Jira Service Accounts
Before connecting Jira to another tool with Getint, set up a dedicated Service Account for the integration. A Service Account is the account Getint uses to read and write data in Jira on your behalf. Using one keeps your integration stable, secure, and easy to audit.
Atlassian provides native Service Accounts that are well-suited to integrations like Getint. These accounts do not consume a standard user license and are purpose-built for API interactions.
Why Use a Service Account?
Security: Avoid sharing personal login credentials.
Continuity: Integrations won't break when individual passwords change or when a user is deactivated.
Audit trails: Easily tell apart actions performed by your team and actions performed by Getint.
Permission control: Grant only the specific access the integration needs.
When Getint syncs a comment, it posts under the account that created the connection, not the original author. Posting as the original author is not technically possible, so we recommend using a dedicated Service Account as the connection owner.
To preserve context, Getint adds the original author, creation date, source task, and comment ID to the comment footer.
Creating a Jira Service Account
First, define the account within your Atlassian Organization.
Log in to admin.atlassian.com.
Select your Organization from the list.
Go to Directory > Service accounts.
Click Create service account.
Enter a Name (for example,
Getint-Sync-Bot) and an optional Description.Select the user role for the service account in Jira.
Click Create.
Generating Authentication Credentials
Service accounts cannot log in through a browser UI, so you authenticate with an API Token that has classic or granular scopes.
OAuth 2.0 is not supported yet.
To create an API token:
Go to Directory > Service accounts and select your account.
Click More actions (•••) > Create credentials.
Select API token and click Next.
Name your token, for example
Production-Sync-Token.Set scopes: See the required Getint permissions for the scopes you need.
Set expiration: Choose a duration (1 to 365 days) that fits your security policy.
Copy and save the token immediately. You will not be able to see it again.
Your service account is now ready to use with Getint.
Grant Project and Space Access With a Sufficient Role
Creating the account is not enough on its own. The Service Account must be added to each Jira Project (and Space, for Jira Service Management) you intend to sync, and assigned a role with sufficient permissions to perform the sync.
This matters because of how Getint operates: Getint impersonates the account selected for the integration and can only do what that account is allowed to do. If the Service Account cannot see a project, transition an issue, edit a field, or add a comment, then the integration cannot either. Missing access is one of the most common causes of failed or partial syncs.
Atlassian Service Accounts are harder to troubleshoot, since we can't log in to them directly. Unlike a regular user account, there's no way to sign in and confirm exactly what the account can and can't access.
When assigning the role, make sure the account can:
View the project or space and its issues.
Create and edit issues, incidents, requests, or tasks of the relevant types.
Transition issues through the statuses your mapping uses.
Edit the fields you are syncing, including any required or custom fields.
Add comments and attachments, if those are part of your integration.
Grant access for every project or space involved in the integration, including both sides of a sync where Jira is the destination. An account with valid credentials but no access to the target project will still fail to sync.
Modifying a Connection That Uses a Service Account
Once a connection is built on a Service Account, you cannot freely change it. Specifically, you can only:
Add or replace the access token for the existing account (for example, when a token expires), or
Modify the connection permissions (the scopes and access granted to that account).
You cannot repoint a Service Account connection to a different account, instance, or project through editing. Doing so would break the link between already-synced items and cause data sync errors.
Do not use connection editing to switch to a different instance or project. The new target may be incompatible with items already synced, which causes sync issues.
If you are transitioning from a personal account to a Service Account or replacing an expired token, use the Change Connection feature in the integration editor. When you do, confirm the new account holds the same access to the fields and issues already synchronized, or the integration may encounter sync errors. For finer adjustments, edit the connection from the Connections setting in Workflows. See Editing Connections for Existing Integrations for details.
Document and Maintain
Keep a record of the Service Accounts you create for integrations, including their purpose, the systems they connect to, and any relevant details.
Review the accounts regularly. Rotate credentials periodically and keep them aligned with your organization's security policies.
Test the Account
Before finalizing the integration, test the Service Account to confirm it has the right level of access and can perform every intended action. Create a test issue, move it through a couple of statuses, and add a comment to verify the account's permissions hold up end-to-end.
If you are connecting Jira with tools like Azure DevOps, ServiceNow, or Asana, see our Integration Guides or contact the Getint support team.
Last updated
Was this helpful?