Jira Roadmap Update: Q2 2026

• Development Feature General Availability: Atlassian announced the general availability of the Development feature in Jira, which unifies data from connected code, CI/CD, and security apps into a single view. Teams working in software spaces now have clearer visibility into engineering health directly inside Jira, without switching between tools.
• New Work Item Search (Full Rollout): Atlassian completed the removal of the legacy work item search experience. All users are now on the new search, which Atlassian describes as faster, more capable, and easier to use than its predecessor.
• Work Item Cover Images: Users can now add a cover image to individual work items to personalize their workspace and make high-priority issues more visually distinct at a glance.
• Project Background Themes: Jira project admins can now set a custom background theme for their projects via the new navigation sidebar. This applies to both company-managed and team-managed projects.
• Work Type and Field Configuration Caps: Starting in February 2026, Atlassian enforced limits on work type schemes (capped at 150 work types per scheme) and field configurations (capped at 700 fields). This change is intended to improve performance and reliability on large Jira sites.
• Scoped API Keys: Atlassian introduced scoped API keys, giving administrators control over the specific actions each API key is permitted to perform. This reduces the risk associated with overly broad API credentials.

What's Coming in Q2 2026

The following items are publicly confirmed by Atlassian through official community announcements and roadmap communications. No delivery dates beyond those stated publicly by Atlassian are implied here.

• Jira Seasonal Release Cycle: Atlassian has publicly announced that Jira will adopt a new seasonal release model in 2026. This is designed to create predictable, scheduled moments throughout the year when major user-facing features are delivered together, rather than in a continuous rolling cadence. The first seasonal release under this new model is expected in Q2 2026, though Atlassian has not committed to a specific date.
• New Workflow Editor Enforcement (June 2026): Starting June 26, 2026, Atlassian will begin removing the legacy workflow editor for all Jira Cloud customers. Workflows will only be editable in the new workflow editor going forward. Admins who rely on workflow-related apps should verify that those apps are compatible with the new editor before this date.
• Atlassian Connect Deprecation (December 2026): Atlassian has publicly confirmed that Atlassian Connect will reach the end of support in December 2026. The company is directing developers and administrators to use Atlassian Forge as the replacement. Local installations of Connect apps will be locked from March 2026 onward.
• Forge Platform Expansion for Jira: Atlassian continues to invest in Forge as the app development platform for Jira. Recent additions include new Rovo bridge API methods that allow app developers to check whether Rovo is enabled for a given tenant, and expanded UI Kit component options. Additional Forge capabilities are expected to roll out during Q2 2026, though specific feature commitments have not been publicly made.

Looking Ahead: Later This Year

Based on Atlassian's public roadmap and official communications, the following themes and investments are expected to shape Jira's direction through the remainder of 2026. No specific release dates have been committed for these areas beyond what is noted.

• AI and Rovo Integration: Atlassian is continuing to deepen Rovo's presence within Jira, including expanding AI-powered features for work item creation, search, and team assistance. The public roadmap lists a number of Rovo-related items in "coming soon" status for Jira, though specific features have not been publicly named with confirmed timelines.
• Platform Modernization and Forge Migration: The full deprecation of Atlassian Connect by December 2026 signals a broader platform shift. Atlassian has been actively expanding Forge capabilities to ease this transition for development teams building on Jira.
• Enterprise Administration Improvements: Atlassian has been shipping expanded controls in Atlassian Administration, including sandbox improvements, scoped API keys, data classification enforcement, and enhanced audit logging. These investments are expected to continue as part of ongoing enterprise readiness work.
• Scale and Performance: The work type and field configuration caps introduced in Q1 2026 are part of a broader effort to keep large Jira instances performant. Atlassian has signaled continued investment in reliability and scalability improvements throughout 2026.

Learn More About Jira

If you're evaluating Jira or want a deeper look at how its current feature set compares to alternatives, our Jira review covers use cases, pricing, and platform fit.

To track ongoing updates directly from Atlassian, you can monitor the weekly Atlassian Cloud changes blog on Confluence, the public cloud roadmap at atlassian.com/roadmap/cloud, and the official Jira Cloud Platform changelog for developer-facing changes.