How to Integrate Jira with GitHub

Edited 1 day ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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Nowadays, when development teams look for tools to make their work more efficient, integrating Jira with GitHub can be extremely helpful. Both are powerful tools that are widely used in the field of software development. Jira is a popular issue tracking system that helps teams plan, track, and manage Agile software development projects. GitHub, on the other hand, is a platform for version control and collaboration, allowing multiple people to work on projects simultaneously.

This guide will introduce you to the process of integrating Jira with GitHub. By doing so, you can connect the code repository to the project tracking system, which significantly improves your productivity and efficiency. This integration allows development and non-development teams to easily track progress on tasks and issues related to the codebase stored in GitHub.

Why integrate Jira with GitHub?

Before moving forward with the integration process, it is essential to understand why it is beneficial to integrate Jira with GitHub:

• Track issues from pull requests: When someone opens a pull request on GitHub, it can automatically update the corresponding Jira issue. This reduces manual work and keeps everyone in the loop.
• Automated workflows: Through integration, you can automate workflow transitions in Jira based on actions taken in GitHub, such as merging a pull request or pushing code.
• Improved reporting: Management can produce more meaningful reports by combining both issue tracking and code repository data.
• Seamless communication: A linked system ensures seamless communication between the development and project management teams.

Prerequisites for integration

Before you start the integration, make sure you have the necessary permissions and access rights:

• Administrative access to the Jira account.
• Administrative access to the GitHub repository that requires integration.
• The Jira account must be on either a cloud version or a version that supports integration (integration via older Jira Server versions may not work).

Steps to integrate Jira with GitHub

Now that you're ready, let’s start the actual integration process:

Step 1: Install the GitHub for Jira app

The first step is to install the 'GitHub for Jira' app from the Atlassian Marketplace:

1. Log in to your Jira account.
2. Go to the Atlassian Marketplace and search for GitHub for Jira.
3. Click the Get it now button. Follow the installation instructions to add the app to your Jira account.

Once installed, the app will allow Jira to connect exclusively to your GitHub account.

Step 2: Connect GitHub account to Jira

Next, you need to link your GitHub account to Jira:

1. Go to the GitHub Configuration tab in the Jira Settings menu.
2. Authorize Jira to connect to your GitHub account by entering the required GitHub credentials.
3. Jira will take you to GitHub to complete the authentication process. You will need to grant access for the application to connect.

With these actions, your GitHub account is now connected to Jira.

Step 3: Configure the repositories

After connecting the account, select the repositories you want to integrate:

1. Under Repositories Configuration in JIRA, click to add repositories.
2. Select the repositories from the list that require connection.
3. Grant Jira the necessary permissions to access these GitHub repositories.

This step ensures that the correct repository is linked for tracking purposes.

Step 4: Link Jira issues to GitHub commits and pull requests

To ensure smooth workflow and communication, you should now link Jira issues to commits and pull requests in GitHub:

1. Use the Jira issue key (e.g., PROJ-123) in your GitHub commit messages or pull request title/description.
2. For example, if you make a new change, your message will look something like this:

   git commit -m "PROJ-123: fixed the login bug"

3. With these linking efforts, any changes in GitHub will be reflected in the corresponding Jira issues, allowing team members to see which code changes correspond to specific Jira tasks.

Step 5: Automate Jira workflows with GitHub Actions

You can also set up workflow automation rules that respond to certain actions in GitHub, such as a code push or a pull request merge:

1. In Jira, go to the Automation Rules section.
2. Create a rule specifying actions to take place in Jira when certain events occur in GitHub. For example, changing issues to 'complete' when a related pull request is merged:

{ "events": [ { "trigger": "pull request merged", "jql": "issueKeysFromCommit" } ], "actions": [ { "transition": { "id": "31" // assumes '31' is the ID of the 'Done' transition } } ] }

Step 6: Test the integration

After installing and configuring the integration, it’s important to test everything:

• Create a test Jira issue.
• Commit to the corresponding GitHub repository with the Jira issue key in the commit message.
• Make sure that Jira releases updates or changes according to your configuration.

This testing will help you identify any glitches or misconfigurations and ensure smooth integration.

Final thoughts

Integrating Jira with GitHub makes project management and development processes more streamlined and efficient. Teams can focus more on the development work instead of spending time on manual updates and redundancies. Also, clear visibility into the development process ensures that the workload balance remains consistent and deliverable timelines are met effectively. Remember, it is important to ensure that both systems have security practices in place to protect the data passed through the integration.

Good integration leads to success in project delivery by reducing friction between development and management functions – providing a single source of reference for both low-level tasks and high-level project tracking, paving the way for a more collaborative and effective workflow.

Now that you’ve completed the setup, take advantage of one of the most efficient practices for managing software projects!

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