Integration of Jira With GitHub

Table of contents

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Why to Integrate?

Jira GitHub Integration : GitHub and Jira are common applications we use daily in our projects. How often do you switch between them? Every half an hour? Maybe every couple of hours? Don’t you think that such juggling slows you down and your work could be much more streamlined?

Github and Atlassian have collaborated with each other to connect our code in GitHub with our project management in Jira. A separate Jira subscription is required. This integration is an open-source project, built and maintained by GitHub.

We can connect our Github Code and Jira with the help of the app “GitHub for Jira” which is available on Jira Marketplace.

The first app in the above image with the name “Github for Jira” needs to be integrated with our Jira cloud.

Installation and setup

We can install this app in two ways:

1) From Atlassian Marketplace

Select Jira Settings ->Apps -> Find new Apps.
Search for “Github for Jira” app in the marketplace.

Click on “Get app”.
Then below screen will appear and click on get it now.

After installing the app you will get a notification “GitHub for Jira was added”, now after clicking on “get started” we will be forwarded to configure our app.

Now we can add our GitHub Organization with Jira, and we can also manage which individual repository to link/add from the configure section.

2) Jira GitHub Integration : From Github Marketplace

Go to https://github.com/marketplace/jira-software-github
Complete the (free) order for your GitHub Organization
On the installation setting screen, choose which repositories you want to use with the Jira Integration and press Save.
Once installation completes, you will be redirected to https://jira.github.com/github/setup. Enter the site name for your Jira instance here and click Continue
Once on the Atlassian add-on page, click Install.
Once the add-on is installed, click the Get Started button

Permissions

By granting the app access, you are providing the following authorizations to your GitHub and Jira accounts:

Permissions to Jira

Read, Write, and Admin for getting information related to branches, commits, and pull requests.

Permissions to GitHub

Read Access to code: To sync development information to Jira.
Read and Write access to Issues and pull requests: To power Smart Commit actions and unfurl Jira URLs.

Jira GitHub Integration : Using the integration

We can access the Information related to branches, commits, and pull requests in Jira with the help of smart commits.

To access information related to branches, commits, and pull requests in Jira we need to provide the Jira’s Issue key in “[Issue Key]” format inside Github’s commit message or by Including the issue key in the pull request title. Issue key is present on top of the Jira issue.

For example, In the above image, I have provided the issue key (HT-20) inside my commit message to reference this commit with Jira.

Now we will see a “development” block inside our Jira issue and it’ll contain all the information related to our Github activity.

Now our commits are now successfully in sync with Jira. So, we can click on the commits to get more information.

To know more about how to reference Github’s issue with Jira please refer to this link.

Other apps to integrate Jira with Github

There are many third-party apps also available in Jira’s marketplace to connect our git code with the Jira.

“Github Integration for Jira Software” by Bitband
“Gith ub Links for Jira” by Move Work Forward.

References

https://github.com/atlassian/github-for-jira

Conclusion

In conclusion, That’s pretty much all about Jira’s Smart Git Integration. Therefore, this is the simplest solution for integrating your projects in GitHub and Jira. To manage your GitHub projects more efficiently directly from your Jira instance, connect your apps and start using them.