How to See GitHub Issues and Jira Tasks in One Place: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you work in software development, chances are you juggle GitHub for issues, Jira for project tracking, and Asana for team tasks. Constantly switching between these tools doesn’t just fragment your focus—it also increases the risk of missing critical details. The solution isn’t to abandon any of them, but to centralize their data in a single dashboard where you can view, prioritize, and act without jumping between tabs. In this guide, we’ll show you how to achieve this step by step using Foco Plus, including how to sync statuses, priorities, and even close issues directly from one place.

Why You Need a Unified Dashboard for GitHub, Jira, and Asana

Imagine starting your day by checking assigned GitHub issues, then opening Jira to see tickets in progress, and finally logging into Asana for documentation or meeting tasks. Each tool has its own workflow, notifications, and format, forcing your brain to constantly adapt. This isn’t just annoying—internal studies from development teams show that context-switching between tools can consume up to 20% of productive time.

A unified dashboard isn’t just about displaying all tasks together. It should allow you to: filter by project or tool, update statuses without leaving the dashboard, and maintain bidirectional sync so changes in Foco reflect in GitHub, Jira, or Asana. Foco Plus is designed specifically for this: it’s not a generic task manager, but a tool that integrates your development tools and presents them in a coherent format, with color-coded projects and views tailored to your workflow.

Step 1: Set Up Connections with GitHub, Jira, and Asana

Prerequisites

• An active Foco Plus subscription (the plan that includes external tool integrations).
• Admin access or permissions to install integrations in GitHub, Jira, and Asana.
• Your login credentials for each tool (you’ll need to authenticate via OAuth).

Connect GitHub to Foco

1. Open Foco and go to Settings > Connections. Select GitHub and click Connect. A GitHub authentication window will open. Log in with your account and authorize the requested permissions (Foco only needs access to your issues and pull requests).

2. Choose the destination workspace where you want GitHub issues to appear. You can select an existing workspace (e.g., "Frontend Development") or let Foco assign it automatically based on the issue content. For full control, create a new workspace called "GitHub Issues" and set it as the fixed destination.

3. Enable the Complete in source tool option. This ensures that when you mark an issue as done in Foco, it’s automatically closed in GitHub with a comment like "Closed from Foco." Without this, syncing would be read-only.

Connect Jira and Asana

Repeat the process for Jira and Asana: go to Settings > Connections, select the tool, authenticate, and choose the destination workspace. For Jira, Foco will pull issues assigned to you; for Asana, tasks where you’re the assignee. If you work on multiple Jira projects, you can create a workspace per project (e.g., "Jira - Project X") or use the automatic option to let Foco group them by context.

The key to a useful integration isn’t just bringing in the data, but keeping it updated without extra effort.

Step 2: Customize How Tasks Appear in Foco

Assign Colors by Tool

Foco uses colors to differentiate workspaces. Assign a unique color to each connection: for example, blue for GitHub, orange for Jira, and green for Asana. This way, when you open Panorama mode, you’ll see all your tasks with their corresponding colors, allowing you to quickly identify which tool each task comes from without reading the title.

Configure Custom Fields

Each task in Foco can include: priority (urgent, important, normal), due date, tags, and notes. To make syncing useful, map these fields to those in your original tools. For example, in Jira, the "Priority" field will become Foco’s priority, and in GitHub, labels will import as Foco tags. This is configured automatically when connecting the tools, but you can adjust it in Settings > Connections > Advanced Settings.

Step 3: Sync Statuses and Priorities in Real Time

How Statuses Update

Foco syncs task statuses with the original tools whenever you: mark a task as done, move it to "In Progress", or change its priority. For example, if you drag a GitHub issue from the "To Do" column to "In Progress" in Foco’s Kanban view, its status in GitHub will update to "In Progress." This works the same for Jira (statuses like "To Do," "In Progress," "Done") and Asana (sections like "New," "In Progress," "Completed").

