the link fails, report the ticket as created and the link as pending - do not delete the ticket to retry from scratch.

Triage

When triaging a finding from code review, logs, discussion, or PR feedback into the backlog:

1. Extract the concern. State it in one sentence.
2. Duplicate check. Run the BLOCKING JQL query from "Before creating a ticket".
3. Classify type per the table in "Type classification".
4. Resolve parent per "Parent matching".
5. Draft the body using the matched template.
6. Present the full `createJiraIssue` payload for review before executing.

Quality checklist

Before executing createJiraIssue, verify:

• [ ] getAccessibleAtlassianResources returned a cloudId
• [ ] Project key is explicit (named by user or unambiguous from getVisibleJiraProjects)
• [ ] Chosen type appears in getJiraProjectIssueTypesMetadata
• [ ] Required custom fields from getJiraIssueTypeMetaWithFields are filled
• [ ] Duplicate check performed (JQL keyword search)
• [ ] Title: imperative, ≤ 80 chars, no trailing period, no [type] prefix, code identifiers backtick-wrapped
• [ ] Body matches the type's template; bracketed sections dropped if empty
• [ ] Requirements present for Bug and Story, in MUST / MUST NOT form
• [ ] Source-code references cite file path and line range
• [ ] Verbatim quote preserved in Context when the ticket originated from a specific report
• [ ] Self-checks present for non-trivial Bug and Story tickets (Automated + Manual)
• [ ] Parent set for Sub-task (and for Story/Task/Bug if the user named an Epic)
• [ ] No usernames, keys, internal URLs, tokens, or personal information in the body
• [ ] No solution prescribed inside the problem-description sections of a Bug (use Proposed solution instead)
• [ ] No ADR numbers, doc paths, or ticket IDs in the body unless explicitly requested
• [ ] Labels exist on prior issues in the project (no invented labels) - or omitted
• [ ] Assignee/priority/reporter only set when the user named them
• [ ] Body passed through jira-syntax (wiki markup, not Markdown)

Error recovery

Constraints

• One ticket per createJiraIssue invocation. Loop for batches; never run a hidden create-loop.
• Never auto-confirm. The user's explicit "create" is the only gate.
• Never invent labels. Use labels the user named, or labels already present on issues read from the same project. When unsure, omit.
• Never set priority, assignee, or reporter unless the user named them. Resolve display names via lookupJiraAccountId; never write a raw email into an account-id field.
• Never reference internal artefacts (ADR numbers, architecture section IDs, doc paths, ticket IDs) inside the ticket body unless the user explicitly asked. Those identifiers belong in specs, not in work items.
• Never use gh or curl for Jira operations. MCP is the only path.
• All field text passes through jira-syntax first. Jira fields are wiki markup, not Markdown.
• After a destructive edit (body replacement, label replacement, status transition), verify by re-reading the ticket via getJiraIssue and include the verified state in the report.