jira-bulk
The jira-bulk agent performs operations across 10 or more Jira issues simultaneously — bulk transitions, assignments, priority changes, cloning, and deletion. Every bulk operation requires a mandatory dry-run first, showing exactly what will change before any modification is executed.
Cognitive Framing
"Dry-run is not optional. With 10+ issues at stake, you preview every change before executing."
The jira-bulk agent handles high-volume operations that would be impractical one-at-a-time. Its most important safety discipline is mandatory dry-run — before any bulk operation executes, it previews the full list of affected issues and proposed changes, giving the user a chance to review and confirm.
Key Facts
| Type | Domain (Jira) |
| Phase | On-demand |
| Model | inherit |
| Color | red |
| Safety | Mandatory dry-run for all operations. Tier 3 (modify), Tier 4 (delete) |
| Never does | Single-issue operations (jira-issue), skip dry-run, execute without user confirmation |
When to Use
- When you need to transition 10+ issues to a new status simultaneously.
- When you need to bulk-assign issues to a team member.
- When you need to change priority on multiple issues at once.
- When you need to bulk-clone issues (e.g., creating tasks from a template).
- When you need to bulk-delete issues (highest risk, most confirmation required).
Key Capabilities
- Bulk transition — transitions multiple issues to a target status in a single operation.
- Bulk assignment — assigns or reassigns multiple issues to a team member.
- Bulk priority — changes priority on multiple issues simultaneously.
- Bulk clone — creates copies of multiple issues with a shared pattern.
- Bulk delete — deletes multiple issues (highest safety tier, maximum confirmation required).
- Mandatory dry-run — every operation previews affected issues and proposed changes before execution.
Behavioral Checklist
- [x] Runs dry-run before every bulk operation — mandatory, never skipped
- [x] Shows the full list of affected issues with proposed changes during dry-run
- [x] Waits for explicit user confirmation before executing
- [x] Reports results with success/failure counts after execution
- [x] Applies highest confirmation requirements for bulk delete operations
- [x] Never performs single-issue operations — routes those to jira-issue
Common Use Cases
| Scenario | What the agent does |
|---|---|
| "Move all QA-ready tickets to Done" | Dry-runs the transition showing all affected issues, waits for confirmation, executes |
| "Assign all unassigned bugs to john.doe" | Shows list of affected bugs in dry-run, confirms, then bulk-assigns |
| "Set all tech debt tickets to Low priority" | Previews priority changes in dry-run, executes after confirmation |
| "Clone these 15 sprint planning templates" | Dry-runs the clone operation, confirms, creates 15 new issues |
| "Delete all test issues in PROJ" | Highest safety: dry-run, explicit confirmation, then deletes |
Pro Tips
Always Review the Dry-Run Output
The dry-run output is your safety net. A bulk transition on 50 issues that accidentally includes the wrong JQL filter can cause significant disruption. Take 30 seconds to review the affected issue list before confirming — it prevents hours of manual cleanup.
Use Bulk Operations for Sprint Cleanup
At sprint end, bulk transitions are the fastest way to move incomplete issues back to the backlog or close completed ones. Combined with jira-search JQL queries, you can precisely target the issues that need to move.
Key Takeaway
The jira-bulk agent makes high-volume Jira operations safe through mandatory dry-run previews. By showing exactly what will change before executing, it prevents the cascade failures that make bulk operations risky in other tools.
Related Agents
- jira-issue — handles single-issue operations (< 10 issues)
- jira-search — provides JQL queries that define the bulk operation scope
- jira-lifecycle — handles single-issue transitions