diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 2b34430..021a254 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -34,6 +34,11 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented here.
   `name:` from `Tests` to `CI` for cross-repo consistency. README
   badge URL updated to match.
 
+### Fixed
+- Pipe (`|`) and backslash (`\`) in table cell values are now escaped in the
+  `jira` and `confluence` output formats, preventing cell-boundary corruption
+  and accidental header syntax. Closes #17.
+
 ## [2.0.2] - 2026-04-05
 
 ### Added
diff --git a/src/mcp_clipboard/parser.py b/src/mcp_clipboard/parser.py
index 970462c..f1938c4 100644
--- a/src/mcp_clipboard/parser.py
+++ b/src/mcp_clipboard/parser.py
@@ -432,6 +432,11 @@ def _format_slack(rows: list[list[str]]) -> str:
     return f"{header}\n```\n" + "\n".join(data_lines) + "\n```"
 
 
+def _escape_jira_cell(cell: str) -> str:
+    """Escape characters that break Jira/Confluence wiki markup tables."""
+    return cell.replace("\\", "\\\\").replace("|", "\\|")
+
+
 def _format_jira(rows: list[list[str]]) -> str:
     """Render rows as Jira/Confluence wiki markup: ||Header|| / |Cell| syntax."""
     if not rows:
@@ -440,8 +445,10 @@ def _format_jira(rows: list[list[str]]) -> str:
     max_cols = max(len(row) for row in rows)
     normalized = [row + [""] * (max_cols - len(row)) for row in rows]
 
-    lines = ["||" + "||".join(normalized[0]) + "||"]
-    for row in normalized[1:]:
+    escaped = [[_escape_jira_cell(cell) for cell in row] for row in normalized]
+
+    lines = ["||" + "||".join(escaped[0]) + "||"]
+    for row in escaped[1:]:
         lines.append("|" + "|".join(row) + "|")
 
     return "\n".join(lines)
diff --git a/tests/test_parser.py b/tests/test_parser.py
index c9d2128..67804af 100644
--- a/tests/test_parser.py
+++ b/tests/test_parser.py
@@ -545,3 +545,64 @@ def test_format_notion_escapes_pipe():
     notion_result = format_table(rows, "notion")
     assert md_result == notion_result
     assert r"x\|y" in notion_result
+
+
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+# Jira/Confluence escaping (#17)
+# ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+
+def test_format_jira_escapes_pipe_in_data():
+    """Pipe in a data cell must not break cell boundaries."""
+    rows = [["Cmd", "Desc"], ["cat | grep", "filter"]]
+    result = format_table(rows, "jira")
+    lines = result.strip().split("\n")
+    assert len(lines) == 2  # 1 header + 1 data row
+    # Header line has 3 cells: ||Cmd||Desc||
+    assert lines[0].count("||") == 3  # opening + between + closing = 3 occurrences for 2 columns
+    # Data line: |cat \| grep|filter|
+    assert r"cat \| grep" in result
+
+
+def test_format_jira_escapes_pipe_in_header():
+    """Pipe in a header cell must not create extra columns."""
+    rows = [["A|B", "C"], ["1", "2"]]
+    result = format_table(rows, "jira")
+    lines = result.strip().split("\n")
+    assert len(lines) == 2
+    assert r"A\|B" in result
+
+
+def test_format_jira_escapes_double_pipe():
+    """|| in a data cell must not create accidental header markup."""
+    rows = [["X", "Y"], ["a||b", "c"]]
+    result = format_table(rows, "jira")
+    lines = result.strip().split("\n")
+    # Data row should still have exactly 2 cells
+    data_line = lines[1]
+    # The || should be escaped to \|\|
+    assert r"a\|\|b" in data_line
+
+
+def test_format_jira_escapes_backslash():
+    r"""Backslash must be escaped to avoid swallowing the next character."""
+    rows = [["Val"], [r"a\b"]]
+    result = format_table(rows, "jira")
+    assert r"a\\b" in result
+
+
+def test_format_jira_leading_trailing_pipe():
+    """Leading/trailing pipes in cell values must be escaped."""
+    rows = [["Col"], ["|leading"], ["trailing|"]]
+    result = format_table(rows, "jira")
+    lines = result.strip().split("\n")
+    assert len(lines) == 3  # 1 header + 2 data rows
+    assert r"\|leading" in result
+    assert r"trailing\|" in result
+
+
+def test_format_confluence_escapes_same_as_jira():
+    """Confluence uses _format_jira, so escaping must apply."""
+    rows = [["A"], ["x|y"]]
+    assert format_table(rows, "confluence") == format_table(rows, "jira")
+    assert r"x\|y" in format_table(rows, "confluence")