| name | bulk-operations |
| description | This skill covers batch create, update, delete, and transition operations for the Jira Cloud REST API. |
Bulk Operations Skill
This skill covers batch create, update, delete, and transition operations for the Jira Cloud REST API.
Bulk Create Issues
POST /rest/api/3/issue/bulk
Create up to 50 issues in a single request:
curl -X POST \
-H "Authorization: Basic $(echo -n '$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN' | base64)" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
"https://{domain}.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/issue/bulk" \
-d '{
"issueUpdates": [
{
"fields": {
"project": { "key": "PROJ" },
"issuetype": { "name": "Task" },
"summary": "Task 1",
"description": {
"type": "doc",
"version": 1,
"content": [
{
"type": "paragraph",
"content": [
{ "type": "text", "text": "Description for task 1" }
]
}
]
}
}
},
{
"fields": {
"project": { "key": "PROJ" },
"issuetype": { "name": "Task" },
"summary": "Task 2"
}
},
{
"fields": {
"project": { "key": "PROJ" },
"issuetype": { "name": "Bug" },
"summary": "Bug 1",
"priority": { "name": "High" }
}
}
]
}'
Response:
{
"issues": [
{ "id": "10001", "key": "PROJ-101", "self": "https://..." },
{ "id": "10002", "key": "PROJ-102", "self": "https://..." },
{ "id": "10003", "key": "PROJ-103", "self": "https://..." }
],
"errors": []
}
Partial failures are possible — check the errors array.
Bulk Update via JQL + Script
Jira Cloud does not have a single "bulk update" endpoint. Use a loop pattern:
Bash Script for Bulk Update
#!/bin/bash
JQL="project = PROJ AND status = 'Open' AND labels = 'needs-triage'"
START_AT=0
MAX_RESULTS=50
TOTAL=1
while [ $START_AT -lt $TOTAL ]; do
RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST \
-u "$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
"$JIRA_BASE_URL/rest/api/3/search/jql" \
-d "{
\"jql\": \"$JQL\",
\"startAt\": $START_AT,
\"maxResults\": $MAX_RESULTS,
\"fields\": [\"key\"]
}")
TOTAL=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | jq '.total')
KEYS=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | jq -r '.issues[].key')
for KEY in $KEYS; do
echo "Updating $KEY..."
curl -s -X PUT \
-u "$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
"$JIRA_BASE_URL/rest/api/3/issue/$KEY" \
-d '{
"fields": {
"labels": ["triaged"],
"priority": { "name": "Medium" }
}
}'
sleep 0.2
done
START_AT=$((START_AT + MAX_RESULTS))
done
echo "Bulk update complete."
Python Script for Bulk Update
import requests
import time
base_url = "https://your-domain.atlassian.net"
auth = ("email@example.com", "api-token")
jql = 'project = PROJ AND status = "Open"'
start_at = 0
max_results = 50
updated = 0
while True:
response = requests.post(
f"{base_url}/rest/api/3/search/jql",
auth=auth,
json={
"jql": jql,
"startAt": start_at,
"maxResults": max_results,
"fields": ["key"]
}
)
data = response.json()
for issue in data["issues"]:
key = issue["key"]
update_response = requests.put(
f"{base_url}/rest/api/3/issue/{key}",
auth=auth,
json={
"fields": {
"priority": {"name": "Medium"}
}
}
)
if update_response.status_code == 204:
updated += 1
print(f"Updated {key}")
else:
print(f"Failed to update {key}: {update_response.status_code}")
time.sleep(0.2)
if start_at + max_results >= data["total"]:
break
start_at += max_results
print(f"Updated {updated} issues")
Bulk Transition
Transition multiple issues through a workflow step:
#!/bin/bash
TRANSITION_ID=$(curl -s \
-u "$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN" \
"$JIRA_BASE_URL/rest/api/3/issue/PROJ-1/transitions" \
| jq -r '.transitions[] | select(.name == "Done") | .id')
echo "Using transition ID: $TRANSITION_ID"
RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST \
-u "$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
"$JIRA_BASE_URL/rest/api/3/search/jql" \
-d '{
"jql": "project = PROJ AND status = \"In Review\" AND fixVersion = \"v1.0.0\"",
"fields": ["key"]
}')
KEYS=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | jq -r '.issues[].key')
for KEY in $KEYS; do
echo "Transitioning $KEY to Done..."
curl -s -X POST \
-u "$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
"$JIRA_BASE_URL/rest/api/3/issue/$KEY/transitions" \
-d "{
\"transition\": { \"id\": \"$TRANSITION_ID\" },
\"fields\": {
\"resolution\": { \"name\": \"Done\" }
}
}"
sleep 0.2
done
Bulk Delete
#!/bin/bash
RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST \
-u "$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
"$JIRA_BASE_URL/rest/api/3/search/jql" \
-d '{
"jql": "project = TEST AND issuetype = \"Test Issue\"",
"fields": ["key"]
}')
KEYS=$(echo "$RESPONSE" | jq -r '.issues[].key')
echo "About to delete $(echo "$KEYS" | wc -w) issues. Press Enter to continue or Ctrl+C to cancel."
read
for KEY in $KEYS; do
echo "Deleting $KEY..."
curl -s -X DELETE \
-u "$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN" \
"$JIRA_BASE_URL/rest/api/3/issue/$KEY?deleteSubtasks=true"
sleep 0.2
done
echo "Bulk delete complete."
Bulk Move Issues to Sprint
curl -X POST \
-H "Authorization: Basic $(echo -n '$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN' | base64)" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
"https://{domain}.atlassian.net/rest/agile/1.0/sprint/{sprintId}/issue" \
-d '{
"issues": ["PROJ-1", "PROJ-2", "PROJ-3", "PROJ-4", "PROJ-5"]
}'
Bulk Label Update
#!/bin/bash
RESPONSE=$(curl -s -X POST \
-u "$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
"$JIRA_BASE_URL/rest/api/3/search/jql" \
-d '{
"jql": "project = PROJ AND component = \"Legacy API\"",
"fields": ["key", "labels"]
}')
echo "$RESPONSE" | jq -c '.issues[]' | while read -r ISSUE; do
KEY=$(echo "$ISSUE" | jq -r '.key')
echo "Adding label to $KEY..."
curl -s -X PUT \
-u "$JIRA_USER_EMAIL:$JIRA_API_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
"$JIRA_BASE_URL/rest/api/3/issue/$KEY" \
-d '{
"update": {
"labels": [
{ "add": "deprecated" }
]
}
}'
sleep 0.2
done
Best Practices
- Rate limiting — Add delays between requests (200ms minimum recommended)
- Error handling — Check each response status; log failures for retry
- Pagination — Process results in pages of 50-100 items
- Dry run — Log planned changes before executing, especially for deletes
- Idempotency — Design operations to be safely retryable
- Backup — Export affected issues before bulk modifications
- Off-peak hours — Run bulk operations during low-usage periods
- Batch size — Bulk create supports up to 50 issues per request
- Monitoring — Track progress and errors throughout the operation
- Rollback plan — Have a plan to revert changes if something goes wrong
