zaira 0.16.0

CLI tool for offline Jira ticket management. Export tickets to markdown, generate reports, and keep everything in sync.

Zaira

Pronunciation: ZAY-rah /ˈzeɪ.rə/ — named after Jira (JEE-rah /ˈdʒiː.rə/), though it works with Confluence too. Finnish speakers may pronounce it however they like.

A CLI tool for Jira and Confluence management. Export tickets to markdown, generate reports, and keep everything in sync.

Designed for AI-assisted development workflows. By exporting Jira tickets to plain markdown files, AI agents and coding assistants can easily read project context, understand requirements, and reference ticket details without needing direct Jira API access.

Installation

uv tool install zaira

Or with pip:

pip install zaira

Setup

1. Configure credentials

Run zaira init to create the credentials file:

zaira init

This creates a credentials file in your platform's config directory (~/Library/Application Support/zaira/ on macOS, ~/.config/zaira/ on Linux). Edit it with your Jira details:

site = "your-company.atlassian.net"
email = "[e-mail]"
api_token = "your-api-token"

Get your API token from: https://id.atlassian.com/manage-profile/security/api-tokens

2. Initialize project (optional, for project managers)

For advanced workflows with named queries, report templates, and board aliases, generate zproject.toml:

zaira init-project FOO              # Single project
zaira init-project FOO BAR          # Multiple projects

This discovers each project's components, labels, and boards, then generates zproject.toml with named queries and reports. This is intended for project managers and power users who need repeatable reports and batch operations. Most commands work without this file.

Commands

export

Export individual tickets to stdout (default) or files:

# Output to stdout (default)
zaira export FOO-1234

# Save to tickets/ directory
zaira export FOO-1234 --files
zaira export FOO-1234 -o tickets/

# Bulk export with JQL, board, or sprint
zaira export --jql "project = FOO AND status = 'In Progress'" --files
zaira export --board 123 --files
zaira export --sprint 456 --files

# Export as JSON
zaira export FOO-1234 --format json

# Include linked pull requests (GitHub only)
zaira export FOO-1234 --with-prs

# Include custom fields (uses cached schema for name lookup)
zaira export FOO-1234 --all-fields

create

Create a ticket from a YAML front matter file:

# Create ticket from file
zaira create ticket.md

# Create from stdin
zaira create - <<EOF
---
project: FOO
summary: Quick ticket
type: Task
---
Description here
EOF

# Preview without creating
zaira create ticket.md --dry-run

The file format matches exported tickets:

---
project: FOO
summary: "Implement feature X"
type: Story
priority: High
components: [backend, api]
labels: [v2]
Epic Link: FOO-100        # Custom field (looked up via schema)
---

## Description

Feature description here...

Custom field names are mapped to IDs using the cached schema. Run zaira info fields --refresh to cache field mappings.

my

Show your open tickets grouped by status:

zaira my

Tickets are sorted by age (oldest first) within each group. Uses the my-tickets query from zproject.toml if configured, otherwise defaults to assignee = currentUser() AND status NOT IN (Done, Closed, Resolved, Disposal, Rejected).

report

Generate markdown reports from JQL queries:

# Use a named report from zproject.toml
zaira report my-tickets

# Use a named query
zaira report --query my-tickets

# Use raw JQL
zaira report --jql "project = FOO AND type = Bug" --title "Bugs"

# Group by field
zaira report --jql "project = FOO" --group-by status

# Filter by label
zaira report --board main --label backend

# Export tickets along with the report
zaira report my-tickets --full

# Force re-export all tickets
zaira report my-tickets --full --force

# Output as JSON or CSV
zaira report my-tickets --format json
zaira report my-tickets --format csv

# Force file output without zproject.toml
zaira report --jql "project = FOO" --files

Reports are saved to reports/ with YAML front matter containing the refresh command (markdown only).

refresh

Refresh a report using the command stored in its front matter:

zaira refresh my-report.md

# Also export tickets referenced in the report
zaira refresh my-report --full

# Force re-export all tickets
zaira refresh my-report --full --force

When using --full, only tickets that have changed in Jira since the last refresh are re-exported.

boards

List available Jira boards:

zaira boards
zaira boards --project FOO

edit

Edit a ticket's fields:

# Title and description
zaira edit FOO-1234 --title "New title"
zaira edit FOO-1234 --description "New description"
zaira edit FOO-1234 -t "Title" -d "Description"

