YouTrack

YouTrack integration for project management, time tracking, and knowledge base.

Quick Start

Authentication

To generate a permanent token:

1. From the main navigation menu, select Administration > Access Management > Users
2. Find your user and click to open settings
3. Generate a new permanent API token
4. Set the token as an environment variable:

export YOUTRACK_TOKEN=your-permanent-token-here

Important: Configure your hourly rate (default $100/hour) by passing --rate to invoice_generator.py or updating hourly_rate parameter in your code.

Then use any YouTrack script:

# List all projects
python3 scripts/youtrack_api.py --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud --list-projects

# List issues in a project
python3 scripts/youtrack_api.py --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud --list-issues "project: MyProject"

# Generate invoice for a project
python3 scripts/invoice_generator.py --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud --project MyProject --month "January 2026" --from-date "2026-01-01"

Python Scripts

scripts/youtrack_api.py

Core API client for all YouTrack operations.

In your Python code:

from youtrack_api import YouTrackAPI

api = YouTrackAPI('https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud', token='your-token')

# Projects
projects = api.get_projects()
project = api.get_project('project-id')

# Issues
issues = api.get_issues(query='project: MyProject')
issue = api.get_issue('issue-id')

# Create issue
api.create_issue('project-id', 'Summary', 'Description')

# Work items (time tracking)
work_items = api.get_work_items('issue-id')
issue_with_time = api.get_issue_with_work_items('issue-id')

# Knowledge base
articles = api.get_articles()
article = api.get_article('article-id')
api.create_article('project-id', 'Title', 'Content')

CLI usage:

python3 scripts/youtrack_api.py --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud \
    --token YOUR_TOKEN \
    --list-projects

python3 scripts/youtrack_api.py --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud \
    --get-issue ABC-123

python3 scripts/youtrack_api.py --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud \
    --get-articles

scripts/invoice_generator.py

Generate client invoices from time tracking data.

In your Python code:

from youtrack_api import YouTrackAPI
from invoice_generator import InvoiceGenerator

api = YouTrackAPI('https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud', token='your-token')
generator = InvoiceGenerator(api, hourly_rate=100.0)

# Get time data for a project
project_data = generator.get_project_time_data('project-id', from_date='2026-01-01')

# Generate invoice
invoice_text = generator.generate_invoice_text(project_data, month='January 2026')
print(invoice_text)

CLI usage:

python3 scripts/invoice_generator.py \
    --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud \
    --project MyProject \
    --from-date 2026-01-01 \
    --month "January 2026" \
    --rate 100 \
    --format text

Save the text output and print to PDF for clients.

Common Workflows

1. List All Projects

python3 scripts/youtrack_api.py --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud --list-projects

2. Find Issues in a Project

# All issues in a project
python3 scripts/youtrack_api.py --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud --list-issues "project: MyProject"

# Issues updated since a date
python3 scripts/youtrack_api.py --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud --list-issues "project: MyProject updated >= 2026-01-01"

# Issues assigned to you
python3 scripts/youtrack_api.py --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud --list-issues "assignee: me"

3. Create a New Issue

from youtrack_api import YouTrackAPI

api = YouTrackAPI('https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud')
api.create_issue(
    project_id='MyProject',
    summary='Task title',
    description='Task description'
)

4. Generate Monthly Invoice

# Generate invoice for January 2026
python3 scripts/invoice_generator.py \
    --url https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud \
    --project ClientProject \
    --from-date 2026-01-01 \
    --month "January 2026" \
    --rate 100 \
    --format text > invoice.txt

Save the text output and print to PDF for clients.

5. Read Knowledge Base

from youtrack_api import YouTrackAPI

api = YouTrackAPI('https://your-instance.youtrack.cloud')

# All articles
articles = api.get_articles()

# Articles for specific project
articles = api.get_articles(project_id='MyProject')

# Get specific article
article = api.get_article('article-id')

Billing Logic

Invoice generator uses this calculation:

1. Sum all time tracked per issue (in minutes)
2. Convert to 30-minute increments (round up)
3. Minimum charge is 30 minutes (at configured rate/2)
4. Multiply by rate (default $100/hour = $50 per half-hour)

Examples:

• 15 minutes → $50 (30 min minimum)
• 35 minutes → $100 (rounded to 60 min)
• 60 minutes → $100
• 67 minutes → $150 (rounded to 90 min)

Environment Variables

• YOUTRACK_TOKEN: Your permanent API token (recommended over passing as argument)
• Set with export YOUTRACK_TOKEN=your-token

API Details

See REFERENCES.md for:

• Complete API endpoint documentation
• Query language examples
• Field IDs and structures

Error Handling

Scripts will raise errors for:

• Missing or invalid token
• Network issues
• API errors (404, 403, etc.)

Check stderr for error details.