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JQL query builder and cheat sheet
Pick your filters below and get valid Jira Query Language, ready to paste into Jira’s search bar — plus a cheat sheet of the JQL people actually search for. Everything runs in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere.
JQL cheat sheet
The searches people actually run, grouped by what they’re trying to do. Every query below is valid, native Jira Cloud JQL — copy one and adjust the project, values or dates to fit.
Operators & keywords
- AND
- All connected clauses must be true.
- OR
- At least one connected clause must be true.
- NOT
- Negates the clause or parenthesised group that follows it.
- IN (…)
- Field matches any value in the list — shorthand for chained ORs.
- NOT IN (…)
- Field matches none of the values in the list.
- IS EMPTY / IS NOT EMPTY
- Tests whether a field has no value, e.g. assignee IS EMPTY.
- WAS / WAS IN
- Field held a value at some point in its history, e.g. status WAS "In Progress".
- CHANGED
- Field's value changed, optionally scoped with FROM, TO, BY, AFTER, BEFORE, DURING or ON.
- ORDER BY … ASC|DESC
- Sorts results; must be the last part of the query.
- ~ / !~
- Text field contains / doesn't contain a term, e.g. summary ~ "timeout".
Relative dates
Date fields accept a fixed date, or shorthand relative to now.
- -7d
- 7 days ago. Units are m (minutes), h (hours), d (days), w (weeks) — one unit per value.
- -2w
- 2 weeks ago.
- startOfDay() / endOfDay()
- Midnight at the start or end of today. Accepts an offset, e.g. startOfDay("-1d").
- startOfWeek() / endOfWeek()
- Start or end of the current calendar week.
- startOfMonth() / endOfMonth()
- Start or end of the current calendar month.
- now()
- The exact current timestamp.
Questions
- What is JQL in Jira?
- JQL — Jira Query Language — is the search syntax behind Jira's advanced issue search. A query is a set of field-operator-value clauses joined with AND and OR, optionally followed by an ORDER BY, for example: project = PROJ AND status != Done ORDER BY created DESC. It's what board filters, dashboard gadgets and saved filters are built from, so it's worth being able to read even if you rarely write it from scratch.
- Where do I paste a JQL query in Jira?
- Open Filters → View all issues (or Search) and switch the search from Basic to JQL. Paste the query in, run it, and save it as a filter if you want to reuse it on a board or dashboard gadget.
- How do I write a JQL query for issues updated in the last week?
- Use a relative date: updated >= -7d. Jira's relative date shorthand accepts m for minutes, h for hours, d for days and w for weeks, so -1w works too. Combine it with a project clause to scope the result, e.g. project = PROJ AND updated >= -7d ORDER BY updated DESC.
- Does this JQL builder connect to my Jira instance?
- No. It builds the query text from the options you pick and nothing more — no login, no API call, no access to your projects. That's also its one limitation: it can't autocomplete your real project keys, statuses or custom fields, so those you type in yourself.
- Do these queries still work now that Jira calls issues "work items"?
- Yes. Atlassian is mid-rollout on renaming "issue" to "work item" and "project" to "space" across its docs and UI, but has confirmed JQL keeps supporting the classic field names. This tool sticks to those (project, issuetype, and so on), which is why the queries it generates work on sites that have already seen the new terminology.
Further reading
JQL does its most useful work inside an automation rule — how to set up a Jira Automation rule to email a weekly summary walks through a rule built on a JQL search, and the smart values reference covers formatting the results.