Quick Start

Using with Claude Desktop

1. Configure Claude Desktop

Add to your Claude Desktop configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "atlassian": {
      "command": "/path/to/mcp-atlassian",
      "env": {
        "ATLASSIAN_URL": "https://example.atlassian.net",
        "ATLASSIAN_USERNAME": "user@example.com",
        "ATLASSIAN_API_TOKEN": "your-api-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

2. Restart Claude Desktop

Close and reopen Claude Desktop to load the new configuration.

3. Start Using

You can now ask Claude to interact with Confluence and Jira:

• "Read the Confluence page with ID 12345"
• "Search for pages about authentication"
• "Create a new page in TEAM space titled 'Meeting Notes'"
• "Update page 12345 with a new table"
• "Search for open Jira bugs in project FOO"
• "Create a new Story in project PROJ"
• "Transition PROJ-123 to Done"
• "Show velocity report for board 42"

Using the CLI

The server also works as a CLI tool for testing and scripting:

# Read a page as structured blocks
mcp-atlassian read-page 12345

# Read a page as raw XHTML
mcp-atlassian read-page-xhtml 12345

# Search for pages
mcp-atlassian search-pages "type=page AND text~'authentication'" --limit 10

# Delete a page
mcp-atlassian delete-page 12345

# Pretty print output
mcp-atlassian read-page 12345 --output pretty

Example Workflows

Read and Understand a Page

You: Read the Confluence page 12345

Claude: I'll read that page for you.
[Uses confluence_read_page tool]

The page "API Design Guidelines" contains:
- Heading: REST API Standards
- Paragraph: Our API follows RESTful principles...
- Table with columns: Endpoint, Method, Description
...

Create a New Page

You: Create a meeting notes page in the TEAM space

Claude: I'll create a new meeting notes page.
[Uses confluence_create_page tool with structured blocks]

Created page "Meeting Notes 2025-01-15" with ID 67890
URL: https://example.atlassian.net/spaces/TEAM/pages/67890

Update a Table

You: Add a new row to the status table on page 12345

Claude: I'll read the current page and add a new row.
[Uses confluence_read_page, then confluence_update_page]

Updated page with new table row:
| Service | Status |
|---------|--------|
| API     | OK     |
| Auth    | OK     |  <- New row added

Why Structured Blocks?

This server uses structured JSON blocks instead of raw XHTML because:

1. LLMs produce JSON reliably - No risk of malformed XHTML
2. Tables are safe - Proper <tbody> structure is guaranteed
3. Macros work correctly - Status badges, code blocks render properly
4. Round-trip safe - Read, modify, write without corruption