Step-by-step guide to consolidate GitHub issues, Jira tasks, and Asana projects in one place

If you work in development or on a technical team, you likely use GitHub for issues, Jira for tickets, and Asana for internal projects. Constantly switching between these tools doesn’t just fragment your focus—it forces you to remember where each task lives. The solution isn’t to abandon any of them (each serves a purpose), but to consolidate GitHub issues, Jira tasks, and Asana projects in one place where you can see, prioritize, and act without jumping between tabs. In this guide, we’ll show you how to do this step by step with Foco, using its Plus Connections to automatically pull in what’s assigned or mentioned to you in these tools, without duplicating work or losing context.

Why consolidate GitHub issues, Jira tasks, and Asana projects in one place

The typical alternative is to keep a tab open for each tool and manually check them every morning. The problem isn’t just the time wasted—it’s the lack of global context: in GitHub, you only see technical issues; in Jira, support tickets; and in Asana, team milestones. When tasks are scattered, it’s easy for something urgent to slip through the cracks because you didn’t see it at the right time. Foco solves this by bringing all your assignments into a single dashboard, where each task retains its origin (with a color and a direct link to the original tool) but appears alongside the rest, sorted by priority and due date.

Plus, Foco isn’t a generic project manager: it’s designed for people juggling multiple jobs at once (clients, personal projects, teams). While tools like Trello or ClickUp are built to manage a single project in detail, Foco lets you group tasks by work (e.g., «Client X», «Project Y», «Internal Team») and toggle between seeing everything at once (Panorama mode) or focusing on one (Focus mode). This is critical for developers who, alongside technical issues, have meetings, documentation, or personal tasks that don’t fit into GitHub or Jira.

Prerequisites

• A Foco account on the Plus plan (20 €/month), which includes Connections to external tools.
• Admin access or permissions to connect integrations in GitHub, Jira, and Asana (you’ll need to generate API tokens or authorize OAuth).
• Decide in advance which work in Foco you want tasks from each tool to appear in (e.g., «Development» for GitHub, «Support» for Jira, «Team» for Asana). You can also use the Automatic option and let Foco’s AI assign each task to the most relevant work based on its content.
• Be clear about what types of items you want to pull in: in GitHub, issues and pull requests where you’re mentioned or assigned; in Jira, issues assigned to you; in Asana, tasks assigned to you.

Step-by-step: How to connect GitHub, Jira, and Asana to Foco

1. Set up Connections in Foco

Open Foco on desktop (Connection settings aren’t available on mobile) and go to Settings > Connections. Here, you’ll see the list of supported tools: Notion, Linear, GitHub, Jira, Asana, and MCP servers. For each one, follow these steps:

• GitHub: Click «Connect» and authorize Foco to access your repositories. Select whether you want to pull in issues, pull requests, or both, and which repositories (you can choose all or specific ones).
• Jira: Authorize Foco to access your Jira instance (Cloud or Server). Choose the projects you want to pull issues from and the issue types (e.g., «Bug», «Task», «Story»).
• Asana: Connect your Asana account and select the projects or teams you want to pull tasks from. Foco will automatically bring in tasks assigned to you.

2. Choose the destination work for each connection

For each tool, decide where you want its tasks to appear in Foco. You have two options:

• Fixed work: Choose an existing work (e.g., «Development» for GitHub, «Support» for Jira). All tasks from that tool will always go to that container.
• Automatic: Foco’s AI will analyze the content of each task (title, description, tags) and assign it to the most relevant work. For example, a GitHub issue tagged «frontend» might go to the «Client A» work, while one tagged «backend» goes to «Project B».

If you choose Automatic, review the first tasks that come in to manually adjust any that don’t fit. You can change the destination work at any time from the individual task.

3. Enable «Complete also in the source»

This feature is key to avoiding duplicate work. When enabled, marking a task as Done in Foco automatically updates the original item in GitHub, Jira, or Asana:

• In GitHub, the issue or pull request is closed, and a comment is added with a link to the task in Foco.
• In Jira, the issue moves to the «Done» status (or your configured workflow).
• In Asana, the task is marked as completed.

To enable it, go to Settings > Connections, edit each connection, and check the «Complete also in the source» box.

