Jira Start Work Workflow

Requires: Atlassian MCP server configured and Git CLI available.

Purpose

Automates the process of starting work on a Jira ticket by:

1. •Finding "To Do" tickets assigned to the current user
2. •Creating a properly named git branch
3. •Transitioning the ticket to "In Development" status

Process

Step 1: Get Atlassian Context

[!IMPORTANT] Retry Logic: If any Atlassian call fails with an "Unauthorized" error, retry the call at least once more (minimum 2 attempts total). Authentication tokens may temporarily expire.

Actions:

• •Call the Atlassian resource listing tool to get accessible sites.
• •If multiple sites are returned, select the one with URL matching metrc-tech.atlassian.net.
• •Call the user info tool to get the current user identity.

Step 2: Find To Do Tickets (Primary)

Query for tickets assigned to the current user in "To Do" status:

assignee = currentUser() AND status = "To Do" ORDER BY priority DESC, created ASC

Fields to request:

• •key, summary, status, issuetype, priority, created

Step 3: Fallback to In Development (If No To Do)

If the "To Do" query returns zero results, query for tickets assigned to the current user in "In Development":

assignee = currentUser() AND status = "In Development" ORDER BY priority DESC, created ASC

Step 4: Handle Ticket Selection

Step 5: Determine Branch Prefix

Step 6: Create Branch Name

Format: {prefix}/{TICKET}-{title-with-dashes}

Example transformations:

• •"MCA-372" + "400 Bad Request Errors" → fix/MCA-372-400-bad-request-errors
• •"PERF-1126" + "Update WebApiD8" → feature/PERF-1126-update-webapid8

Rules:

1. •Keep the ticket key uppercase
2. •Convert title to lowercase
3. •Replace non-alphanumeric with single hyphens
4. •Trim leading/trailing hyphens and collapse repeats
5. •Truncate if excessively long

Step 7: Git Operations

Follow the cross-platform steps in references/git.md.

Short version (default base branch is development):

git status
git fetch --prune origin
git switch development
git pull --ff-only origin development
git switch -c "{branch-name}"

If origin/development does not exist, ask the user for the base branch and substitute it.

Step 8: Transition Ticket to In Development

Actions:

• •Fetch available transitions for the selected issue.
• •If the issue is in To Do, select the transition labeled Start Development (case-insensitive) and execute it.
• •If the issue is already In Development, skip the transition.
• •If the label is not found, list the available transitions and ask the user which to use.

Workflow labels (from the current board):

• •Start Development -> In Development
• •Review Code -> In Review
• •Review Failed -> In Development
• •A Failed, Back to Development -> In Development
• •QA Signoff -> QA Acceptance
• •PM Signoff -> PM Acceptance
• •Ready to Merge Code -> Ready to Merge
• •Code Complete/Cancelled -> Done
• •Cancelled bug -> Cancelled

Step 9: Confirm Success

Report to user:

• •✅ Branch created: {branch-name}
• •✅ Ticket status: In Development
• •🔗 Jira link: https://metrc-tech.atlassian.net/browse/{TICKET}

Step 10: Offer to Push Branch to Remote

After successful branch creation and ticket transition, ask the user if they want to push the newly created branch to remote:

Would you like me to push the branch {branch-name} to remote?

If user confirms, run:

git push -u origin {branch-name}

This sets up tracking so future git push commands work without specifying the remote.

Troubleshooting

References

• •Jira MCP API Reference - Complete MCP tool documentation
• •Git Start Work Reference - Cross-platform git steps and best practices
• •Jira Queries and Operations - JQL patterns and Jira call examples