fix(jira): preserve escaped emphasis delimiters in jira_to_markdown

src/mcp_atlassian/preprocessing/jira.py

@@ -272,9 +272,12 @@ def _jira_code_to_md(match: re.Match[str]) -> str:
         # Block quotes
         output = re.sub(r"^bq\.(.*?)$", r"> \1\n", output, flags=re.MULTILINE)
 
-        # Text formatting (bold, italic)
+        # Text formatting (bold, italic). Delimiters preceded by a backslash
+        # are wiki escapes (e.g. the intraword `\_` this module's
+        # markdown_to_jira writes), not markup, so they must neither open nor
+        # close a span.
         output = re.sub(
-            r"([*_])(.*?)\1",
+            r"(?<!\\)([*_])(.*?)(?<!\\)\1",
             lambda match: (
                 ("**" if match.group(1) == "*" else "*")
                 + match.group(2)

tests/unit/preprocessing/test_preprocessing.py

@@ -251,6 +251,24 @@ def test_jira_to_markdown(preprocessor_with_jira):
     assert preprocessor_with_jira.jira_to_markdown("*bold text*") == "**bold text**"
     assert preprocessor_with_jira.jira_to_markdown("_italic text_") == "*italic text*"
 
+    # Test escaped delimiters are preserved, not paired as emphasis (issue #1610)
+    assert (
+        preprocessor_with_jira.jira_to_markdown(r"QUALITY\_GATES\_LLM\_ENABLED")
+        == r"QUALITY\_GATES\_LLM\_ENABLED"
+    )
+    assert preprocessor_with_jira.jira_to_markdown(r"foo\_bar") == r"foo\_bar"
+    assert (
+        preprocessor_with_jira.jira_to_markdown(r"my\_var\_x and her\_var")
+        == r"my\_var\_x and her\_var"
+    )
+    assert "*" not in preprocessor_with_jira.jira_to_markdown(
+        r"my\_var\_x and her\_var"
+    )
+    assert (
+        preprocessor_with_jira.jira_to_markdown(r"escaped \*stars\* stay literal")
+        == r"escaped \*stars\* stay literal"
+    )
+
     # Test code blocks
     assert preprocessor_with_jira.jira_to_markdown("{{code}}") == "`code`"