# Plan sprints from Jira and Confluence

> Sprint planning means reading specs in Confluence and re-typing them into Jira.

This setup suits product managers and tech leads who write specs in Confluence and track work in Jira. Claude reads the spec page, proposes Jira issues with acceptance criteria and estimates, and creates them once you approve. You end up with a populated sprint backlog and a short summary posted to your team's Slack channel.

## Steps

1. **Connect Atlassian**: Add Atlassian's Remote MCP Server to Claude Desktop or Claude Code and sign in with your Atlassian account through OAuth. Claude can only see the Jira projects and Confluence spaces your own account can see, so check that you have access to the target project and the spec space. Run a test prompt such as listing the open issues in the project to confirm the connection.
   Tip: The Atlassian server works with Atlassian Cloud sites; Jira or Confluence Data Center needs a different, self-hosted server.
2. **Draft the sprint**: Paste the Confluence page link and ask Claude to break the spec into issues sized to fit a single sprint, each with a summary, description and acceptance criteria. Review the draft list in the chat first, merge or split items, and only then ask Claude to create them in Jira. Tell it which issue type, epic, labels and sprint to use so the issues land in the right place.
   Tip: Ask for the draft as a table first; it is much easier to edit before anything is written to Jira.
3. **Share the plan**: Connect the Slack MCP server and ask Claude to post a short summary of the sprint, with links to the new issues, to one named channel. Read the message preview before you approve the post. If your team prefers threads, ask Claude to reply in the existing planning thread instead.
   Tip: Name the exact channel in your prompt so Claude does not guess.

## Prompts to try

- Read the Confluence page "Checkout v2 spec" and draft Jira stories for it, each with acceptance criteria. Show me a table before creating anything.
- Create the approved stories in project SHOP under epic SHOP-120 and add them to the next sprint.
- List everything in the current sprint that has no acceptance criteria and suggest some based on the linked Confluence pages.
- Compare the spec with the open issues in epic SHOP-120 and tell me which requirements have no ticket yet.
- Post a five-line summary of the new sprint with issue links to #team-checkout.

## What you need

- Atlassian Cloud site with Jira and Confluence access
- Claude Desktop or Claude Code
- Slack workspace where you can install apps (for the summary step)
- A written spec in Confluence

## Limits

- Claude does not know your team's capacity or velocity unless you provide it.
- Atlassian Data Center and Server installs are not supported by the hosted Atlassian server.
- Large specs with many linked pages may need to be split across several prompts.

## Security notes

- Keep approval on for creating Jira issues.
- Limit Slack posting to one channel.

## MCP servers

- [Atlassian MCP Server](https://github.com/atlassian/atlassian-mcp-server): jira-read, jira-write, confluence-read
- [Slack MCP Server](https://docs.slack.dev/ai/mcp-server): channel-read, message-write

## FAQ

**Do I need a paid Atlassian plan?**

No specific plan is required for the MCP server, but you need an Atlassian Cloud site with Jira and Confluence. Claude acts with your own permissions, so it cannot create issues in projects you cannot edit.

**Can Claude estimate story points?**

Claude can suggest estimates based on the spec, and it can write them into a story points field if your project has one. Treat the numbers as a starting point for the team discussion, since Claude does not know your team's velocity unless you give it past sprint data.

**Which host should I use?**

Claude Desktop works well for planning sessions because you can review drafts in a chat. Claude Code works too, and helps if you also want Claude to check the repository for related code.

**What if Claude creates the wrong issues?**

Keep tool approval on so you confirm each create call. If something slips through, you can ask Claude to update or close the issues, or fix them directly in Jira.

## Tools

- **[Jira](https://suiteintent.com/t/jira?m=GB)**: Issue tracker with configurable workflows. · Best for: Large organisations with complex workflows · Free plan · Free for startups
- **[Slack](https://suiteintent.com/t/slack?m=GB)**: Team messaging organised in channels. · Best for: Moving team chat out of email · Free plan · Free for nonprofits