GitLab for Jira Cloud app administration All tiers Self-managed

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This page contains information about administering the GitLab for Jira Cloud app for self-managed instances. For user documentation, see GitLab for Jira Cloud app.

With the GitLab for Jira Cloud app, you can connect GitLab and Jira Cloud to sync development information in real time. You can view this information in the Jira development panel.

You can use the GitLab for Jira Cloud app to link top-level groups or subgroups. It’s not possible to directly link projects or personal namespaces.

To set up the GitLab for Jira Cloud app on your self-managed instance, do one of the following:

For Jira Data Center or Jira Server, use the Jira DVCS connector developed and maintained by Atlassian.

Set up OAuth authentication

You must set up OAuth authentication to:

To create an OAuth application on your self-managed instance:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. On the left sidebar, select Applications.
  4. Select New application.
  5. In Redirect URI:
    • If you’re installing the app from the official marketplace listing, enter https://gitlab.com/-/jira_connect/oauth_callbacks.
    • If you’re installing the app manually, enter <instance_url>/-/jira_connect/oauth_callbacks and replace <instance_url> with the URL of your instance.

  6. Clear the Trusted and Confidential checkboxes.

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    You must clear these checkboxes to avoid errors.
  7. In Scopes, select the api checkbox only.
  8. Select Save application.
  9. Copy the Application ID value.
  10. On the left sidebar, select Settings > General.
  11. Expand GitLab for Jira App.
  12. Paste the Application ID value into Jira Connect Application ID.
  13. Select Save changes.

Jira user requirements

Support for the org-admins group introduced in GitLab 16.6.

In your Atlassian organization, you must ensure that the Jira user that is used to set up the GitLab for Jira Cloud app is a member of either:

  • The Organization Administrators (org-admins) group. Newer Atlassian organizations are using centralized user management, which contains the org-admins group. Existing Atlassian organizations are being migrated to centralized user management. If available, you should use the org-admins group to indicate which Jira users can manage the GitLab for Jira app. Alternatively you can use the site-admins group.
  • The Site Administrators (site-admins) group. The site-admins group was used under original user management.

If necessary:

  1. Create your preferred group.
  2. Edit the group to add your Jira user as a member of it.
  3. If you customized your global permissions in Jira, you might also need to grant the Browse users and groups permission to the Jira user.

Connect the GitLab for Jira Cloud app

Introduced in GitLab 15.7.

You can link your self-managed instance after you install the GitLab for Jira Cloud app from the marketplace. Jira apps can only link to one URL per marketplace listing. The official listing links to GitLab.com.

With this method:

  • GitLab.com serves as a proxy for Jira traffic from your instance.
  • It’s not possible to create branches from Jira Cloud. For more information, see issue 391432.

Install the GitLab for Jira Cloud app manually if:

  • Your instance does not meet the prerequisites.
  • You do not want to use the official marketplace listing.
  • You want to create branches from Jira Cloud.

Prerequisites

  • The instance must be publicly available.
  • The instance must be on GitLab version 15.7 or later.
  • You must set up OAuth authentication.
  • If your instance uses HTTPS, your GitLab certificate must be publicly trusted or contain the full chain certificate.
  • Your network must allow inbound and outbound connections between GitLab and Jira. For self-managed instances that are behind a firewall and cannot be directly accessed from the internet:
  • The Jira user that installs and configures the GitLab for Jira Cloud app must meet certain requirements.

Set up your instance

Prerequisites

To set up your self-managed instance for the GitLab for Jira Cloud app in GitLab 15.7 and later:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. On the left sidebar, select Settings > General.
  4. Expand GitLab for Jira App.
  5. In Jira Connect Proxy URL, enter https://gitlab.com.
  6. Select Save changes.

Prerequisites

To link your self-managed instance to the GitLab for Jira Cloud app:

  1. Install the GitLab for Jira Cloud app.
  2. Select GitLab (self-managed).
  3. Enter your GitLab instance URL.
  4. Select Save.
  5. Optional. Check if Jira Cloud is now linked.

Check if Jira Cloud is linked

You can use the Rails console to check if Jira Cloud is linked to:

  • A specific group: 

    JiraConnectSubscription.where(namespace: Namespace.by_path('group/subgroup'))

  • A specific project: 

    Project.find_by_full_path('path/to/project').jira_subscription_exists?

  • Any group: 

    installation = JiraConnectInstallation.find_by_base_url("https://customer_name.atlassian.net")
installation.subscriptions

Install the GitLab for Jira Cloud app manually

If you do not want to use the official marketplace listing, install the GitLab for Jira Cloud app manually.

