Ticket to Code

You received a Jira ticket. Now what? Understand it, plan the work, implement, review, and ship.

Best for: Developers picking up tickets from sprint backlog Time estimate: Varies by ticket complexity Skills used: mk:jira-issue, mk:jira-analyst, mk:jira-evaluator, mk:jira-estimator, mk:jira-lifecycle, mk:jira-collaborate, mk:jira-relationships, mk:planning-engine, mk:scout, mk:plan-creator, mk:cook, mk:review, mk:ship

Prerequisites

Install the jira-as CLI (used by every mk:jira-* leaf):

npx mewkit setup

This installs jira-as into .claude/skills/.venv/bin/jira-as. No global install needed.

Then populate .claude/.env (gitignored) with three vars:

Var	Purpose
MEOW_JIRA_API_TOKEN	Atlassian Cloud API token — get one at id.atlassian.com
MEOW_JIRA_EMAIL	Atlassian account email
MEOW_JIRA_SITE_URL	e.g. https://your-company.atlassian.net

Verify with the SessionStart hook output: [mk:jira] env OK means all three keys are loaded.

Escape hatch — Atlassian MCP (mTLS, multi-profile, or non-jira-as workflows)

If jira-as is unusable (e.g. mTLS-required tenants, multi-profile setups), the leaves accept Atlassian MCP as a fallback transport:

claude mcp add --transport http atlassian https://mcp.atlassian.com/v1/mcp

The router does NOT auto-fallback — you invoke the leaf with the MCP transport explicitly. See mk:jira reference for details.

The Flow

Receive ticket → Understand → Plan → Implement → Review → Ship → Update ticket

Every step is a separate command. You decide when to move forward.

Step-by-step

Step 1: Understand the ticket

Read the ticket and assess what's needed:

# Read full ticket details (description, AC, comments, attachments, links)
/mk:jira-analyst AUTH-201

# Evaluate complexity (if not already done in sprint planning)
/mk:jira-evaluator AUTH-201

# Check story points / estimation
/mk:jira-estimator AUTH-201

What you get: Analysis report with gaps flagged, complexity assessment, story point suggestion.

If the ticket is unclear:

• Check [MISSING] and [AMBIGUOUS] flags in the evaluator output
• Ask the PO to clarify before proceeding
• Update the ticket: /mk:jira-issue update AUTH-201 --set description="..."

Step 2: Review against codebase

Understand what code needs to change:

# Scout the codebase first
/mk:scout

# Tech review: ticket vs codebase
/mk:planning-engine review AUTH-201 --scout

What you get: Tech Review Report — affected files, feasibility rating, dependencies, risks, complexity signals.

If the ticket is a bug:

# Investigate the root cause (works on local codebase —
# paste the ticket description and repro steps when prompted)
/mk:investigate

Note: mk:investigate operates on your local codebase, not directly on Jira. Copy the bug description and reproduction steps from the analyst output into the investigation prompt.

Step 3: Transition ticket

Move the ticket to "In Progress":

/mk:jira-lifecycle transition AUTH-201 "In Progress"

If the transition requires fields (e.g., resolution), mk:jira-lifecycle will prompt you.

If the ticket is already in a terminal state (Done, Deployed, Closed): you may need to reopen it first. Check available transitions — if none exist for "In Progress", ask your team lead about the reopen workflow.

Step 4: Plan the implementation

# Create an implementation plan
/mk:plan-creator

This produces a plan with phases, file changes, and acceptance criteria. Gate 1 requires your approval before coding.

For simple fixes:

# Quick fix — skip the full planning cycle
/mk:fix AUTH-201

Step 5: Implement

# Execute the plan
/mk:cook path/to/plan.md

# Or for a quick implementation
/mk:cook "Implement OAuth2 login per AUTH-201 requirements" --fast

Step 6: Review

# Code review before shipping
/mk:review

Gate 2 — human approval required before shipping.

Step 7: Ship

# Ship: merge main, test, commit, push, create PR
/mk:ship

Step 8: Update ticket

After the PR is merged:

# Transition to Done
/mk:jira-lifecycle transition AUTH-201 "Done" --resolution Fixed

# Add a comment with what was done
/mk:jira-collaborate add-comment AUTH-201 "Implemented OAuth2 login. PR #42 merged."

# Link to related tickets if needed
/mk:jira-relationships link AUTH-201 relates-to AUTH-202

By Ticket Type

Bug Fix

/mk:jira-analyst BUG-456                          → understand the bug
/mk:jira-evaluator BUG-456                        → check for missing AC, gaps
/mk:jira-lifecycle transition BUG-456 "In Progress"
/mk:investigate                                    → find root cause (paste repro steps)
/mk:fix                                            → fix based on investigation
/mk:review                                         → code review
/mk:ship                                           → ship the fix
/mk:jira-lifecycle transition BUG-456 "Done" --resolution Fixed

Feature (Story)

/mk:jira-analyst STORY-789                        → understand requirements
/mk:planning-engine review STORY-789 --scout      → tech review
/mk:jira-lifecycle transition STORY-789 "In Progress"
/mk:plan-creator                                   → implementation plan
/mk:cook plan.md                                   → implement
/mk:review                                         → code review
/mk:ship                                           → ship the feature
/mk:jira-lifecycle transition STORY-789 "Done" --resolution Fixed

Technical Task

/mk:jira-analyst TASK-101                         → understand scope
/mk:jira-lifecycle transition TASK-101 "In Progress"
/mk:cook "Implement TASK-101" --fast              → quick implementation
/mk:review                                         → code review
/mk:ship                                           → ship
/mk:jira-lifecycle transition TASK-101 "Done" --resolution Done

When Things Go Wrong

Situation	What to do
Ticket AC is vague	/mk:jira-evaluator will flag [MISSING] — ask PO to clarify
Ticket is too large	/mk:jira-evaluator will flag Complex (8-13pt) — ask to split
Blocked by another ticket	/mk:jira-relationships link AUTH-201 blocked-by AUTH-200 — work on something else
Implementation harder than expected	Update estimate: run /mk:jira-estimator again, share findings with team
Tests fail after implementation	/mk:investigate to find root cause, then /mk:fix
PR review finds issues	Fix issues, re-run /mk:review, then /mk:ship

Skill Graph

Common leaves you'll touch in this flow:

mk:jira-analyst       → ticket context (Step 1)
mk:jira-evaluator     → complexity check (Step 1)
mk:jira-estimator     → story points (Step 1)
mk:jira-lifecycle     → transitions + assignment (Steps 3, 8)
mk:jira-issue         → field updates (Step 1 clarifications)
mk:jira-collaborate   → progress / completion comments (Step 8)
mk:jira-relationships → blockers + related links (Step 8)

Power user — additional leaves available:
mk:jira-search        → find related issues by JQL
mk:jira-time          → log work
mk:jira-agile         → sprint / epic membership
mk:jira-dev           → branch-name + PR-description generation

See the mk:jira reference for the full leaf catalog.

Related

• Tickets to Sprint Planning — upstream: how tickets get created
• Ticket Evaluation & Estimation — pre-planning assessment
• Adding a Feature — general feature workflow
• Fixing a Bug — bug-specific investigation
• Code Review — review workflow details
• Shipping Code — deploy pipeline details