assign_work_item
Hand a work item to a member of the team, or to nobody, and announce the hand-over.
Hand a work item to a person by assignee_id, a member of the team (find ids with list_team_members), or to nobody by leaving assignee_id out. The item's assignee changes, the page and list_my_work read it at once, and work_item.assigned goes out with the person before and after. Handing an item to the person who already holds it changes nothing and announces nothing.
Destructive in the MCP sense: it takes an item off someone's plate or puts it on, so confirm with the person before assigning an item that is not theirs. A person who is not a member of the team is refused.
Requires ability
The token behind the MCP session must hold it, or the call is refused with TOKEN_MISSING_ABILITY.
Runs the same action as
The REST endpoint and this tool share one action, so validation, permissions and events are identical.
Fires one event
Delivered to every endpoint subscribed to it once the change is made.
Annotations
A client that honours annotations asks a person before running it.
Arguments
work_item_id*stringUUID of the work item to hand over.
assignee_idstringoptionalUUID of the person who will do the work, a member of the team; leave it out to unassign.
What it returns
{ "data": { "id": "b2c3d4e5-f6a7-4b8c-9d0e-1f2a3b4c5d6e", "project_id": "7f3d1c92-8b45-4e6a-9d21-5c8e0a4b6f13", "number": 142, "reference": "CRM-142", "type": "story", "parent_id": null, "epic_id": "a1b2c3d4-e5f6-4a7b-8c9d-0e1f2a3b4c5d", "title": "Tier upgrade email", "description": null, "status": "ready", "resolution": null, "priority": "high", "assignee_id": "c3d4e5f6-a7b8-4c9d-8e0f-1a2b3c4d5e6f", "assignee_name": "Nimal Fernando", "reporter_id": "d4e5f6a7-b8c9-4d0e-9f1a-2b3c4d5e6f70", "reporter_name": "Dilani Perera", "reviewer_id": null, "qa_owner_id": null, "story_points": "5", "estimate_minutes": null, "remaining_minutes": null, "due_on": "2026-11-20", "started_at": null, "completed_at": null, "persona_id": null, "as_a": "gold member", "i_want": "to be told the day I reach platinum", "so_that": "I use the new perks straight away", "business_value_points": null, "severity": null, "environment_id": null, "component_id": null, "steps_to_reproduce": null, "expected_result": null, "actual_result": null, "reproducible": null, "timebox_minutes": null, "outcome": null, "component_ids": [], "acceptance_criteria": [], "position": 3, "version": 0, "approved_at": null, "created_at": "2026-10-28T09:20:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-11-01T16:30:00+00:00" }}How it fails
RESOURCE_NOT_FOUNDunknown work_item_id, or an item outside the token's scope or the person's visibility.
VALIDATION_FAILEDassignee_id is not a member of the team.
TOKEN_MISSING_ABILITYtoken lacks work-item:assign.
FORBIDDENthe token holder's role on the project does not carry work-item:assign.
How is this guide?
Last updated on