You must install each Jira Cloud app from a single location. Jira fetches a manifest file from the location you provide. The manifest file describes the app to the system.

To support your self-managed instance with Jira Cloud, do one of the following:

Prerequisites

  • The instance must be publicly available.
  • You must set up OAuth authentication.
  • The Jira user that installs and configures the GitLab for Jira Cloud app must meet certain requirements.

Install the app in development mode

Prerequisites

To configure your Jira instance so you can install apps from outside the marketplace:

  1. Sign in to your Jira instance as an administrator.
  2. Enable development mode on your Jira instance.
  3. Sign in to GitLab as an administrator.
  4. Install GitLab from your Jira instance:
    1. On your Jira instance, go to Apps > Manage Apps and select Upload app.

    2. In App descriptor URL, provide the full URL to your manifest file based on your instance configuration.

      By default, your manifest file is located at /-/jira_connect/app_descriptor.json. For example, if your GitLab self-managed instance domain is app.pet-store.cloud, your manifest file is located at https://app.pet-store.cloud/-/jira_connect/app_descriptor.json.

    3. Select Upload.
    4. Select Get started to configure the integration.
  5. Disable development mode on your Jira instance.

In Apps > Manage Apps, GitLab for Jira Cloud now appears. You can also select Get started to open the configuration page from your GitLab instance.

If a GitLab upgrade makes changes to the app descriptor, you must reinstall the app.

Create a marketplace listing

Prerequisites

If you do not want to use development mode, you can create your own marketplace listing. This way, you can install the GitLab for Jira Cloud app from the Atlassian Marketplace.

To create a marketplace listing:

  1. Register as an Atlassian Marketplace vendor.
  2. List your application with the application descriptor URL.
    • Your manifest file is located at: https://your.domain/your-path/-/jira_connect/app_descriptor.json
    • You should list your application as private because public applications can be viewed and installed by any user.
  3. Generate test license tokens for your application.

Like the GitLab.com marketplace listing, this method uses automatic updates.

For more information about creating a marketplace listing, see the Atlassian documentation.

Configure your GitLab instance to serve as a proxy

A GitLab instance can serve as a proxy for other GitLab instances through the GitLab for Jira Cloud app. You might want to use a proxy if you’re managing multiple GitLab instances but only want to manually install the app once.

To configure your GitLab instance to serve as a proxy:

  1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
  2. Select Admin Area.
  3. On the left sidebar, select Settings > General.
  4. Expand GitLab for Jira App.
  5. Select Enable public key storage.
  6. Select Save changes.
  7. Install the GitLab for Jira Cloud app manually.

Other GitLab instances that use the proxy must configure the following settings to point to the proxy instance:

Security considerations

The GitLab for Jira Cloud app connects GitLab and Jira. Data must be shared between the two applications, and access must be granted in both directions.

Access to GitLab through OAuth

GitLab does not share an access token with Jira. However, users must authenticate through OAuth to configure the app.

An access token is retrieved through a PKCE OAuth flow and stored only on the client side. The app frontend that initializes the OAuth flow is a JavaScript application that’s loaded from GitLab through an iframe on Jira.

The OAuth application must have the api scope, which grants complete read and write access to the API. This access includes all groups and projects, the container registry, and the package registry. However, the GitLab for Jira Cloud app only uses this access to:

  • Display groups to link.
  • Link groups.

Access through OAuth is only needed for the time a user configures the GitLab for Jira Cloud app. For more information, see Access token expiration.

Troubleshooting

When administering the GitLab for Jira Cloud app for self-managed instances, you might encounter the following issues.

For GitLab.com, see GitLab for Jira Cloud app.

Browser displays a sign-in message when already signed in

You might get the following message prompting you to sign in to GitLab.com when you’re already signed in: 

You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.

The GitLab for Jira Cloud app uses an iframe to add groups on the settings page. Some browsers block cross-site cookies, which can lead to this issue.

To resolve this issue, set up OAuth authentication.

Manual installation fails

You might get an error if you have installed the GitLab for Jira Cloud app from the official marketplace listing and replaced it with manual installation: 

The app "gitlab-jira-connect-gitlab.com" could not be installed as a local app as it has previously been installed from Atlassian Marketplace

To resolve this issue, disable the Jira Connect Proxy URL setting.

  • In GitLab 15.7:

    1. Open a Rails console.
    2. Execute ApplicationSetting.current_without_cache.update(jira_connect_proxy_url: nil).

  • In GitLab 15.8 and later:

    1. On the left sidebar, select Search or go to.
    2. Select Admin Area.
    3. On the left sidebar, select Settings > General.
    4. Expand GitLab for Jira App.
    5. Clear the Jira Connect Proxy URL text box.
    6. Select Save changes.

