Connecting to Jira

Jira is a suite of tools developed by Atlassian for issue tracking, project management, and release planning. It is widely used by software development and IT teams to manage agile workflows, track bugs, and monitor project progress.

To integrate Jira with IBM watsonx Orchestrate, you need to establish a secure connection that enables both systems to communicate seamlessly. For general guidance on managing integrations, refer to Connecting apps for prebuilt agents.

Important: By default, Single sign-on (SSO) is disabled for your app. To enable it, refer to Configuring single sign-on for applications .

Steps to connect

Use the following steps to connect Jira to watsonx Orchestrate:

  1. Go to Manage > Connections and search for the corresponding Jira Connection ID.
  2. Select the authentication method your organization uses (OAuth2 Authorization Code, Basic Authentication, or Key Value Pair).
  3. Enter the Jira fields described in the corresponding connection details section, then follow the configuration steps in the Connecting apps for prebuilt agents page.
  4. Complete the Draft and Live setup steps.
  5. Save and test the connection to confirm successful connection.

Supported authentication methods

Jira supports the following authentication types in watsonx Orchestrate:

  1. OAuth 2.0 (Authorization Code): Recommended for production connections
  2. Basic authentication: Used for username/password or token‑based access
  3. Key Value Pair (KVP): Supported for API key–based and legacy scenarios
Note: For agents created after October 2025, OAuth 2.0 is the only supported authentication for Jira.

Connection ID

Use the following Connection IDs when locating your Jira connection in the Connections settings page. To understand how to search for a Connection ID and open a connection for editing, see Connecting apps for prebuilt agents.

Authentication type Connection ID
Oauth2 Authorization Code jira_oauth2_auth_code_ibm_184bdbd3
Basic authentication ```jira_basic_ibm_184bdbd3``
Key Value Pair jira_key_value_ibm_184bdbd3

OAuth 2.0 connection details

If your organization uses OAuth‑based authentication, set Authentication type to Oauth2 Authorization Code and enter the following fields:

Field Description
Server URL Base URL of the Jira server
Token URL Endpoint to exchange the authorization code for an access token
Authorization URL URL where users are redirected to log in and authorize access
Client ID Unique ID for your application
Client Secret A secret key used to authenticate your app with Jira
Scope Defines what access is being requested

You can obtain these values from your Atlassian developer account. Refer to the Jira API documentation for more details.

Basic authentication connection details

If your organization uses Basic Authentication, set Authentication type to Basic Auth. No additional fields are required beyond the credentials provided in the credential type configuration.

Your Jira administrator can provide the server URL and required user credentials or API tokens.

Key Value Pair connection details

If your organization uses API keys or a legacy configuration, set Authentication type to Key Value Pair and add each of the following fields using Add new field:

Key Description
base_url The base URL of your Jira instance

You can obtain the base URL from your Jira administrator. Refer to the Jira API documentation for more details.