Jira uses HTTP basic authentication with a username and API Token
Creating a user
All API Tokens are associated with a user and mirror the policies that are assigned to the user. It is common practice to create a group and assign permissions to the group, and finally make the user part of the group. For more details, see Atlassian's documentation on user management.
1. Log in to Jira as an Admin
Once logged in, navigate to gear icon (top right) -> User Management.
2. Click on groups in left panel
Once in the groups screen, create a group.
3. Assign correct permissions to group
In the bottom part (Group product access) Select the product "User" (Can access the product, with no product admin permissions). We are implementing a simple setup. It is possible to do project based setup but that is for advanced users. Hit Save.
In addition, in certain product configurations, the user may need read and write access to specific projects of interest. Please refer to Jira Documentation for details.
4. Click on users in left panel
Create a user with a password. Assign the user to the group you created above, using the lower part of this panel. Hit Save.
Please note that user creation is not mandatory. However it is strongly recommended that you create a service user rather than tie the API token to a specific user who can leave your organization and thus break your integration.
5. Login as the service user
Once logged in, navigate to gear icon (top right) -> Personal Settings (atlassian account settings).
6. Create an API Token for the Service User
In the top menu, go to "security". Click on "Create and Manage API Tokens", In the panel that opens up you can create API Tokens. Please note that the API Token will only be available at creation time. If its lost, you will have to revoke it and recreate a new token. It is best practice to rotate tokens every 90 days at least. More details are in Atlassian's documentation.
Configure the Integration
Create your integration by supplying the following values.
URL The root URL of your Jira instance. This may be in the format https://<tenant>.atlassian.net/.
Username The username of the user account created in step 4.
Password The API Token created in step 6.