YouTrack

What is youtrack-mcp?

youtrack-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that enables AI assistants to interact with JetBrains YouTrack, a popular issue tracking system. It acts as a bridge, allowing AI models to manage issues, projects, and users within YouTrack through a unified interface.

How to use youtrack-mcp?

youtrack-mcp can be easily deployed using Docker. You can run it directly with Docker commands, providing your YouTrack instance URL and API token as environment variables. It also supports integration with various AI applications like Cursor IDE, Claude Desktop, and VS Code with Claude Extension by configuring their respective MCP settings to point to the running youtrack-mcp server. Building from source is also an option for those who prefer it.

Key Features of youtrack-mcp

• Issue Management: Get issue details, search for issues, create new issues, and add comments.
• Project Management: Get project lists and details, create and update projects, access project issues, and manage custom fields.
• User Management: Get current user information, search for users, and access user details and groups.
• Search Functionality: Advanced search with custom fields, structured filtering, and sorting options.
• Docker Support: Easy deployment and management via Docker containers.
• Multi-Platform Images: Supports both ARM64 and AMD64 architectures.

Use Cases of youtrack-mcp

• AI-powered Issue Management: AI assistants can directly create, update, and query YouTrack issues, streamlining development workflows.
• Automated Project Updates: AI can assist in managing project details and tracking progress within YouTrack.
• Enhanced Collaboration: AI can facilitate communication by adding comments to issues and retrieving user information.
• Intelligent Search: AI can leverage advanced search capabilities to quickly find relevant information within YouTrack.

FAQ from youtrack-mcp

• What is MCP? Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that enables AI models to interact with external tools and services through a unified interface.
• How to secure API tokens? Treat your mcp.json file as an .env file, rotate your YouTrack API tokens periodically, and use tokens with the minimum required permissions.
• Can I disable SSL verification? Yes, for self-hosted instances with self-signed SSL certificates, you can set YOUTRACK_VERIFY_SSL=false in your Docker run command. This is recommended only for development or controlled environments.
• How to enable debug logging? Set MCP_DEBUG=true in your Docker run command to enable debug logging for troubleshooting.

YouTrack MCP Server v0.3.7

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for JetBrains YouTrack, allowing AI assistants to interact with YouTrack issue tracking system.

What is MCP?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that enables AI models to interact with external tools and services through a unified interface. This project provides an MCP server that exposes YouTrack functionality to AI assistants that support the MCP standard, such as Claude in VS Code, Claude Desktop, GitHub Copilot, and Cursor IDE.

Features

• Issue Management

  • Get issue details
  • Search for issues using YouTrack query language
  • Create new issues
  • Add comments to issues

• Project Management

  • Get project list and details
  • Create and update projects
  • Access project issues
  • Manage custom fields

• User Management

  • Get current user information
  • Search for users
  • Access user details and groups

• Search Functionality

  • Advanced search with custom fields
  • Structured filtering
  • Sorting options

Quick Start with Docker

# Run with Docker (for YouTrack Cloud instances)
docker run -i --rm \
     -e YOUTRACK_URL=https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud \
     -e YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=perm:your-api-token \
     -e YOUTRACK_CLOUD=true \
     tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest

# Or for self-hosted YouTrack instances
docker run -i --rm \
     -e YOUTRACK_URL=https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud \
     -e YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=your-api-token \
     -e YOUTRACK_CLOUD=false \
     tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest

For Cursor IDE, add to .cursor/mcp.json:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "YouTrack": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "docker",
            "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm",
            "-e", "YOUTRACK_URL=https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud",
            "-e", "YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=perm:your-api-token", 
            "-e", "YOUTRACK_CLOUD=true",
            "tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest"
            ]
        }
    }
}

For Claude Desktop, set as MCP server:

docker run -i --rm -e YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=perm:your-api-token -e YOUTRACK_CLOUD=true tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest

Installation & Usage

Using Docker Hub Image (Recommended)

1. Pull the Docker image:

   docker pull tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest
   

2. Run the container with your YouTrack credentials:

   docker run -i --rm \
     -e YOUTRACK_URL=https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud \
     -e YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=your-api-token \
     tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest
   

Alternative: Build from Source

If you prefer to build the image yourself:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp.git
   cd youtrack-mcp
   

2. Build the Docker image:

   docker build -t youtrack-mcp .
   

3. Run your locally built container:

   docker run -i --rm \
     -e YOUTRACK_URL=https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud \
     -e YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=your-api-token \
     youtrack-mcp
   

Building Multi-Platform Images

To build and push multi-architecture images (for both ARM64 and AMD64 platforms):

1. Make sure you have Docker BuildX set up:

   docker buildx create --use
   

2. Build and push for multiple platforms:

   docker buildx build --platform linux/amd64,linux/arm64 \
     -t tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:0.3.7 \
     -t tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest \
     --push .
   

This builds the image for both ARM64 (Apple Silicon) and AMD64 (Intel/AMD) architectures and pushes it with both version-specific and latest tags.