Workflow examples for developers and technical teams

Workflow 1: Full-stack developer with technical issues and team tasks

Imagine you work on a team where you use GitHub for code, Jira for customer bugs, and Asana for sprint milestones. In Foco, you set up:

• GitHub → Work «Development» (blue color).
• Jira → Work «Support» (red color).
• Asana → Work «Team» (green color).

Every morning, you open Foco in Panorama mode and see all your tasks together, sorted by priority and due date. GitHub issues appear in blue, Jira tasks in red, and Asana tasks in green. If a GitHub issue is urgent, you assign it the Urgent priority in Foco and see it highlighted at the top. When you finish a pull request, you mark it as Done in Foco, and it closes automatically in GitHub.

Workflow 2: Technical team with multiple projects and clients

In a team with multiple clients, each one uses a different tool: Client A manages issues in GitHub, Client B in Jira, and internal projects in Asana. In Foco, you create a work for each client:

• GitHub (Client A) → Work «Client A» (orange color).
• Jira (Client B) → Work «Client B» (purple color).
• Asana (Internal projects) → Work «Team» (gray color).

When you need to focus on a client, you switch to Focus mode and filter only their tasks. If a Jira issue from Client B is due today, you see it in the Today section of the List view, alongside any meetings or personal tasks. When you complete a recurring task (e.g., «Review Client A pull requests every Monday»), Foco automatically creates the next occurrence.

What to do when a task requires additional context

Tasks from GitHub, Jira, or Asana often include descriptions, comments, or attachments. In Foco, all this information is saved as an attached note to the task. For example:

• A GitHub issue with a screenshot: the image is attached to the task in Foco, and you can view it without leaving the app.
• A Jira ticket with a long comment: the text is transcribed and saved as a note, along with a direct link to the original ticket.
• An Asana task with an attached document: the file link is included in the note.

If you need to add more context, you can record a voice note or write a text note directly in Foco. This is useful for developers who want to explain a technical issue without having to open GitHub or Jira.

How to keep tasks synchronized without duplicating work

The key to consolidating GitHub issues, Jira tasks, and Asana projects in one place without chaos is to follow these rules:

• Use Foco as the source of truth for your day-to-day: Mark tasks as Done only in Foco (not in GitHub, Jira, or Asana) so they update automatically everywhere.
• Review new tasks at least once a day: Foco’s Connections update tasks every 15-30 minutes, but it’s good practice to check in the morning to prioritize what’s new.
• Leverage tags and priorities: In Foco, add tags like «bug», «feature», or «documentation» to filter tasks by type, regardless of their origin.
• Use Focus mode to concentrate: If you’re in a development sprint, filter only tasks from the «Development» work to avoid distractions from Jira or Asana.

Centralizing tasks doesn’t mean losing the detail of each tool—it means gaining a layer of organization that lets you act without constantly switching contexts.

Comparison with the typical alternative

The most common alternative is to use generic note-taking apps (like Notion or Google Keep) or spreadsheets to manually copy tasks from GitHub, Jira, and Asana. The problem with this approach is that:

• It requires manual time to copy each task, update its status, and add context.
• There’s no automatic synchronization: if you close an issue in GitHub, you have to remember to update it in your list too.
• You lose direct links to the original tool, forcing you to switch between tabs to see details.
• There are no flexible views: in a spreadsheet, you can’t toggle between seeing all tasks or filtering only those for a specific project.

Foco, on the other hand, automates task capture, keeps the link to the source, and gives you views tailored to how you work (List, Kanban, or Calendar). Plus, since it’s designed for multiple jobs at once, it prevents technical tasks from mixing with personal or team tasks without order.

Conclusion: One place to act, without losing detail

Consolidating GitHub issues, Jira tasks, and Asana projects in one place isn’t about replacing these tools—it’s about creating a command center where you can see, prioritize, and act without wasting time switching contexts. With Foco’s Plus Connections, this process is automatic: every issue, ticket, or task arrives in your dashboard with its context, priority, and a direct link to the original tool. All you have to do is decide what to do next.

If you work in development or on a technical team, try connecting just one tool first (e.g., GitHub) and see how tasks integrate into Foco. Once you experience the value of having everything in one place, add Jira and Asana. The difference between jumping between tabs and having a unified dashboard is the same as working blindly versus working with clarity.