Delegating to Jira Agent

Delegating to Jira Agent

Core Principle

Never handle Jira operations directly. Always delegate to a specialized sub-agent to keep your context clean and costs low.

Recognition Patterns

Delegate when user says:

• "show me jira issue PROJ-1234"
• "what jira issues do I have?"
• "search jira for nginx"
• "create a jira for this work"
• "add a comment to PROJ-1234"
• Any mention of: jira, issue, ticket, PROJ-, AcmeED-

How to Delegate

Use the Task tool with a specialized prompt:

Task(
  subagent_type: "general-purpose",
  description: "Query Acme Jira",
  prompt: "<full agent instructions from AGENT-INSTRUCTIONS.md>"
)

Agent Prompt Template

When delegating, include:

1. The complete agent instructions (see AGENT-INSTRUCTIONS.md)
2. The user's specific request
3. Clear output format requirements

Example:

You are a Acme Jira specialist. Your job is to query Acme's Atlassian Jira using shell wrappers and return clean results.

<AGENT INSTRUCTIONS HERE>

USER REQUEST: Show me my jira issues for production-main

Return a clean summary with:
- Issue keys
- Summaries
- Status
- URLs

After Agent Returns

1. Present results cleanly to user
2. Offer follow-up if relevant (e.g., "Would you like details on PROJ-1234?")
3. Don't expose mechanics (curl, auth, etc.) to user

Benefits

• ✅ Main context stays clean
• ✅ Cheaper queries (sub-agent uses less expensive model)
• ✅ Specialized knowledge isolated
• ✅ Scalable pattern for other services

Example Flow

User: "show me my open jira issues"

Main Assistant: [Recognizes Jira query]
              → Invokes Task tool with agent instructions
              → Agent runs issuetracker-mine wrapper
              → Agent returns formatted results

Main Assistant: "You have 20 open issues. Here are the highlights:
                - PROJ-1638: production-main (In Development)
                - PROJ-2216: Reduce catdv log noise (Scheduled)
                ..."

Red Flags

DON'T:

• ❌ Try to run issuetracker-* scripts yourself
• ❌ Construct curl commands in main session
• ❌ Load detailed Jira API knowledge
• ❌ Handle authentication directly

DO:

• ✅ Immediately delegate on Jira keywords
• ✅ Trust the sub-agent's results
• ✅ Present clean summaries to user

Version History

• 1.0.0 (2025-10-14): Initial delegation skill created to reduce context pollution