Security Considerations

⚠️ API Token Security

• Treat your mcp.json file as .env
• Rotate your YouTrack API tokens periodically
• Use tokens with the minimum required permissions for your use case

Using with AI Applications

Cursor IDE

To use your YouTrack MCP server with Cursor IDE:

1. Create a .cursor/mcp.json file in your project with the following content:

   {
       "mcpServers": {
           "YouTrack": {
               "type": "stdio",
               "command": "docker",
               "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", 
               "-e", "YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=perm:your-api-token",
               "-e", "YOUTRACK_URL=https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud",
               "-e", "YOUTRACK_CLOUD=true",
               "tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest"
               ]
           }
       }
   }
   

2. Replace yourinstance.youtrack.cloud with your actual YouTrack instance URL and perm:your-token with your actual API token.

3. Restart Cursor or reload the project for the changes to take effect.

Claude Desktop

To use with Claude Desktop:

1. Open Claude Desktop preferences
2. Navigate to the MCP section
3. Click Edit.
4. Open claude_desktop_config.json
5. Add a new MCP server with:

   {
       "mcpServers": {
           "YouTrack": {
               "type": "stdio",
               "command": "docker",
               "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", 
               "-e", "YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=perm:your-api-token",
               "-e", "YOUTRACK_URL=https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud",
               "-e", "YOUTRACK_CLOUD=true",
               "tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest"
               ]
           }
       }
   }
   

Replace the URL and token with your actual values.

VS Code with Claude Extension

To use the YouTrack MCP server with VS Code:

1. Create a .vscode/mcp.json file with the following content:

   {
     "servers": {
       "YouTrack": {
         "type": "stdio",
         "command": "docker",
         "args": ["run", "-i", "--rm", 
           "-e", "YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=perm:your-api-token",
           "-e", "YOUTRACK_URL=https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud",
           "-e", "YOUTRACK_CLOUD=true",
           "tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest"
         ]
       }
     }
   }
   

2. Replace yourinstance.youtrack.cloud with your actual YouTrack instance URL and perm:your-token with your actual API token.

Available Tools

The YouTrack MCP server provides the following tools:

Issues

• get_issue - Get details of a specific issue by ID
• search_issues - Search for issues using YouTrack query language
• create_issue - Create a new issue in a specific project
• add_comment - Add a comment to an existing issue

Projects

• get_projects - Get a list of all projects
• get_project - Get details of a specific project
• get_project_issues - Get issues for a specific project
• create_project - Create a new project

Users

• get_current_user - Get information about the currently authenticated user
• get_user - Get information about a specific user
• search_users - Search for users
• get_user_by_login - Find a user by login name
• get_user_groups - Get groups for a user

Search

• advanced_search - Advanced search with sorting options
• filter_issues - Search with structured filtering
• search_with_custom_fields - Search using custom field values

Tool Parameter Format

When using the YouTrack MCP tools, it's important to use the correct parameter format to ensure your requests are processed correctly. Here's how to use the most common tools:

Get Issue

To get information about a specific issue, you must provide the issue_id parameter:

# Correct format
get_issue(issue_id="DEMO-123")

The issue ID can be either the readable ID (e.g., "DEMO-123") or the internal ID (e.g., "3-14").

Add Comment

To add a comment to an issue, you must provide both the issue_id and text parameters:

# Correct format
add_comment(issue_id="DEMO-123", text="This is a test comment")

Create Issue

To create a new issue, you must provide at least the project and summary parameters:

# Correct format
create_issue(project="DEMO", summary="Bug: Login page not working")

# With optional description
create_issue(
    project="DEMO", 
    summary="Bug: Login page not working", 
    description="Users cannot log in after the latest update"
)

The project parameter can be either the project's short name (e.g., "DEMO") or its internal ID.

Common MCP Format Issues

When using MCP tools through AI assistants, parameters may sometimes be passed in different formats. The YouTrack MCP server is designed to handle various parameter formats, but using the explicit format above is recommended for best results.

If you encounter errors with parameter format, try using the explicit key=value format shown in the examples above.

Examples

Here are some examples of using the YouTrack MCP server with AI assistants:

Get Issue

Can you get the details for issue DEMO-1?

Search for Issues

Find all open issues assigned to me that are high priority

Create a New Issue

Create a new bug report in the PROJECT with the summary "Login page is not working" and description "Users are unable to log in after the recent update."

Add a Comment

Add a comment to issue PROJECT-456 saying "I've fixed this issue in the latest commit. Please review."

Configuration

The server can be configured via environment variables:

Variable	Description	Default
YOUTRACK_URL	YouTrack instance URL	(required)
YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN	YouTrack permanent API token	(required)
YOUTRACK_VERIFY_SSL	Verify SSL certificates	true
MCP_SERVER_NAME	Name of the MCP server	youtrack-mcp
MCP_SERVER_DESCRIPTION	Description of the MCP server	YouTrack MCP Server
MCP_DEBUG	Enable debug logging	false

SSL Certificate Verification

For self-hosted instances with self-signed SSL certificates, you can disable SSL verification:

docker run -i --rm \
  -e YOUTRACK_URL=https://youtrack.internal.company.com \
  -e YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=perm:your-permanent-token \
  -e YOUTRACK_VERIFY_SSL=false \
  tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest

This option is only recommended for development or in controlled environments where you cannot add the certificate to the trust store.

Debug Mode

You can enable debug logging for troubleshooting:

docker run -i --rm \
  -e YOUTRACK_URL=https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud \
  -e YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN=perm:your-permanent-token \
  -e MCP_DEBUG=true \
  tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:latest