Jira REST API for Admins: Why You Should Know the Basics (Even If You’re Not a Developer)

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Don’t get me wrong — the power we have through the Jira interface is GREAT. But sometimes… we just need a little ✨more✨. 

But heyyyy, I’m not saying you should read this article and go casting alakazoons in your instance. If this is totally new to you, let the idea mature. Just keep it in your toolbox, you might need it sooner than you think.

What is the REST API? 

In simple terms, REST API is a way for software to communicate with Jira over the web. Instead of clicking buttons in the UI, you send HTTP requests, like:

• GET: to retrieve data
• POST: to create something new
• PUT: to update something
• DELETE: to remove something

And Jira responds with data or performs an action.

Everything’s exchanged in JSON format — just structured text.

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Example 1: Extracting data for reports

Most admins have hit the 10,000 issue export limit when trying to extract large datasets via the Jira UI. The REST API doesn’t have that limitation (when paginated properly), making it a reliable option for structured, large-scale exports.

Here’s a paginated search using the search endpoint:

GET /rest/api/3/search/jql?jql=project=ABC&maxResults=1000

• Use this request to get the first page of results.
• If the response includes a nextPageToken, make another request using that token:

GET /rest/api/3/search/jql?jql=project=ABC&maxResults=1000&nextPageToken=eyJ...

• Keep looping with the new nextPageToken until it’s no longer returned, meaning you’ve retrieved all issues, regardless of how many there are.

 👩‍💻And… I just committed a script for this, if you need a starting point: https://github.com/vitoriaselista/search-issues

Example 2: Retrieving all issue data

It’s possible to have fields filled in, but not visible in the issue view. That happens when the field isn’t on the view screen. 

The API doesn’t care about screens. It gives you the raw data, every time.

GET /rest/api/3/issue/KEY-123

Example 3: Accessing other configurations

The REST API isn’t just about issues. You can also access project specifications

GET /rest/api/3/project/ABC

… or configurations, like workflows:

GET /rest/api/3/project/ABC/workflow

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Tools that help 

You don’t need a full dev environment to work with the API. Many admins use:

• Postman: For testing requests
• curl: For quick command-line operations

But if you want to dive a bit deeper (and already know some Python), I’d definitely go that route.

I’m still learning and experimenting with the API myself. 🤠If you’ve done something cool (or weird) with it, let’s trade ideas.

[Varsha Joshi]

Thank you for adding all the information that I keep looking up in one place :-)