acli-jira

ACLI Jira Command Reference

Quick-reference for Atlassian CLI (acli) Jira commands. Covers authentication, work item CRUD, search, project management, boards, sprints, and filters.

Core Principles

1. Authenticate first: Verify auth status before running commands
2. JQL for precision: Use JQL queries for targeted searches over broad listing
3. Bulk via JQL: Prefer --jql over comma-separated --key for operations on many items
4. Output format matters: Use --json for scripting, --csv for exports, default for readability
5. Use short flags: Combine -p, -t, -s, -a for faster command composition

Authentication

Authenticate before running any Jira command.

# Log in (interactive browser flow)
acli jira auth login

# Check current auth status
acli jira auth status

# Switch between authenticated accounts
acli jira auth switch

# Log out
acli jira auth logout

Work Items — Core Operations

Create

Tip: Issue types are project-specific. Before creating, check allowed types with: acli jira workitem create -p "PROJ" --help or attempt creation — the error message lists valid types.

# Create with inline fields
acli jira workitem create --project "PROJ" --type "Task" --summary "Implement feature X"

# Create with description
acli jira workitem create -p "PROJ" -t "Story" -s "User login" -d "As a user, I want to log in"

# Create with assignee and labels
acli jira workitem create -p "PROJ" -t "Bug" -s "Fix crash" -a "@me" -l "critical,backend"

# Create as subtask (specify parent)
acli jira workitem create -p "PROJ" -t "Subtask" -s "Write tests" --parent "PROJ-42"

# Create from JSON template
acli jira workitem create --generate-json > template.json  # generate template
acli jira workitem create --from-json template.json         # create from template

# Create from file (summary + description)
acli jira workitem create -p "PROJ" -t "Task" --from-file spec.txt

# Open editor to compose (summary + description)
acli jira workitem create -p "PROJ" -t "Task" -e