Search

Search

Search Jira issues with JQL or with filter flags, and print the results as a table, CSV or JSON.

Prerequisites

• Authenticated profile (atlcli auth login)
• Jira permission: Browse Projects

My Issues

Quick access to your assigned issues:

# Open issues assigned to me (default)
atlcli jira my

# All my issues (including resolved)
atlcli jira my --all

# Filter by project, status or type (comma-separated for several)
atlcli jira my --project PROJ
atlcli jira my --status "In Progress"
atlcli jira my --type Bug,Task

# Limit results
atlcli jira my --limit 50

The jira my command generates JQL like:

assignee = currentUser() AND resolution IS EMPTY ORDER BY updated DESC

Basic Search

# By assignee: me, an email, a name or an account id; x (or none) for unassigned
atlcli jira search --assignee me
atlcli jira search --assignee alice@example.com
atlcli jira search --assignee x

# By status or type; a comma-separated list matches any of them
atlcli jira search --status "In Progress"
atlcli jira search --type Bug,Task

# Issues you watch, and issues you viewed recently (most recent first)
atlcli jira search --watching
atlcli jira search --history

# Created or updated recently
atlcli jira search --updated -7d
atlcli jira search --created week

# Combined
atlcli jira search --assignee me --status Open --project PROJ

JQL Search

Use full JQL for complex queries:

atlcli jira search --jql "project = PROJ AND sprint in openSprints() ORDER BY priority DESC"

Filter flags are added to the JQL with AND; the JQL’s ORDER BY stays at the end:

atlcli jira search --jql "project = PROJ ORDER BY rank" --watching --updated -14d
# → (project = PROJ) AND watcher = currentUser() AND updated >= -14d ORDER BY rank

JQL functions

Jira Cloud has no functions to follow links, parents or subtasks in JQL. atlcli resolves these itself, with the names ScriptRunner uses, wherever it accepts JQL: --jql of search, bulk, export and the other commands, and atlcli.jira.search in scripts:

atlcli jira search --jql 'issue in linkedIssuesOf("project = PROJ AND status = Blocked", "blocks")'
atlcli jira bulk label add needs-review --jql 'issue in subtasksOf("fixVersion = 2026.11")'
atlcli jira search --jql 'project = PROJ AND issue not in hasAttachments("project = PROJ AND type = Bug")'

Function	Matches
linkedIssuesOf("<jql>"[, "<link>"])	Issues linked to the matches. <link> is a link type name (both directions) or one of its phrases, such as "blocks" or "is blocked by" (that direction only)
subtasksOf("<jql>"), childrenOf("<jql>"), issuesInEpics("<jql>")	Child issues of the matches (subtasks, and issues in epics); becomes a native parent in (…)
parentsOf("<jql>")	Parents of the matches
epicsOf("<jql>")	Epics above the matches, also through a story (subtask → story → epic)
hasSubtasks("<jql>"), hasLinks, hasAttachments, hasComments, hasWorklogs	Those matches that have subtasks, links, attachments, comments or worklogs

Each function takes a quoted inner query and works with in and not in. Before the search, atlcli runs the inner query and replaces the call with native JQL, either parent in (…) or a list of keys.

Limits. An inner query may match up to 2,000 issues, and a function may stand for up to 1,000 keys. Above that the search fails with a message instead of quietly returning part of the result: narrow the inner query, or move the condition into a per-issue script. Functions cannot be nested.

Sites with ScriptRunner. ScriptRunner provides functions with the same names. atlcli resolves them first. To send JQL to Jira unchanged, set ATLCLI_JQL_FUNCTIONS=off.

Filter flags

Each flag expands to JQL:

Flag	JQL Equivalent
--project PROJ	project = PROJ (default: global.project, only without --jql)
--assignee me	assignee = currentUser()
--assignee alice@example.com	assignee = "<account id>" (looked up by email or name)
--assignee x / none	assignee IS EMPTY
--status Open	status = "Open"
--status "To Do,In Progress"	status in ("To Do", "In Progress")
--type Bug,Task	issuetype in ("Bug", "Task")
--label backend	labels = "backend"
--sprint current	sprint in openSprints()
--watching	watcher = currentUser()
--history	issuekey IN issueHistory(), ordered by lastViewed DESC
--created -7d	created >= -7d
--updated week	updated >= startOfWeek()
--created-before 2026-01-01	created < "2026-01-01"
--updated-before -30d	updated < -30d
--status '~Done'	status != "Done"
--status '~Done,Closed'	status not in ("Done", "Closed")
--label '~ui'	(labels IS EMPTY OR labels != "ui")
--assignee '~me'	(assignee IS EMPTY OR assignee != currentUser())
--assignee '~x'	assignee IS NOT EMPTY

--created, --updated, --created-before and --updated-before take a relative time (-30m, -4h, -7d, -2w), today, week, month, year (their start), or a date (2026-10-01).

