YouTrack CLI

Command-line client for YouTrack, covering the day-to-day — issues, commands, projects, users — plus the odd jobs: knowledge-base articles, agile boards, admin settings, and raw REST calls when nothing else fits. Built for people at a terminal and AI agents driving YouTrack in a pipeline.

Full documentation — installation, authentication, configuration, and a command reference — lives under docs/.

Security notice: YouTrack does not support granular token scopes; any token grants full account access. See docs/security.md before using youtrack in pipelines or with AI agents.

Install

macOS & Linux (install script):

curl -fsSL https://jb.gg/youtrack-cli/install | bash

New installs use ~/.local/bin without sudo; rerunning the script updates an existing unmanaged installation in place. Missing Bash/Zsh PATH entries are added automatically. Restart your shell afterward, or use the printed PATH command. Package-managed installations should be updated through their package manager.

The installers verify the downloaded archive against checksums.txt and, when gpg is installed, verify its signature against the pinned JetBrains key.

Homebrew (macOS & Linux):

brew install jetbrains/utils/youtrack

Scoop (Windows):

scoop bucket add jetbrains https://github.com/JetBrains/scoop-utils
scoop install youtrack

youtrack update upgrades the CLI through the method that installed it. In a terminal, the CLI also offers the update before a command runs when a newer release is out. Set YOUTRACK_NO_UPDATE=1 to turn off update checks.

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://jb.gg/youtrack-cli/install.ps1 | iex

Windows (CMD):

curl -fsSL https://jb.gg/youtrack-cli/install.cmd -o install.cmd && install.cmd && del install.cmd

Windows installers use %USERPROFILE%\.local\bin and add it to the user PATH. Set YOUTRACK_INSTALL_RELEASE or YOUTRACK_INSTALL_DIR to choose a version or destination in PowerShell; CMD accepts install.cmd [version] [directory].

Alternatively, download the matching *windows_x86_64.zip or *windows_arm64.zip release archive, extract it, and add the folder to your PATH.

Debian/Ubuntu:

curl -fsSLO https://github.com/JetBrains/youtrack-cli/releases/latest/download/youtrack_linux_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i youtrack_linux_amd64.deb

RHEL/Fedora:

curl -fsSLO https://github.com/JetBrains/youtrack-cli/releases/latest/download/youtrack_linux_amd64.rpm
sudo rpm -i youtrack_linux_amd64.rpm

Replace amd64 with arm64 on ARM machines.

Build from source (requires Go 1.26+):

go install github.com/JetBrains/youtrack-cli@latest

See the getting started guide for the full walkthrough.

Usage

Authenticate once and the CLI remembers the instance:

youtrack auth login

It asks for the YouTrack URL (pre-filled with https://youtrack.jetbrains.com or your active instance), opens your browser to sign in through Hub, and saves a permanent token. Pass --no-browser to paste a token instead.

Auth commands mask the token in their output, JSON included. Pass --show-token when a script needs the full value, for example youtrack auth login --save=false --json --show-token | jq -r .token.

Then:

# your open issues
youtrack issue list --query "assignee: me State: Open"

# pick columns, mixing issue attributes and custom fields, like the issue list UI
youtrack issue list --query "project: DEMO #Unresolved" --fields "idReadable,summary,Priority,State,Assignee"

# create an issue
youtrack issue create --project DEMO --summary "Login button unresponsive on Safari"

# move it along
youtrack issue command DEMO-42 "State In Progress"

# view an issue with its five most recent comments
youtrack issue view DEMO-42 --comments 5

# what a command would do, without applying it
youtrack issue command suggest DEMO-42 "State "

# link a commit to an issue, and list what is linked
youtrack issue vcs attach DEMO-42 1a2b3c4d5e6f7081
youtrack issue vcs list DEMO-42

# keep the CLI itself up to date
youtrack update

Every command takes --json or --plain for scripting, and --fields to pick table/plain columns and pull extra fields from the API. When no command covers what you need, youtrack raw calls the REST API directly with your stored credentials. You can register several instances and switch between them, sign in through the browser, or point at a server with environment variables — see authentication and configuration.

Set YOUTRACK_RO=1 to block every write at the client layer — a safety net for AI agents, CI read jobs, and exploration.

Commands

Canonical verbs across every group: view, list, create, update, delete (get/add linger as deprecated aliases). Run youtrack <group> --help for the full subcommand list, or see the command reference.

For AI agents

The CLI ships with an Agent Skill that teaches coding agents (Claude Code, Cursor, and others) how to drive youtrack:

youtrack skill install    # install the bundled skill for detected agents
youtrack skill update     # update to the version bundled with this release
youtrack skill remove     # uninstall

or specifically for Claude Code via the GitHub CLI:

gh skill install JetBrains/youtrack-cli youtrack-cli --allow-hidden-dirs --agent claude-code

See AI agent integration for read-only mode, JSON output, and skill details.

Learn more

• Getting started — install, authenticate, and run your first commands
• Authentication — tokens, browser SSO, multiple instances, credential precedence
• Configuration — config file, environment variables, global flags, update checks
• Scripting and automation — JSON/plain output, field projection, exit codes, CI
• Security — token disclaimer, YOUTRACK_RO, keyring storage, command-mutability reference

Contributing

YouTrack CLI is open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Bug reports and pull requests are welcome — CONTRIBUTING.md covers how the project is built and tested.