How to migrate to Tracker from other services

If you were using a different project management solution (like Jira or Asana) before switching to Yandex Tracker, you can migrate your existing issues from it. This way you'll keep your progress on the current issues and preserve the history of completed work.

Migrating issues to Yandex Tracker from your previous service involves two stages:

  1. Prepare Yandex Tracker for data migration: activate it, add employees, and set up queues for importing issues.

  2. Prepare data and import it to Yandex Tracker:

Stage 1. Preparing Yandex Tracker for data migration

  1. Create an organization Yandex 360 for Business.

    Yandex Tracker is a service included in the Yandex 360 for Business package. To use Yandex Tracker, you can use an existing organization or create a new one.

    To learn how to create an organization, see the Yandex 360 for Business Help.

    To add users and activate Yandex Tracker, you'll need organization administrator rights. If you create a new organization, you'll become its administrator.

  2. Add your company's employees to the organization.

    Employees will use accounts added to the Yandex 360 for Business organization to work in Yandex Tracker. We recommend adding all the employees who worked in your old issue management tool.

    How to add employees to your organization

  3. Activate Yandex Tracker

    Activate a pricing plan that includes Yandex Tracker for your Yandex 360 for Business organization.

    If you need all your employees to work with issues in Yandex Tracker, activate the pricing plan for the entire organization. If you need access only for select users, activate Yandex Tracker as an option for individual employees or departments.

    How to choose a pricing plan with Yandex Tracker

  4. Create queues to import your issues to.

    All Yandex Tracker issues must be located in queues. Before migrating data, create one or more queues where you will import issues.

    Configure workflows (issue types, statuses, resolutions) in each queue.

    How to create a queue
    How to configure a workflow

Stage 2. Migrating data to Yandex Tracker

Migrating data from Jira

If you're using Jira, our experts will help you migrate your issues to Tracker. First, prepare the data for migration and send it to our experts.

  1. Export your data from Jira.

    How to export data
    1. In Jira, select Settings > System.

    2. Under IMPORT AND EXPORT, select Backup manager.

    3. Under Backup for Server, enable Include additional files, then select Create backup for server.

      Even in case you run a cloud-based version of Jira, create a server backup (Backup for Server).

      Create a cloud backup (Backup for cloud) only in case creating a server backup is unavailable.

    4. When the backup is created, click Download backup file.

    If the instructions on this page are not complete enough for data export, refer to the instructions in the Jira documentation.

  2. Create a list of Jira users and specify which users of your organization with Yandex Tracker they correspond to. For example, create a table with these users.

  3. Add a technical account to your organization that Yandex employees can use to access Yandex Tracker in your organization.

    This can be a Yandex account (login@yandex.com) or an account on your organization's domain. To learn how to add employees to an organization, see the Yandex 360 Help.

    To add an employee, you'll need admin rights in your Yandex 360 for Business organization.

  4. Grant Yandex 360 for Business organization admin rights to the added account. To learn more, see the Yandex 360 Help.

  5. Upload the archive with the exported data and the user correspondence table to Yandex Disk or similar service.

  6. Contact Yandex Tracker support via the feedback form. In the form, specify:

    • The request topic: Migration to Yandex Tracker from Jira or other services.

    • Links to the archive with exported data and the user correspondence table.

    • Login and password of the technical account with admin rights.

  7. Wait for the technical support team to contact you once the migration is complete. The process may take a few weeks.

  8. After data migration, delete or remove the technical account with admin rights that you shared with Yandex employees from the organization.

Now you're all set and good to go!

Migrating data via the API

If your company has technical specialists that can handle data processing and know how to work with APIs, you can migrate issues to Yandex Tracker yourself.

  • Step 1. Export data from the current issue management service

    The export method depends on the platform you're currently using.

  • Step 2. Obtain an OAuth token to access the Yandex Tracker API

    Follow the instructions from Getting access to the API via OAuth 2.0.