Negation

A leading ~ turns --status, --type, --label and --assignee into “anything but”. For labels and the assignee, issues with no value count as “anything but”, so --label '~ui' also finds issues without labels. Quote the value: a shell may expand ~name to a home directory.

Status names

Jira shows status names in your language (“Fertig”), but JQL matches the untranslated name (“Done”). --status takes either and translates it, so --status Fertig finds the issues the table shows as “Fertig”. In raw --jql, use the untranslated name.

A name for --assignee must match one active user: an exact email or display name wins, otherwise the only hit. Several hits fail and list the candidates.

Output Options

Without --json, search, my, filter run, board issues, board backlog, sprint issues and epic issues print a table:

key     type  status       assignee  summary
PROJ-2  Bug   In Progress  Ann Lee   Login fails on Safari
PROJ-1  Task  To Do                  Update docs

# Choose columns: field ids or field names, also custom fields
atlcli jira search --project PROJ --columns key,status,"Story Points",summary

# Extra fields: appended columns in the table, raw values under issues[].fields in JSON
atlcli jira search --project PROJ --fields resolution,resolutiondate --json

# Tab-separated for shell scripts, without the header row
atlcli jira search --project PROJ --plain --no-headers | cut -f1

# Another separator
atlcli jira search --project PROJ --delimiter "|"

# CSV (RFC 4180)
atlcli jira search --project PROJ --csv > issues.csv

# Limit results (pages through Jira as needed)
atlcli jira search --jql "..." --limit 250

# Everything that matches, up to 5000 issues
atlcli jira search --jql "..." --all-results

# JSON output
atlcli jira search --jql "..." --json

Flag	Type	Default	Description
--columns	comma-separated list	key,type,status,assignee,summary	Columns: key, id, type, a field id (duedate, customfield_10016) or a field name ("Story Points")
--fields	comma-separated list	none	Extra field ids or names. The table appends them as columns; --json adds them per issue under fields, as Jira returns them. Also requests fields Jira’s default set leaves out
--plain	flag	off	Tab-separated, no padding
--delimiter	text	tab	Separator for --plain; implies --plain
--csv	flag	off	CSV with quoting
--no-headers	flag	off	Leave out the header row
--limit	positive integer	25	Maximum issues returned. Values above 100 are fetched page by page.
--all-results	flag	off	Return all matches, stopping at 5000 with a warning. Overrides --limit.

Cells show names (status, users, options), join lists with commas, and render rich text as one line of markdown. When more issues match than were returned, a note goes to stderr.

--json output is unchanged by the table flags and contains:

Field	Meaning
issues	The returned issues, flattened (key, summary, status, resolution, resolutionDate, type, assignee, …). resolution and resolutionDate are null for unresolved issues
total	Number of issues returned. Jira’s search endpoint does not report a total match count.
hasMore	true if Jira offered another page. Jira also does this when a page is exactly full, so a next page can be empty
nextPageToken	Jira’s token for the next page, when hasMore is true

Note

jira my --all keeps its meaning (include resolved issues). Use --all-results to lift the result limit.

Examples

# My bugs
atlcli jira search --assignee me --type Bug

# Unassigned issues updated this week
atlcli jira search --project PROJ --assignee x --updated week

# Current sprint issues with story points, as CSV
atlcli jira search --sprint current --project PROJ --columns key,summary,"Story Points" --csv

# Keys of issues I watch, for a loop
atlcli jira search --watching --plain --no-headers --columns key

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
"lee" matches several users	The name fits more than one user	Use the email, the full display name or the account id
Unknown field "Points"	No field has that id or name (--columns, --fields); names are localized on non-English sites	atlcli jira field search points lists the exact names
--history returns nothing	Jira records views from the browser, not from API calls	Open the issues in Jira first
--jql 'status = Fertig' finds nothing, but the table shows “Fertig”	JQL matches the untranslated status name	Use --status Fertig, or the untranslated name (status = Done)
--status ~me matches the wrong value	The shell expanded ~me to a home directory	Quote it: --status '~me'
A just-changed issue still matches the old value	Jira’s search index lags a few seconds behind writes	Search again
linkedIssuesOf() matched 1400 issues, more than the limit of 1000	A JQL function stands for too many keys	Narrow the inner query, or use a per-issue script
functions cannot be nested	A JQL function inside another one’s query	Combine the conditions in one inner query, or in a script
A JQL function behaves differently than in ScriptRunner	atlcli resolves functions of that name itself	Set ATLCLI_JQL_FUNCTIONS=off to let ScriptRunner answer

Related Topics

• Issues - Work with individual issues
• Filters - Save, run and share JQL queries
• Bulk Operations - Batch updates on search results