# Arbitrary fields with -F (repeatable)
zaira edit FOO-1234 -F "Priority=High"
zaira edit FOO-1234 -F "Priority=High" -F "Epic Link=FOO-100"
zaira edit FOO-1234 -F "labels=bug,urgent" -F "Story Points=5"

# Assign ticket
zaira edit FOO-1234 -F "assignee=me"                  # Assign to yourself
zaira edit FOO-1234 -F "assignee=[e-mail]"   # Assign by email

# From YAML file
zaira edit FOO-1234 --from fields.yaml

# From stdin
zaira edit FOO-1234 --from - <<EOF
Priority: High
Epic Link: FOO-100
Story Points: 5
labels: [bug, urgent]
EOF

# Multiline description via stdin
zaira edit FOO-1234 -d - <<EOF
h2. Overview

This is a *bold* statement with _italic_ text.
EOF

Custom field names are mapped to IDs using the cached schema. Descriptions support Jira wiki syntax.

comment

Add a comment to a ticket:

zaira comment FOO-1234 "This is my comment"

# Multiline via stdin
zaira comment FOO-1234 - <<EOF
Line 1
Line 2
EOF

# Pipe from file or command
cat notes.txt | zaira comment FOO-1234 -

transition

Transition a ticket to a new status:

zaira transition FOO-1234 "In Progress"
zaira transition FOO-1234 Done

check (experimental)

Validate tickets against a rules.yaml file in the current directory:

zaira check FOO-123
zaira check FOO-123 FOO-456 FOO-789
zaira check FOO-123 --rules path/to/rules.yaml

Rules are scoped by issue type. Available checks:

• required — field must exist and be non-null
• non_empty — field must exist and not be empty string/empty list
• contains — string field must contain a substring
• not_contains — string field must not contain a substring
• matches — string field must match a regex (re.search; use (?i) for case-insensitive)
• not_matches — string field must not match a regex
• one_of — field value must be one of the allowed values; for list fields, all values must be in the allowed set
• not_one_of — field value must not be any of the forbidden values
• subtask_types — must have at least one subtask of each listed issue type
• when.<status> — additional rules that apply only when the ticket is in that status
• if — conditional rules that match on any field value

Story:
  required: [Story Points, assignee]
  non_empty: [Description]
  contains:
    Description: "acceptance criteria"
  matches:
    Description: "\\bhttp\\S+"       # must contain a link
  not_matches:
    summary: "(?i)\\bwip\\b"        # summary must not contain WIP
  one_of:
    Priority: [Critical, High, Medium]
  when:
    Done:
      required: [Resolution]
      subtask_types: [Deployment Wave]
      not_contains:
        Description: "TODO"
  if:
    - match: { Priority: Critical }
      then:
        required: [Rollback Plan, Deployment Owner]
    - match: { components: backend }
      then:
        required: [API Review]
    - match: { labels: security, Priority: Critical }
      then:
        required: [Security Review]

when is sugar for the common status case. if is a list of {match, then} blocks — all fields in match must match (AND logic), and then contains any of the standard check types including subtask_types. For list fields like components and labels, match checks membership (value is in the list). For scalar fields, it checks exact equality. if blocks also respect the status override during transition validation.

Field names work for both standard fields (summary, status, assignee) and custom fields (Release Date, Story Points). Standard field lookup is case-insensitive.

Transition validation: When rules.yaml exists, zaira transition automatically checks the target status rules before transitioning. If the ticket fails validation, the transition is blocked:

$ zaira transition FOO-123 Done
Blocked: FOO-123 fails rules for 'Done':
  FAIL  required    Resolution
  FAIL  not_contains Description

Use --no-check to skip validation.

Use --no-check to bypass: zaira transition FOO-123 Done --no-check

link

Create a link between two tickets:

zaira link FOO-1234 FOO-5678              # Default: Relates
zaira link FOO-1234 FOO-5678 --type Blocks
zaira link FOO-1234 FOO-5678 -t Duplicates

log

Log work hours to a ticket:

# Log time
zaira log FOO-1234 2h
zaira log FOO-1234 30m
zaira log FOO-1234 "1h 30m"

# Log with comment
zaira log FOO-1234 2h --comment "Code review"
zaira log FOO-1234 1h -c "Sprint planning"

# Log to a specific date
zaira log FOO-1234 3h --date 2026-02-05

# List existing worklogs
zaira log FOO-1234 --list

Time formats: 30m (minutes), 2h (hours), 1d (day = 8h), 1w (week = 40h), or compound like 1h 30m. The --list flag shows all worklogs with author, date, and a total.

