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jira issue edit

  • Usage: jira issue edit KEY... [flags]

Edit one or more Jira issues. With no field flags, a single-key edit opens the configured external editor on the issue description. Use --summary, --assignee, --markdown, or --json-input for headless and multi-key edits.

--markdown is the headless way to set the description: it converts Markdown to ADF with the same lossy converter issue create uses and replaces the issue description. A --json-input payload may carry the description_markdown key for the same effect.

All field changes run through the validate-and-encode mutation pipeline before submission. --dry-run previews the validated fields and does not submit.

In headless mode (--no-input), at least one field flag or --json-input must be provided because there is no editor to open.

Fields

--assignee <USER>

Set assignee: me, none/unassigned, an email, or a Jira account ID

Allowed values:

  • me — current user
  • none — unassign

--summary <TEXT>

Replace the issue summary

Input

--json-input <FILE>

Read issue edit payload from JSON file (canonical for agents)

Accepts a file.

--markdown <MARKDOWN>

Replace the description with Markdown (lossy convenience layer, converted to ADF)

--markdown-file <FILE>

Read the Markdown body from a file; - reads stdin

Accepts a file.

Safety

--dry-run

Preview mutation without submitting

Validation

--validate-remote

With --dry-run, validate against the live edit screen (read-only editmeta fetch)

--verify

After a live edit, re-fetch the issue and warn about requested fields the server did not apply (single key only)

Execution

-p --parallelism <N>

Maximum concurrent requests (1-16)

Default: 1

Output fields

With --output json, the response envelope's data object carries these fields. Run jira agent schema for the full machine-readable schema.

Field Type Description
dry_run boolean
fields object | null The validated field payload proposed by a dry-run or submitted by a live write.
issue.id string
issue.key string
issue.self string
result.comments[] object Fields: author, body, created, id, self, updateAuthor, …
result.editmeta object Fields: fields
result.fields object Fields: assignee, comment, components, created, description, fixVersions, …
result.id string
result.key string
result.linked_issues[] object
result.self string
result.subtasks[] object
result.transitions[] object Fields: hasScreen, id, name
result.worklogs[] object Fields: comment, id, started, timeSpentSeconds
update object Native Jira update operations proposed by a dry-run or submitted by a live write.
validated_remotely boolean Whether resolved Jira edit-screen metadata validated at least one field.
verification The optional post-write verification result requested with --verify.
warnings[].field string
warnings[].lossy boolean
warnings[].mark_type string
warnings[].message string
warnings[].node_type string
warnings[].path string
warnings[].type string

Examples

jira issue edit PROJ-123 --summary "Updated title"
jira issue edit PROJ-123 --assignee me # (1)!
jira issue edit PROJ-123 --markdown "## Steps\n\n1. Repro\n2. Fix" # (2)!
jira issue edit PROJ-123 --markdown "Done." --dry-run --output=json # (3)!
jira issue edit PROJ-1 PROJ-2 --json-input issue-edit.json --dry-run --output=json # (4)!
  1. Reassign an issue to yourself
  2. Replace the description from Markdown (headless, no editor)
  3. Preview a Markdown description as encoded ADF without contacting Jira
  4. Apply JSON fields to several issues at once