Priority Sync

Priorities in Foco (urgent, important, normal) map to equivalent fields in each tool: in Jira, the "Priority" field; in GitHub, labels like "priority:high"; and in Asana, the "Priority" field. If a task is marked as "urgent" in Foco, it will update automatically in the original tool. Note: If you modify the priority directly in GitHub, Jira, or Asana, the change may take a few minutes to reflect in Foco (sync isn’t instant but typically completes within 5 minutes).

Step 4: Use Foco’s Views to Manage Your Workflow

Kanban View: Ideal for Agile Teams

Foco’s Kanban view lets you create custom columns like "Backlog," "In Progress," "Review," and "Done." Drag tasks between columns to update their status across all tools. For example, if you move a GitHub issue from "In Progress" to "Review," its status in GitHub will change to "In Review." This view is especially useful if you work with agile methodologies, as it replicates a physical board’s workflow but with automatic sync.

Calendar View: For Deadlines and Meetings

If your issues or tasks have due dates, the Calendar view will show a weekly or monthly timeline with all of them. You can overlay your Google Calendar or Outlook events (synced with Foco) to see meetings and deadlines in one place. For example, if you have a code review meeting at 10:00 AM and a GitHub issue due at 12:00 PM, the calendar will help you plan your time without overlaps.

List View: For Daily Prioritization

The List view groups tasks by date: Today, This Week, Later, and No Date. It’s perfect for starting your day by reviewing which GitHub issues or Jira tickets are due today. You can filter by workspace (e.g., only Jira tasks) or priority (only urgent tasks). If you use Foco Plus’s Rapid Capture feature, you can dictate multiple tasks at once, and Foco will separate them automatically, assigning priorities and dates based on context.

Step 5: Close the Loop: How to Complete Tasks and Update Original Tools

When you mark a task as done in Foco, the following happens: 1) A new occurrence is created if it’s recurring, 2) The status updates in the original tool (GitHub, Jira, or Asana), and 3) An automatic comment is added to the original tool indicating the task was completed from Foco. For example, if you close a GitHub issue, a comment like "Closed via Foco at [date and time]" will appear. This keeps a clear record for your team.

If you need to add more context, you can attach a voice or text note to the task in Foco. For example, if you complete a GitHub issue but want to leave an additional comment for the reviewer, record a voice note in Foco, and it will be attached as a comment in GitHub when synced.

Comparison: Foco vs. Alternatives for Managing Multiple Tools

The most common alternative for seeing GitHub issues and Jira tasks in one place is using spreadsheets, generic note-taking apps, or even browser tabs. However, these solutions have clear limitations:

• Spreadsheets (Google Sheets, Excel): Require manual updates, don’t sync statuses or priorities, and don’t allow attaching notes or files.
• Note-taking apps (Notion, Evernote): Can centralize information but don’t sync bidirectional changes with GitHub or Jira. They’re also not designed for workflows with statuses like "To Do," "In Progress," or "Done."
• Browser tabs: Fragment your attention and don’t provide a unified view. Switching between tabs increases the risk of missing details or duplicating work.

Foco solves these problems because: 1) It syncs statuses and priorities automatically, 2) Lets you update original tools from one place, and 3) Offers views tailored to technical workflows (Kanban, Calendar, List). Plus, since it’s designed for multiple workspaces, you can separate your GitHub issues, Jira tickets, and Asana tasks into distinct containers while viewing them in one dashboard—something generic tools can’t do.

Conclusion: A Frictionless Workflow

Centralizing GitHub issues and Jira tasks in one place isn’t just about convenience—it’s about reducing friction in your workflow. With Foco Plus, you can view all your tasks in a coherent dashboard, update statuses without leaving the app, and keep everything synced with the original tools. This lets you focus on what matters: developing, reviewing code, and collaborating with your team, without wasting time managing tools.

If you try this method, you’ll likely notice an immediate difference in your productivity. Start by connecting one tool (e.g., GitHub) and, once you’re comfortable, add Jira and Asana. The key is to start small and scale based on your needs.