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Giuliano Buzetti
Giuliano Buzetti

Posted on Originally published at agenttaskatlas.com

Connecting Jira, Confluence and Bitbucket to Claude Code with Atlassian's Rovo MCP server

#mcp #claude #atlassian #ai

Atlassian runs an official, hosted MCP server (the Atlassian Rovo MCP Server), so there is nothing to install locally. Claude Code connects to https://mcp.atlassian.com/v2/mcp over HTTP and acts with your own Atlassian Cloud permissions. Atlassian's README says v2 is the recommended endpoint for new setups.

The steps below summarize the official docs (the Atlassian MCP Server README, Atlassian Support's API token guide, and the Claude Code docs on MCP and permissions), checked on 2026-10-26. Client CLIs and admin menus change, so if something differs on your version, the linked docs win. The original version of this guide lives at AgentTask Atlas: How to connect the Atlassian Rovo MCP server to Claude Code.

1. Check what you need

  • An Atlassian Cloud site with Jira, Confluence, Jira Service Management, Bitbucket or Compass.
  • A browser for the OAuth 2.1 sign-in.

Headless setups can use an API token instead, but only if an org admin has enabled API-token authentication (Atlassian Administration → Rovo → Rovo MCP server → Authentication).

2. Add the server

This is the command Atlassian's README gives for Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http atlassian https://mcp.atlassian.com/v2/mcp
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Add --scope user to make it available in every project, or --scope project to share it through .mcp.json.

3. Sign in with OAuth

Start a Claude Code session and run /mcp, select atlassian and complete the browser sign-in:

claude
/mcp
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Until you do, claude mcp list shows the server as needing authentication. Access is limited to what your Atlassian account can already see.

4. Or share it with the team in .mcp.json

This is the entry from Atlassian's own repository:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "atlassian": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.atlassian.com/v2/mcp"
    }
  }
}
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Keep "type": "http". Claude Code reads an entry with a url but no type as a stdio server and skips it. Each teammate still signs in with their own account from /mcp.

5. Headless: authenticate with an API token

Create a scoped personal API token, base64-encode email:api_token as Atlassian's token guide shows, and pass it as a Basic Authorization header (a service account key uses Bearer instead):

echo -n "your.email@example.com:YOUR_API_TOKEN" | base64
claude mcp add --transport http atlassian https://mcp.atlassian.com/v2/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Basic BASE64_ENCODED_EMAIL_AND_TOKEN"
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Two things to know: Jira Service Management tools only work with token auth, and some Compass tools are not available with it.

6. Keep write tools behind a prompt

The server can create and update Jira issues, Confluence pages and Bitbucket content. An ask rule in .claude/settings.json makes Claude Code confirm every Atlassian tool call:

{
  "permissions": {
    "ask": [
      "mcp__atlassian__*"
    ]
  }
}
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Don't add an allow rule for mcp__atlassian__* unless you trust every write it can make.

Good to know

  • The delete_jira and manage_jira permission groups are disabled by default; an admin has to turn them on. Leave them off unless you need them.
  • Tokens are not bound to one cloudId and skip the OAuth domain allowlist, so prefer OAuth for interactive use and keep tokens scoped to the projects the agent needs.
  • Atlassian suggests putting your Jira project key, Confluence space and cloudId in AGENTS.md so the agent makes fewer discovery calls.
  • Every tool call is recorded in your organization's audit log (Atlassian Administration → Insights → Audit log).
  • The legacy SSE endpoint (/v1/sse) stopped being supported after 30 June 2026. Point old configs at /v2/mcp.

More on MCP in Claude Code

New to MCP in Claude Code? The general guide covers transports, scopes and how to confirm a server connected: How to add an MCP server to Claude Code.

I keep a small catalog of MCP servers and Agent Skills organized by dev task, with the install step, credentials, permissions and documented clients taken from each project's official docs. The Atlassian Rovo MCP Server entry is based on official docs, not hands-on tested, so always check the source repo. The catalog is also available as a free, read-only remote MCP server (no account or key):

claude mcp add --transport http agenttask-atlas https://agenttaskatlas.com/api/mcp
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Disclosure: I run AgentTask Atlas, the catalog linked above. This post was drafted with AI assistance from the guide on agenttaskatlas.com, whose steps summarize the official Atlassian and Claude Code docs as of 2026-10-26.

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