get_issue
Retrieve details about an issue by its ID or key.
LABSCO SUMMARY
Two tools, both read-only, and between them they answer most of what people ask Jira in passing.
Nothing here writes — no transitions, no comments, no issue creation — so it is safe to hand to an agent that only needs to answer questions about the board. The whole surface is JQL, which makes it exactly as capable as the query you can write, and the fields parameter is what keeps a broad query from arriving as several hundred kilobytes of issue documents.
What it is
A read-only pair over the Jira REST API: an enhanced JQL search with paging, and a single-issue fetch by ID or key.
What you get
- Any JQL query run against your instance, with maxResults and a nextPageToken to walk the rest
- Fields and expand on both tools, so a search can come back as keys and summaries instead of whole issue documents
- One issue by issueIdOrKey, with its properties and a failFast switch
Requirements
JIRA_INSTANCE_URL, JIRA_USER_EMAIL and JIRA_API_KEY — an Atlassian account's API token together with the address of the instance it belongs to.
Setup effort
Add the configuration to your client
USE CASES
01
Answering a question about the board in JQL
Run the query you would have typed into the issue navigator and get the matching issues back in the conversation, with fields narrowed to the ones the question needs.
02
Reading a ticket someone referenced by key
Fetch the issue by its key, expanding only the parts you want, when a message points at a ticket and you would rather not switch context to read it.
03
Working through a result set larger than the context window
Search with a short field list and a page size you choose, walk the pages with the returned token, and fetch full detail only for the issues that survive the first pass.
2 tools
Counted once with only startup setup. Other versions, modes or optional credentials may expose a different list.
jql_search
Perform enhanced JQL search in Jira
BEFORE YOU INSTALL
What to know first
Tools you get
2 tools when we connected. Both tools read; nothing creates, transitions, assigns or comments on issues. your_new_tool is a placeholder in the contributor docs, not a tool.
Requires
- npx on PATH
- JIRA_USER_EMAIL in your environment
- JIRA_API_KEY in your environment
CONTEXT COST
Light Standing cost
Rated by the size of the 2 tool definitions that ride along on every turn, not by how many there are
INSTALLATION
Connect your client
MCP Clients
Claude Desktop — npx
CLAUDE DESKTOP — NPX · JSON
{
"mcpServers": {
"jira": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"jira-mcp"
],
"env": {
"JIRA_INSTANCE_URL": "https://<YOUR_INSTANCE>.atlassian.net",
"JIRA_USER_EMAIL": "<YOUR_JIRA_USER_EMAIL>",
"JIRA_API_KEY": "<YOUR_JIRA_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}