hours

Show logged hours across all tickets for a time period:

# Last 7 days (default)
zaira hours

# Last 14 days
zaira hours --days 14

# Custom date range
zaira hours --from 2026-01-20 --to 2026-01-24

# Ticket totals only (no daily breakdown)
zaira hours --summary

# Hours by person on specific tickets
zaira hours FOO-123 FOO-456

# Combine ticket mode with date filtering
zaira hours FOO-123 --from 2026-01-01 --to 2026-01-31

Without ticket keys, shows your personal timesheet with daily breakdown. With ticket keys, shows hours split by person per ticket.

attach

Upload attachments to a ticket:

zaira attach FOO-1234 screenshot.png
zaira attach FOO-1234 *.png doc.pdf       # Multiple files

dashboards

List available Jira dashboards:

zaira dashboards
zaira dashboards --mine              # Only your dashboards
zaira dashboards --filter "sprint"   # Filter by name
zaira dashboards --limit 100         # Max results (default: 50)

dashboard

Export a specific dashboard:

zaira dashboard 16148
zaira dashboard "https://company.atlassian.net/jira/dashboards/16148"
zaira dashboard 16148 --format json
zaira dashboard 16148 -o dashboard.md

wiki

Access Confluence pages using the same credentials:

# Get page by ID or URL (outputs markdown with front matter)
zaira wiki get 123456
zaira wiki get "https://site.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/SPACE/pages/123456/Title"
zaira wiki get 123456 --format html       # Raw storage format
zaira wiki get 123456 --format json       # Full API response

# Export multiple pages to directory
zaira wiki get 123 456 789 -o docs/

# Export page and all children recursively
zaira wiki get 123 --children -o docs/

# List page and children (without exporting)
zaira wiki get 123 --list

# Search pages
zaira wiki search "search terms"
zaira wiki search "docs" --space TEAM     # Filter by space
zaira wiki search --creator "John Doe"    # Filter by creator
zaira wiki search "api" --limit 50        # Limit results (default: 25)
zaira wiki search "api" --format url      # Output just URLs
zaira wiki search "api" --format json     # Full JSON response

# Create page from markdown
zaira wiki create -s SPACE -t "Page Title" -m -b page.md
zaira wiki create -s SPACE -t "Title" -m -b -   # From stdin
zaira wiki create -t "Child Page" -p 123 -m -b page.md  # Under parent (space inferred)

# Upload attachments
zaira wiki attach 123456 image.png                        # Single file
zaira wiki attach 123456 *.png                            # Glob pattern
zaira wiki attach 123456 image.png --replace              # Replace if exists

# Delete page
zaira wiki delete 123456              # Prompts for confirmation
zaira wiki delete 123456 --yes        # Skip confirmation

# Edit page properties
zaira wiki edit 123456 --title "New Title"
zaira wiki edit 123456 --parent 789            # Move under different parent
zaira wiki edit 123456 --labels "docs,api,v2"  # Set labels (replaces existing)
zaira wiki edit 123456 --space NEWSPACE        # Move to different space

wiki put (with sync)

Update Confluence pages from markdown files with automatic sync tracking:

# Push local changes (page ID from front matter)
zaira wiki put -m page.md

# Multiple files / globs / directories
zaira wiki put -m docs/*.md
zaira wiki put -m docs/

# Check sync status
zaira wiki put -m page.md --status

# View diff between local and remote
zaira wiki put -m page.md --diff

# Pull remote changes to local file
zaira wiki put -m page.md --pull

# Force push (overwrite conflicts)
zaira wiki put -m page.md --force

# Create new pages for files without front matter
zaira wiki put -m docs/*.md --create              # Parent auto-detected from siblings
zaira wiki put -m docs/*.md --create --parent 123  # Explicit parent

# Explicit page ID (single file, overrides front matter)
zaira wiki put -m page.md -p 123456

Creating new pages: With --create, files without confluence: front matter become new pages. The parent is auto-detected from sibling files (must all share the same parent), or specify with --parent. After creation, front matter is added to the file.

Front matter: Files link to Confluence pages via YAML front matter. Title and labels sync automatically on push/pull:

---
confluence: 123456
title: My Document
labels: [docs, api]
---

Content here with ![images](./images/diagram.png)

Image handling: Local images (![alt](./images/foo.png)) are automatically uploaded as Confluence attachments on push, and downloaded to images/ on pull. Only changed images are re-uploaded.

