redhat-ai-tools/jira-mcp
A containerized Python MCP server for Cursor to provide access to Jira.
[!IMPORTANT] This project is experimental and was initially created as a learning exercise. Be aware there are more capable and mature Jira MCP solutions available, such as sooperset/mcp-atlassian, and Atlassian's own MCP Server.
See also redhat-ai-tools/jira-mcp-snowflake which provides another way to access Red Hat Jira data.
Prerequisites
- podman - Install with
sudo dnf install podman(Fedora/RHEL) orbrew install podman(macOS) - make - Usually pre-installed on most systems
Quick Start
- Get the code
git clone git@github.com:redhat-ai-tools/jira-mcp.git
cd jira-mcp
- Build the image & configure Cursor
This also creates a
~/.rh-jira-mcp.envfile like this.
make setup
- Prepare a Jira token
- Go to Red Hat Jira Personal Access Tokens and create a token
- Edit the
.rh-jira-mcp.envfile in your home directory and paste in the token
To confirm it's working, run Cursor, go to Settings and click on "Tools & Integrations". Under MCP Tools you should see "jiraMcp" with 20 tools enabled.
Available Tools
This MCP server provides the following tools:
Issue Search
get_jira- Get details for a specific Jira issue by key.search_issues- Search issues using JQL
Project Management
list_projects- List all projectsget_project- Get project details by keyget_project_components- Get components for a projectget_project_versions- Get versions for a projectget_project_roles- Get roles for a projectget_project_permission_scheme- Get permission scheme for a projectget_project_issue_types- Get issue types for a project
Board & Sprint Management
list_boards- List all boardsget_board- Get board details by IDlist_sprints- List sprints for a boardget_sprint- Get sprint details by IDget_issues_for_board- Get issues for a boardget_issues_for_sprint- Get issues for a sprint
User Management
search_users- Search users by queryget_user- Get user details by account IDget_current_user- Get current user infoget_assignable_users_for_project- Get assignable users for a projectget_assignable_users_for_issue- Get assignable users for an issue
Development Commands
make build- Build the imagemake run- Run the containermake clean- Clean up the built imagemake cursor-config- Modify~/.cursor/mcp.jsonto install this MCP Servermake setup- Builds the image, configures Cursor, and creates~/.rh-jira-mcp.envif it doesn't exist
Troubleshooting
Server Not Starting
- Confirm that
make runworks - Check that the JIRA_API_TOKEN is correct
- Verify the image was built successfully with
podman images jira-mcp - Go to the "Output" tab in Cursor's bottom pane, choose "MCP Logs" from the drop-down select and examine the logs there
Connection Issues
- Restart Cursor after configuration changes
- Check Cursor's developer console for error messages
- Verify the Jira URL is accessible from your network
License
This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.




