Connecting Claude Code to Jira
Teach Claude Code to read your Jira board through the Atlassian MCP server — including the OAuth login, the famous re-authentication quirk, and proof it can read ticket PL-1.
We have a ticket (PL-1) sitting in Jira. Now we teach Claude Code to reach into Jira and read it. We do that with an MCP server — specifically the official one from Atlassian, the makers of Jira. This page is a great, real-world tour of two things you will use constantly: adding a remote MCP server, and the OAuth login flow that keeps it secure.
01Add the Atlassian MCP server
Open a terminal in VS Code (the project you are in does not matter yet) and run a single
claude mcp add command. This is a remote MCP server that talks over
HTTP — you are not installing anything locally, just pointing Claude Code at Atlassian's hosted server.
# add Atlassian's hosted (remote, HTTP) MCP server, name it "atlassian"
claude mcp add --transport http atlassian https://mcp.atlassian.com/v1/mcpThat is it — the server is registered. Now start Claude Code with claude and run
/mcp to check the situation. You will see Atlassian listed as an installed
MCP server — but flagged as needs authentication. That is exactly right: we have never given
it a key, so how could it possibly know which Jira account to use? Time to log in.
02The OAuth login flow
This is one of MCP's genuinely great features. Instead of pasting a secret key, you authorise Claude Code to act on your behalf through your normal Atlassian login. It uses the famous OAuth 2 flow — the same “Sign in with… / do you approve?” dance you have clicked through a hundred times. It is hard to build; happily, it just works.
Open the MCP menu20 sec
In Claude Code type /mcp, use the arrow keys to select Atlassian, and press Enter.
Choose Authenticate20 sec
It offers Authenticate or Disable. Pick Authenticate. A browser window pops up (if you were logged out, you would see the Atlassian login first).
Approve and accept30 sec
Press Approve, then Accept when it says “Atlassian is requesting access to your account.” Close the window and return to Claude Code.
03The re-authentication gremlin
Here is a real-world wrinkle the whole community grumbles about, so know it now and it will never confuse you: the Atlassian authentication sometimes gets forgotten, and you have to re-authenticate.
The tell: Claude Code hangs when it tries to use a Jira tool — it just sits there,
spinning, going nowhere. The fix: press Esc to interrupt, run /mcp
again, select Atlassian, and choose Re-authenticate (Approve → Accept). Then try your request
again. You will do this a lot — treat it as normal, not as something being broken.
This is the honest trade-off with MCP we flagged earlier: huge power and reach, with a little operational flakiness you learn to shrug off. A calm “interrupt, re-auth, retry” is the whole remedy.
04Proof: ask Claude about PL-1
Run /context and scroll up — you will see a ton of Atlassian tools are now
available. Let us use one. Ask, in plain English:
“Please tell me about Jira issue PL-1.”
Claude asks permission to use a tool. When it does, pressing 2 means “yes, and don't ask again for this tool” — handy so it can work without stopping at every step. It will likely ask about a couple more tools; allow them. Then, back it comes: “PL-1: we need a simple website that describes the Pre-Legal company.” It read our ticket. Claude Code is now wired into Jira.
The prompts are usually: 1 = allow once, 2 = allow and don't ask again (for that tool), 3/Esc = no. Using 2 for tools you trust keeps an autonomous run flowing without babysitting every call.
05Prefer something lighter? GitHub Issues
If Jira ever gets in your way, remember you do not need it. GitHub Issues is a lighter, simpler place to keep tickets, and Claude Code can read and write those too (we connect GitHub on the next page). We use Jira here precisely because it is so central to how real teams work — hooking into it through the Atlassian MCP server is a genuinely valuable thing to have seen.
✓ Key takeaways
- Add a remote MCP server with one line:
claude mcp add --transport http atlassian <url>. /mcplists your servers and their auth status; a new server shows needs authentication.- MCP uses the OAuth 2 flow — you approve access in a browser instead of pasting a secret.
- The Atlassian auth can drop: the symptom is Claude Code hanging; the cure is
/mcp→ Re-authenticate. - Once connected, plain English works: “tell me about Jira issue PL-1” reads the ticket. GitHub Issues is a lighter alternative.