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Set up Jira MCP in Windsurf to manage Jira tickets directly from your IDE using natural language with Cascade AI.

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Prerequisites

  • Windsurf editor installed
  • Jira MCP installed (see Quickstart)
  • jira-cli configured and authenticated

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Configuration

1

Open MCP settings

In Windsurf, go to Settings > MCP or open the command palette and search for “MCP”.
2

Add Jira MCP server

Add the following configuration to your MCP servers:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/jira-mcp",
      "env": {
        "JIRA_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token",
        "JIRA_AUTH_TYPE": "basic"
      }
    }
  }
}
Replace /usr/local/bin/jira-mcp with the actual path to your jira-mcp binary.
3

Restart Windsurf

Restart Windsurf or reload the window to apply the changes.

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Usage examples

Once configured, you can interact with Jira using natural language in Windsurf’s Cascade AI:
  • “Show me my assigned tickets”
  • “Create a bug ticket for the login page issue”
  • “Move PROJ-123 to In Progress”
  • “Add a comment to PROJ-456 explaining the fix”
  • “What tickets are in the current sprint?”

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Troubleshooting

  1. Verify the path to your jira-mcp binary is correct.
  2. Make sure jira-cli is properly configured by running jira issue list in your terminal.
  3. Check Windsurf’s MCP logs for error messages.
Ensure your Jira credentials are set in the MCP configuration’s env field:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "jira": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/jira-mcp",
      "env": {
        "JIRA_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token",
        "JIRA_AUTH_TYPE": "basic"
      }
    }
  }
}
GUI applications like Windsurf do not inherit shell environment variables from .bashrc or .zshrc. Using the env field in the MCP configuration is the recommended approach.