    The token will be linked to your user account. API usage capabilities will be restricted by the access rights of this account:

  • Step 3. Create a script or an app for importing the data

    You can access the API in two ways:

    • Directly send HTTP requests to the Yandex Tracker API

      To import issues to the Yandex Tracker API, use the method described in Importing an issue. The request format is described in the API reference.

      After import is complete, you can get an issue with a certain status, creation date, and additional parameters, such as an issue completed a year ago.

    • Use the Python client

      Python developers can use the Yandex Tracker Python client that simplifies API interactions: How to install the client.

      The client offers functions for creating and editing issues in Yandex Tracker — you can create issues by filling in their parameters with data from your old issue management solution.

      The Python client doesn't support import of issues with an arbitrary status and creation date — all issues will be considered new and will have the initial status set in your queue.

Sample Python script for importing data

Let's assume you have an Excel table with data on issues that you want to migrate to Yandex Tracker. To do that, you can use a Python script that will read data from your table and create issues with the specified parameters in Yandex Tracker.

To adapt the example for importing your issues:

  1. Create your own Excel table with data. For example, export data from your previous issue management solution in tabular format (if supported) or convert it to XLSX format.

    Sample table

    This sample table contains information about the issue parameters: Name, Description, Completion date, Assignee.

    Name

    Description

    Assignee

    Completion date

    Configure VPN

    Configure access to the corporate network

    john

    9.08.2025

    Check reports

    Review and confirm data

    jane

    Update service version

    Update to version 2.1.3

    daniel

    15.08.2025

    Tip

    To pass usernames, specify accounts in your Yandex 360 for Business organization as usernames (not email addresses). For example, specify john for john@yandex.ru.

  2. Install the Python client as described in Python client.

  3. Install the pandas and openpyxl libraries (if not already installed) — you'll need them for the script to run. To do this, execute the following commands:

    pip install pandas
    pip install openpyxl
    
  4. Copy the sample script and insert your data:

    Script text

    Sample script that creates issues in Yandex Tracker with parameters specified in the given sample Excel table:

    from datetime import datetime
    from pandas import read_excel, to_datetime, isna
    from yandex_tracker_client import TrackerClient
    
    # Configuring the Yandex Tracker client
    client = TrackerClient(
       token='ABC-def12GH_******',
       org_id='123**'
    )
    
    # Loading an Excel file with issues
    excel_file_path = 'tasks.xlsx'
    task_rows = read_excel(excel_file_path)
    
    # Processing and importing issues
    for _, row in task_rows.iterrows():
    
       # Reading parameters from the table
       summary = str(row['Name']).strip()
       description = str(row['Description']).strip()
       assignee = str(row['Assignee']).strip()
       end_date = None
       if row['Completion date'] is not None and not isna(row['Completion date']):
          end_date = row['Completion date'].strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
    
       # Creating an issue with the specified parameters
       issue = client.issues.create(
          queue='TEST',
          summary=summary,
          type={'name': 'Issue'},
          description=f"{description}\n\n*Issue imported from Excel.*",
          assignee=assignee,
          end=end_date,
          tags=['import'],
       )
    
       print(f"Issue created: {issue.key}")
    
    print("Import completed.")
    
    • In the Python client setup section, specify your OAuth token and organization ID:

      client = TrackerClient(
         token='<OAuth_token>',
         org_id='<organization_ID>'
      )
      

      Here, <OAuth_token> is your OAuth token and <organization_ID> is your organization ID.

      To get the organization ID, go to AdministrationOrganizations and copy the value from the ID field.

    • Specify the path to your Excel file as the excel_file_path variable value.

    • In the data reading section, add variables for issue parameters and specify which columns to read the variable values from.

      You can find the full list of issue parameters on the https://tracker.yandex.com/admin/fields page.

    • Specify the names of issue parameters in Yandex Tracker as the client.issues.create function parameters and assign them the values read from the table.

      Specify the key of the queue where you want to import issues as the queue parameter value. e.g., TEST.