What is MCP? A Jira User’s Guide
MCP is suddenly everywhere, and every explanation assumes you write code for a living. This one does not. Ten minutes from now you will know what it is, why there are two MCPs in your Jira life, and what to type first.
The confusion is real, and it is not your fault
When teams hear that BesTest has an MCP, the most common reaction is "ah, so you extended the Jira MCP". Reasonable guess. Also wrong, and the difference is exactly what makes this useful.
MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is a standard way for an AI agent to connect to your tools and act in them, not just chat about them. Think of it as the plug: any agent, any tool, same connector. Atlassian ships an MCP for Jira and Confluence. BesTest ships an MCP for your testing data. Your agent plugs into both, and suddenly one conversation covers planning and testing.
MCP in one minute
An AI agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Copilot, and friends) is very good at understanding what you want. What it lacks is hands. MCP gives it hands: a vendor publishes a set of actions the agent may use, like "read a requirement", "create a test case", "list coverage gaps", and the agent calls them on your behalf, with your permissions.
You do not write code to use it. You paste a few lines into your agent’s configuration once, and from then on you just type sentences.
The Atlassian MCP handles Jira.
The BesTest MCP handles testing.
Every vendor brings their own MCP to the party. You add both to your agent once, then watch what one sentence sets in motion.
What is our coverage on the checkout requirements, and which gap is riskiest?
+ more
Atlassian ships thisAtlassian MCPOfficially the Rovo MCP Server. Most people say "the Jira MCP".
idle - no Jira call needed here
We ship thisBesTest MCPClosed beta, access granted per user. GA soon.
What lands
Coverage at 71%, with the riskiest gap named rather than just the lowest one.
Riskiest is not simply lowest: significance weights complexity times impact.
Plan in Jira. Test in BesTest. One conversation.
Illustrative conversation · the BesTest MCP is in closed beta
How it fits Rovo
Through your agent, BesTest pairs with Atlassian’s Teamwork Graph: their MCP brings the org-wide context, ours brings the testing depth.
How the work happens today
- Open the tool, click through screens to find the thing you need
- Export to a spreadsheet when the question does not fit a built-in report
- Copy-paste between Jira, your test tool, and chat threads
- Repeat all of it next sprint, because the answer went stale
How it happens with an agent
- Describe what you want in one sentence, in plain language
- The agent reads and writes the same data through the MCP, as you
- Follow-up questions are just more sentences, not more exports
- You review what it did; every action stays scoped to your permissions
One prompt, start to finish
What is our coverage on the checkout requirements, and which uncovered requirement is the riskiest?- 1
Connects to your testing data
The agent calls the BesTest MCP and pulls the checkout requirements with their coverage, which is significance-weighted, so "covered" means covered enough for how much the requirement matters.
- 2
Does the reading you would have done
It walks the traceability links between requirements and test cases, exactly the walk you would do by hand across a dozen screens.
- 3
Answers with receipts
You get the coverage picture plus the riskiest gap, named, with the reason it is risky. Ask "why?" and it shows its work.
The result
A question that used to mean ten minutes of clicking, or a report nobody had built, becomes a ten-second answer. That is the whole idea, applied to everything in your testing data.
Riskiest is not simply lowest: significance weights dev complexity times impact, so REQ-311 outranks a thinner gap on a minor requirement.
More prompts to steal
List my requirements that have no test cases yet, most significant first.
Summarize the failed executions from our last cycle and group them by feature.
Turn REQ-31’s acceptance criteria into a draft test case and link it back.
Scoped to your permissions, granted per user
Your agent acts as you: everything it reads or writes stays inside your Jira permissions. The MCP is in closed beta while we harden it, with GA coming. The request form asks for a few details from BesTest’s Project Settings in your Jira, which is what lets us enable exactly your site and user.
Request beta accessFrequently asked questions
Is the BesTest MCP part of the Jira MCP?
No, and this is the key thing to know. Atlassian ships its own MCP (officially the Rovo MCP Server) that covers Jira and Confluence. BesTest ships a separate MCP that covers your requirements, test cases, cycles, and coverage. Every vendor brings their own MCP; you add each one you want your agent to use, and they work side by side.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Setup is pasting a few configuration lines into your agent once, and the docs walk you through it. After that, using it is typing sentences in plain language.
Which agents work with it?
Any MCP-compatible client: Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Windsurf, Zed, Cline, and the list keeps growing. If your agent speaks MCP, it can talk to BesTest.
What can the agent actually touch?
Only what you can touch. The agent acts as you, scoped to your Jira permissions. Access to the beta is granted per user, so nobody on your team gets agent access unless they request it.
How do I get access?
The MCP is in closed beta, with GA coming. You request access through our support portal; the form asks for a few details you will find in BesTest’s Project Settings in your Jira, which is what lets us enable exactly your site and user.
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