Data sync fails with Invalid JWT error

If the GitLab for Jira Cloud app continuously fails to sync data, it may be due to an outdated secret token. Atlassian can send new secret tokens that must be processed and stored by GitLab. If GitLab fails to store the token or misses the new token request, an Invalid JWT error occurs.

To resolve this issue on GitLab self-managed, follow one of the solutions below, depending on your app installation method.

  • If you installed the app from the official marketplace listing:

    1. Open the GitLab for Jira Cloud app on Jira.
    2. Select Change GitLab version.
    3. Select GitLab.com (SaaS).
    4. Select Change GitLab version again.
    5. Select GitLab (self-managed).
    6. Enter your GitLab instance URL.
    7. Select Save.

  • If you installed the GitLab for Jira Cloud app manually:

    • In GitLab 14.9 and later:
      • Contact the Jira Software Cloud support and ask to trigger a new installed lifecycle event for the GitLab for Jira Cloud app in your group.
    • In all GitLab versions:
      • Re-install the GitLab for Jira Cloud app. This method might remove all synced data from the Jira development panel.

Failed to update the GitLab instance

When you set up the GitLab for Jira Cloud app, you might get a Failed to update the GitLab instance error after you enter your self-managed instance URL.

To resolve this issue, ensure all prerequisites for your installation method have been met:

If you have configured a Jira Connect Proxy URL and the problem persists after checking the prerequisites, review Debugging Jira Connect Proxy issues.

If you’re using GitLab 15.8 and earlier and have previously enabled both the jira_connect_oauth_self_managed and the jira_connect_oauth feature flags, you must disable the jira_connect_oauth_self_managed flag due to a known issue. To check for these flags:

  1. Open a Rails console.

  2. Execute the following code: 

    # Check if both feature flags are enabled.
# If the flags are enabled, these commands return `true`.
Feature.enabled?(:jira_connect_oauth)
Feature.enabled?(:jira_connect_oauth_self_managed)

# If both flags are enabled, disable the `jira_connect_oauth_self_managed` flag.
Feature.disable(:jira_connect_oauth_self_managed)

Debugging Jira Connect Proxy issues

If you are using a self-managed GitLab instance and you have configured https://gitlab.com for the Jira Connect Proxy URL when setting up the OAuth authentication, you can inspect the network traffic in your browser’s development tools while reproducing the Failed to update the GitLab instance error to see a more precise error.

You should see a GET request to https://gitlab.com/-/jira_connect/installations.

This request should return a 200 status code, but it can return a 422 status code if there was a problem. The response body can be checked for the error.

If you cannot resolve the problem and you are a GitLab customer, contact GitLab Support for assistance. Provide GitLab Support with:

  1. Your GitLab self-managed instance URL.
  2. Your GitLab.com username.
  3. If possible, the X-Request-Id response header for the failed GET request to https://gitlab.com/-/jira_connect/installations.
  4. Optional. A HAR file that captured the problem.

The GitLab Support team can then look up why this is failing in the GitLab.com server logs.

Process for GitLab Support
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These steps can only be completed by GitLab Support.

In Kibana, the logs should be filtered for json.meta.caller_id: JiraConnect::InstallationsController#update and NOT json.status: 200. If you have been provided the X-Request-Id value, you can use that against json.correlation_id to narrow down the results.

Each GET request to the Jira Connect Proxy URL https://gitlab.com/-/jira_connect/installations generates two log entries.

For the first log:

  • json.status is 422.
  • json.params.value should match the GitLab self-managed URL [[FILTERED], {"instance_url"=>"https://gitlab.example.com"}].

For the second log:

  • json.message is Proxy lifecycle event received error response or similar.
  • json.jira_status_code and json.jira_body might contain details on why GitLab.com wasn’t able to connect back to the self-managed instance.

After you connect the GitLab for Jira Cloud app for self-managed instances, you might get one of these errors: 

Failed to load Jira Connect Application ID. Please try again.

Failed to link group. Please try again.

When you check the browser console, you might see the following message: 

Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at https://gitlab.example.com/-/jira_connect/oauth_application_id. (Reason: CORS header 'Access-Control-Allow-Origin' missing). Status code: 403.

403 status code is returned if the user information cannot be fetched from Jira because of insufficient permissions.

To resolve this issue, ensure that the Jira user that installs and configures the GitLab for Jira Cloud app meets certain requirements.