grandcamel/jira-bulk-operations

jira-bulk

Bulk operations for JIRA issue management at scale - transitions, assignments, priorities, cloning, and deletion.

Risk Levels

| Operation | Risk | Notes | |-----------|------|-------| | Dry-run any operation | - | Preview only, no changes | | Bulk transition | !! | Affects many issues; use --dry-run first | | Bulk assign | !! | Affects many issues; use --dry-run first | | Bulk set-priority | !! | Affects many issues; use --dry-run first | | Bulk clone | ! | Creates many issues; can delete | | Bulk delete | !!! | IRREVERSIBLE - issues permanently lost |

Risk Legend: - Safe, read-only | ! Caution, modifiable | !! Warning, destructive but recoverable | !!! Danger, irreversible

CRITICAL: Always use --dry-run before executing bulk operations. Bulk delete is permanent and cannot be undone.

When to use this skill

IMPORTANT: Always use the jira-as CLI. Never run Python scripts directly.

Use this skill when you need to:

• Transition multiple issues through workflow states simultaneously
• Assign multiple issues to a user (or unassign)
• Set priority on multiple issues at once
• Clone issues with their subtasks and links
• Delete multiple issues permanently (with dry-run preview)
• Execute operations with dry-run preview before making changes
• Handle partial failures gracefully with progress tracking

Scale guidance:

• 5-10 issues: Run directly, no special options needed
• 50-100 issues: Use --dry-run first, then execute
• 500+ issues: Use --dry-run, then execute in smaller batches if needed

Quick Start

# Preview before making changes
jira-as bulk transition --jql "project=PROJ AND status=\"In Progress\"" --to Done --dry-run

# Execute the transition
jira-as bulk transition --jql "project=PROJ AND status=\"In Progress\"" --to Done

For more patterns, see Quick Start Guide.

Available Commands

| Command | Purpose | Example | |---------|---------|---------| | jira-as bulk transition | Move issues to new status | --jql "..." --to "Done" | | jira-as bulk assign | Assign issues to user | --jql "..." --assignee john | | jira-as bulk set-priority | Set issue priority | --jql "..." --priority High | | jira-as bulk clone | Clone issues | --jql "..." --include-subtasks | | jira-as bulk delete | Delete issues permanently | --jql "..." --dry-run |

All commands support --help for full documentation.

Common Options

All commands support these options:

| Option | Purpose | When to Use | |--------|---------|-------------| | -n/--dry-run | Preview changes | Always use for >10 issues | | -y/--yes | Skip confirmation | Scripted automation | | -m/--max-issues N | Limit scope (default: 100) | Testing, large operations | | -o/--output FORMAT | Output format: text (default), json | JSON for scripting |

Transition-Only Options

These options are only available for jira-as bulk transition:

| Option | Purpose | When to Use | |--------|---------|-------------| | --comment / -c | Add comment with transition | Documenting bulk changes | | --resolution / -r | Set resolution (e.g., Fixed) | Closing issues |

Examples

Bulk Transition

# By issue keys
jira-as bulk transition --issues PROJ-1,PROJ-2,PROJ-3 --to Done

# By JQL query
jira-as bulk transition --jql "project=PROJ AND status=\"In Progress\"" --to Done

# With resolution
jira-as bulk transition --jql "type=Bug AND status=Verified" --to Closed --resolution Fixed

Bulk Assign

# Assign to user
jira-as bulk assign --jql "project=PROJ AND status=Open" --assignee "john.doe"

# Assign to self
jira-as bulk assign --jql "project=PROJ AND assignee IS EMPTY" --assignee self

# Unassign
jira-as bulk assign --jql "assignee=john.leaving" --unassign

Bulk Set Priority

jira-as bulk set-priority --jql "type=Bug AND labels=critical" --priority Highest

# Output as JSON
jira-as bulk set-priority --jql "type=Bug" --priority High --dry-run -o json

Bulk Clone

# ALWAYS preview first with dry-run (cloning creates many issues)
jira-as bulk clone --jql "sprint=\"Sprint 42\"" --include-subtasks --dry-run

# After reviewing the preview, execute without --dry-run
jira-as bulk clone --jql "sprint=\"Sprint 42\"" --include-subtasks --include-links

# Clone to different project
jira-as bulk clone --issues PROJ-1,PROJ-2 --target-project NEWPROJ --prefix "[Clone]"

Bulk Delete (DESTRUCTIVE)

# ALWAYS preview first with dry-run
jira-as bulk delete --jql "project=CLEANUP" --dry-run

# Delete by issue keys (preview first)
jira-as bulk delete --issues DEMO-1,DEMO-2,DEMO-3 --dry-run

# Execute deletion (after confirming dry-run output)
jira-as bulk delete --jql "project=CLEANUP" --yes

# Keep subtasks when deleting parent issues (subtasks deleted by default)
jira-as bulk delete --jql "project=CLEANUP" --no-subtasks --dry-run

Safety features:

• --dry-run shows exactly what will be deleted before making changes
• Confirmation required for >10 issues (lower than other operations)
• Default --max-issues 100 prevents accidental mass deletion
• Per-issue error tracking with summary of failures

Scale Recommendations

| Issue Count | Recommended Approach | |-------------|----------------------| | <50 | Defaults are fine | | 50-500 | --dry-run first, then execute | | 500+ | --dry-run, then execute in smaller batches if needed |

Getting rate limit (429) errors?

• Use --max-issues to process in smaller batches
• Consider running during off-peak hours

Exit Codes

| Code | Meaning | |------|---------| | 0 | All operations successful | | 1 | Some failures or validation error | | 130 | Cancelled by user (Ctrl+C) |

Troubleshooting

| Error | Solution | |-------|----------| | Transition not available | Check issue status with jira-as issue get ISSUE-KEY --show-transitions | | Permission denied | Verify JIRA project permissions (DELETE_ISSUES required for bulk delete) | | Rate limit (429) | Use --max-issues to process in smaller batches or run during off-peak hours | | Invalid JQL | Test JQL in JIRA search first | | Cannot delete issue with subtasks | Subtasks are deleted by default; use --no-subtasks to keep them |

For detailed error recovery, see Error Recovery Playbook.

Documentation

| Guide | When to Use | |-------|-------------| | Quick Start | Get started in 5 minutes | | Operations Guide | Choose the right command | | Error Recovery | Handle failures | | Safety Checklist | Pre-flight verification | | Best Practices | Comprehensive guidance |

Related Skills

• jira-lifecycle: Single-issue transitions and workflow
• jira-search: Find issues with JQL queries
• jira-issue: Create and update single issues