Conflict detection: Tracks versions and content hashes. If both local and remote changed since last sync, you'll get a conflict warning:

Error: Conflict detected!
  Local file changed since last sync
  Remote changed: version 5 -> 7
Use --diff to see changes, --force to overwrite remote, or --pull to discard local changes

info

Query Jira instance metadata. Results are cached locally and served from cache by default:

zaira info statuses      # List statuses and categories
zaira info priorities    # List priorities
zaira info issue-types   # List issue types
zaira info link-types    # List available link types
zaira info fields        # List custom fields
zaira info fields --all  # Include standard fields
zaira info fields --filter epic  # Search by name or ID

# Project-specific metadata
zaira info components FOO  # List components for project
zaira info labels FOO      # List labels for project

# Refresh from Jira API (also updates cache)
zaira info statuses --refresh
zaira info fields -r

# Refresh all metadata at once
zaira info --save

Instance schema is cached at ~/.cache/zaira/zschema_PROFILE.json and project schemas at ~/.cache/zaira/zproject_PROFILE_PROJECT.json.

Project Configuration (for project managers)

The zproject.toml file stores project-specific settings for project managers and power users. After running zaira init-project, you can edit this file to rename reports, add custom queries, and organize boards to match your workflow:

[project]
site = "company.atlassian.net"
profile = "work"  # Optional: name for schema cache (default: "default")

[boards]
main = 123
support = 456

[queries]
my-tickets = "assignee = currentUser() AND project = FOO AND status != Done"
bugs = "project = FOO AND type = Bug AND status != Done"
# Queries can span multiple projects
all-my-work = "assignee = currentUser() AND project IN (FOO, BAR) AND status != Done"

[reports]
my-tickets = { query = "my-tickets", group_by = "status" }
bugs = { jql = "project = FOO AND type = Bug", group_by = "priority" }
sprint = { board = 123, group_by = "status", full = true }
# Reports can target multiple projects via JQL
cross-team = { jql = "project IN (FOO, BAR) AND type = Bug", group_by = "project" }

Output Structure

project/
  zproject.toml          # Project configuration
  tickets/               # Exported tickets
    FOO-1234-ticket-title.md
    attachments/         # Downloaded attachments (up to 10 MB each)
      FOO-1234/
        screenshot.png
        design.pdf
    by-component/        # Symlinks grouped by component (markdown only)
      backend/
        FOO-1234-ticket-title.md -> ../../FOO-1234-ticket-title.md
    by-parent/           # Symlinks grouped by parent ticket
      FOO-1000-epic-name/
        FOO-1234-ticket-title.md -> ../../FOO-1234-ticket-title.md
  reports/               # Generated reports
    my-tickets.md
    my-tickets.json      # with --format json
    my-tickets.csv       # with --format csv

Ticket Format

Exported tickets include YAML front matter:

---
key: FOO-1234
summary: "Implement feature X"
type: Story
status: In Progress
priority: High
assignee: [e-mail]
reporter: [e-mail]
components: Backend
labels: api, v2
parent: FOO-1000
Epic Link: FOO-1000       # Custom fields (with --all-fields)
Story Points: 5
synced: 2024-01-15T10:30:00
url: https://company.atlassian.net/browse/FOO-1234
---

# FOO-1234: Implement feature X

## Description

Feature description here...

## Attachments

- [screenshot.png](attachments/FOO-1234/screenshot.png) (145 KB, Jane Doe, 2024-01-14)

## Comments

### John Doe (2024-01-14T09:00:00)

Comment text...

Python API

For programmatic access (or AI agents needing advanced Jira operations):

import zaira

# Authenticated Jira client (jira.JIRA instance)
jira = zaira.client()
issue = jira.issue("FOO-1234")
issues = jira.search_issues("project = FOO AND status = 'In Progress'")

# Instance schema (fields, statuses, priorities, issue types, link types)
s = zaira.schema()
s["statuses"]    # {'Open': 'To Do', 'In Progress': 'In Progress', ...}
s["fields"]      # {'customfield_10001': 'Epic Link', ...}
s["priorities"]  # ['Blocker', 'Critical', 'Major', ...]

# Project schema (components, labels)
ps = zaira.project_schema("FOO")
ps["components"]  # ['Backend', 'Frontend', ...]
ps["labels"]      # ['bug', 'feature', ...]

The client uses credentials from the platform config directory (~/Library/Application Support/zaira/credentials.toml on macOS, ~/.config/zaira/credentials.toml on Linux). Schema functions return cached data populated by zaira init-project or zaira info --save.

License

MIT