How to Export Attachments from Jira Cloud Projects via REST API

Summary

This article provides a step-by-step guide on how to export all attachments from a single project in Jira Cloud by leveraging the Jira REST API. You can perform this method directly through API calls.

Diagnosis

You need to download all attachments from work items within a specific project in Jira Cloud. Accomplish this task by using the Jira REST API.

Cause

There is no direct functionality in Jira Cloud's UI to export all attachments from a project. However, the REST API provides a way to retrieve and download these attachments programmatically.

Solution

1. Generate an API Token

   • Visit Atlassian's API token management page to generate an API token. Use this token for authentication purposes. 

2. Prepare the API Request to get all Work Items with Attachments

   • Permissions required - ensure that you have:

     • Browse projects permission for the project containing the work item.

     • Work-item-level security permission if it is configured.

   • Make a POST request to the Jira REST API to search for work items with attachments. Use the following endpoint and payload:

     POST https://<your-domain>.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/search { "jql": "project = <your-project-key> AND NOT attachments is EMPTY", "startAt": 0, "maxResults": 100, "fields": ["attachment"], "fieldsByKeys": false }

   • Replace <your-domain> with your Jira Cloud domain and <your-project-key> with your project's key.

3. Make the API Request

   • Use tools like Postman, which provides a user-friendly interface, or curl in the terminal for more advanced users. These tools are widely used and can help you execute API calls effectively.

   • Here is an example using curl:

     curl -sL --request POST \ --user "email@example.com:your-api-token" \ --header 'Accept: application/json' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --url "https://<your-domain>.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/search" \ --data '{ "jql": "project = <your-project-key> AND NOT attachments is EMPTY", "startAt": 0, "maxResults": 100, "fields": ["attachment"], "fieldsByKeys": false }'

   • The command returns a JSON response with work items that have attachments.

4. Parse the JSON Response to Extract Attachment URLs

   • If using a command-line tool use a tool like `jq` to easily extract the attachment URLs from the JSON response along with their corresponding work item keys.

   • Here’s a sample command to achieve this:

     curl -sL --request POST \ --user "email@example.com:your-api-token" \ --header 'Accept: application/json' \ --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \ --url "https://<your-domain>.atlassian.net/rest/api/3/search" \ --data '{ "jql": "project = <your-project-key> AND NOT attachments is EMPTY", "startAt": 0, "maxResults": 100, "fields": ["attachment"], "fieldsByKeys": false }' \ | jq -r '.issues[] | {key,attachment:.fields.attachment[]} | [.key, .attachment.content, .attachment.filename] | join(" ")'

   • This command will output lines containing the work item key, attachment URL, and filename for each attachment.

5. Download the Attachments

   • Download the attachments with the attachment URLs using another curl command or a similar tool.

   • Here’s an example curl command to download an attachment:

     curl -L --create-dirs --user "email@example.com:your-api-token" --url "<attachment-url>" --output "<issue-key>/<filename>"

Conclusion

By following these steps, you can efficiently export all attachments from a specific project in Jira Cloud using the REST API.

References

1. Basic auth for REST APIs

2. Search for issues using JQL

3. https://stedolan.github.io/jq/