jira-lifecycle

Workflow and lifecycle management for JIRA issues.

Risk Levels

Risk Legend: - Safe, read-only | ! Caution, modifiable | !! Warning, destructive but recoverable | !!! Danger, irreversible

Quick Discovery

Use this skill to: Drive issues through workflows, assign ownership, manage releases and components.

Not for: Creating/editing issue content (use jira-issue) or finding issues (use jira-search).

Also see: Workflow Guide | JSM Workflows | Best Practices

What this skill does

IMPORTANT: Always use the jira-as CLI. Never run Python scripts directly.

7 command categories for complete lifecycle management:

All commands support --help for full option documentation.

Available Commands

Workflow Transitions

jira-as lifecycle transitions PROJ-123                    # List available transitions
jira-as lifecycle transition PROJ-123 --to "In Progress"  # Transition by status name
jira-as lifecycle transition PROJ-123 --id 31             # Transition by ID
jira-as lifecycle transition PROJ-123 --to Done --resolution Fixed  # With resolution
jira-as lifecycle transition PROJ-123 --to "In Progress" --sprint 42  # Move to sprint after transition
jira-as lifecycle transition PROJ-123 --to Done --dry-run             # Preview without executing
jira-as lifecycle transition PROJ-123 --to Done --fields '{"customfield_10001": "value"}'  # With custom fields

Assignments

jira-as lifecycle assign PROJ-123 --self                  # Assign to yourself
jira-as lifecycle assign PROJ-123 --user email@example.com  # Assign to user
jira-as lifecycle assign PROJ-123 --unassign              # Remove assignee

Resolution

jira-as lifecycle resolve PROJ-123                         # Resolve with default resolution (Done)
jira-as lifecycle resolve PROJ-123 --resolution Fixed      # Resolve with specific resolution
jira-as lifecycle reopen PROJ-123                          # Reopen issue
jira-as lifecycle reopen PROJ-123 --comment "Reopening for additional work"  # Reopen with comment

Version Management

jira-as lifecycle version list PROJ                       # List versions
jira-as lifecycle version list PROJ --unreleased          # Show only unreleased versions
jira-as lifecycle version list PROJ --archived            # Filter for archived versions only
jira-as lifecycle version create PROJ --name "v2.0.0"     # Create version
jira-as lifecycle version create PROJ --name "v2.0.0" --start-date 2025-01-01 --release-date 2025-03-01
jira-as lifecycle version create PROJ --name "v2.0.0" --released --dry-run  # Preview creation
jira-as lifecycle version release PROJ "v1.0.0"           # Release a version
jira-as lifecycle version archive PROJ "v0.9.0"           # Archive a version

Component Management

Note: Component update and delete operations require the component ID (not name). Use jira-as lifecycle component list PROJ to find component IDs. The --lead option requires an account ID, not email.

jira-as lifecycle component list PROJ                     # List components (shows IDs)
jira-as lifecycle component create PROJ --name "API"      # Create component
jira-as lifecycle component create PROJ --name "Backend" --lead 5b10a2844c20165700ede21g
jira-as lifecycle component create PROJ --name "Frontend" --assignee-type COMPONENT_LEAD
jira-as lifecycle component update --id 10000 --name "New Name"           # Update by ID
jira-as lifecycle component update --id 10000 --lead 5b10a2844c20165700ede22h
jira-as lifecycle component update --id 10000 --assignee-type PROJECT_LEAD --dry-run
jira-as lifecycle component delete --id 10000             # Delete with confirmation prompt
jira-as lifecycle component delete --id 10000 --yes       # Delete without confirmation
jira-as lifecycle component delete --id 10000 --move-to 10001  # Move issues before deletion
jira-as lifecycle component delete --id 10000 --dry-run   # Preview deletion

Common Options

All commands support these options:

Query commands (transitions, version list, component list) also support --output for text, json, or table output.

Dry Run Support

Most modification commands support --dry-run to preview changes without executing:

jira-as lifecycle transition PROJ-123 --to Done --dry-run
jira-as lifecycle assign PROJ-123 --self --dry-run
jira-as lifecycle version create PROJ --name "v1.0.0" --dry-run
jira-as lifecycle component create PROJ --name "API" --dry-run
jira-as lifecycle component update --id 10000 --name "New Name" --dry-run
jira-as lifecycle component delete --id 10000 --dry-run

Exit Codes

Examples

See examples/LIFECYCLE_EXAMPLES.md for comprehensive copy-paste examples.

Workflow Compatibility

Works with standard JIRA workflows, custom workflows, JIRA Service Management workflows, and simplified workflows. Scripts automatically adapt to different configurations.

Troubleshooting

See references/TROUBLESHOOTING.md for common issues and solutions.

Quick fixes:

• “No transition found” – Run jira-as lifecycle transitions ISSUE-KEY to see available transitions
• “Transition requires fields” – Use --fields '{"field": "value"}' option
• “User not found” – Verify user email and project permissions

Configuration

Requires JIRA credentials via environment variables (JIRA_SITE_URL, JIRA_EMAIL, JIRA_API_TOKEN).

Best Practices

See docs/BEST_PRACTICES.md for:

• Workflow Design – For JIRA admins designing workflows
• Daily Operations – For developers and team leads

Workflow Patterns

Pre-built patterns in references/patterns/:

• standard_workflow.md – Simple 3-status workflow
• software_dev_workflow.md – Development with review/QA
• jsm_request_workflow.md – Service desk requests
• incident_workflow.md – Incident management

Related skills

• jira-issue: For creating and updating issues
• jira-search: For finding issues to transition
• jira-collaborate: For adding comments during transitions
• jira-agile: For sprint management and Agile workflows