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How to Make the Most of Jira Software with Git

Published: October 8, 2020

Updated: August 4, 2022

Support Team Lead at Alpha Serve
Do you use Jira for managing your day-to-day tasks at your agency? Do you take advantage of the countless Git applications and their repositories to streamline the code delivery process? Perhaps you use both and are tired by having to constantly switch between these two?

It is a table of contents. Click on the needed subheading and switch between parts of the article.

Well, what if we told you that you can actually integrate both of them between each other and enjoy the benefits of both programs working together as one? Today we’re going to tell you all about how you can do it and why it’s a great idea.

But before we do that, let’s cover what these tools actually do for those of you who are not familiar with Jira or Git applications.
Jira Cloud 2FA With Atlassian Access
As you probably already know Jira has been created to ease the communication between software developers and their testers or end-users. The testers are able to submit tickets, reporting bugs or inconsistencies straight to devs, who can get straight to fixing them. What you might not know about Jira is the fact that it has found its use outside of the software development niche and quite a lot of businesses and agencies actually use it for project management nowadays, and it works wonders.

It makes managers’ jobs a whole lot easier and allows for easier task tracking for individual team members.

When it comes to Git (GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket, Microsoft Azure, etc.) applications, they allow you to store your code and sections of your projects in their cloud repositories. Why would you need something like that? Well, it’s not necessary to store your code online, but just logging in and downloading the portion you need to work on is much faster than having to run around the office looking for the computer where it’s stored. Besides, it’s a great back-up.

Smart Integration for Jira & Git

As we said before, you are actually able to connect these two tools and enjoy their functionality, combined into a single system. No more switching between one another and wasting precious time that could be spent on more important tasks.


If you have only used Jira before, you will enjoy how much easier your repositories will be to reach, and if you have only used Git you will love how much your in-office communication will improve with easier messaging and branch distribution.


The best thing about it is the fact that it can be done with a single, tiny add-on named, conveniently, Smart Integration.


It will allow you to add all of the repositories you’re using directly into your Jira instance, helping you establish an instant link between your Jira project and your repositories with only a few clicks of your mouse.


All you really have to do is pick a provider, add your repository name and paste in the password. The name of your repository along with its author, identifier, line difference, and other types of information will appear in the activity panel for preview.


Upon integration, you’ll be able to track any Git status changes right from your Jira issue page, organized in a simple side panel with all of the information related to commits and branches, like dates and numbers.


Additionally, it allows you to compare code side-by-side with highly-detailed descriptions available to you at a press of a button.


Remember how we said Git repositories store your data in a cloud? Well, Smart Git Integration for Jira actually copies your repository locally. But why? Doesn’t this seem a bit counter-intuitive? Actually, no, and there is a good reason for it. By copying it on your computer, you will be able to analyze data without having to send any requests to the Git Provider API and wait for webhooks. This is done to save you even more precious time.

How to Install Smart Integration for Jira & Git

The installation process for Smart Integration is extremely simple, but we will guide you through it nonetheless. First, head over to the Smart Git Integration for Jira page on the Atlassian Marketplace, download it to your computer and follow the simple instructions.


Once it is installed, you will need to add your repository. Or repositories; Smart Integration allows you to add as many as you need. Likewise, you can delete them and enjoy the blank repository table if you don’t need them anymore.

Copy your repository link starting with “https”, then select “add repository” and paste the URL into the pop-up window to add your repository.

Repeat this process for each repository you need to add. Once again, they will also be copied locally for you to analyze your data on your system, without the need to wait for your Git Provider API request to get processed.

After you add your repositories, you will need to select a fitting server. Enter in your authentication credentials and press “next”.

Choose the repository(ies) you need to add.

You can even add repositories from different servers. To do that, you will need to choose an appropriate External Service from the menu. Keep your authentication credentials ready to paste for this, though.

Once again, choose your needed repositories.

This is the last step, after which all of your repositories will load automatically.


To find all your Git Provider Page links and information related to commits, go to the Issue side panel. Follow the Git Provider Page links to find more detailed data.

On this page, you will find all information, related to both your branches and merge branches.

Additionally, you can compare your code side-by-side for quicker and easier analysis.

In Conclusion

If you’ve only used one of these tools before, you should definitely consider integrating them together. By doing so, you will be able to both improve the communication within your agency, ease your managers’ work a little bit, and generally speed up your workflow. All that, by installing a single add-on with only a couple clicks of your mouse!


Access your Git projects through Jira’s simple interface, and cut the waiting times by completely eliminating the need to wait for a webhook from the Git Provider API.

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