youtrack

The YouTrack MCP server exposes YouTrack functionality through the MCP protocol so clients like Claude Desktop can access and manipulate YouTrack issues, projects, users, and attachments via simple commands. Typical workflows include updating issue state, priority, assignee, type, and time estimation using plain string values. You can also perform common actions such as creating issues, adding comments, linking issues, and handling attachments. Use cases emphasized in the docs include quick state transitions, quick updates of priority and assignee, and complete workflows for triage, feature development, and task completion. The server aims to provide a straightforward, text-based interaction model that avoids complex nested objects for common operations, ensuring reliable integration with MCP clients.

Prerequisites:

• Docker installed on the host (recommended).
• Access to a YouTrack instance and an API token.

Installation steps:

1. Pull the YouTrack MCP Docker image and run it with your YouTrack credentials:

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

2. If you prefer a specific build tag (e.g., a development build), replace latest with the desired tag:

docker run --rm \
  -e YOUTRACK_URL="https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud" \
  -e YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN="your-token" \
  tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp:1.1.2_wip

3. Optional: run via npm package (alternative to Docker)

# Install globally
npm install -g youtrack-mcp-tonyzorin

# Run directly with node if using a local setup (example if provided by the package)
npx youtrack-mcp-tonyzorin

Prerequisites recap:

• Docker or Node/NPM if choosing the npm route
• Access to a YouTrack instance and a valid API token
• Environment variables YOUTRACK_URL and YOUTRACK_API_TOKEN ready

Tips and common issues:

• Ensure YOUTRACK_URL uses the correct YouTrack cloud or on-prem URL and that the API token has sufficient permissions.
• If you update the YouTrack server image, verify compatibility with your YouTrack instance version.
• For Docker deployments, you can map ports or run in detached mode if needed for integration with other services.
• The MCP client will send simple string values for common operations (e.g., update_issue_state('ISSUE-1', 'In Progress')). Avoid complex nested objects for these operations, as described in the docs.
• If you encounter authentication or network issues, confirm that network egress is allowed to YouTrack and that the API token is valid.
• When using npm, you can choose either the npm package name yousee in the docs (tonyzorin) or the scoped package @tonyzorin/youtrack-mcp depending on registry configuration.