Inspiration
Modern software teams often struggle to stay organized within Jira, especially when dealing with numerous issues, priorities, and collaboration challenges. We wanted to simplify how developers and project managers interact with Jira issues by creating a visually intuitive, interactive, and customizable issue panel. Our goal was to turn static Jira issues into a dynamic workspace — streamlining workflow, context, and decision-making in one panel.
What it does
FlowPanel is a Jira Issue Panel App built using Atlassian Forge, providing a powerful, embeddable component inside the Jira issue view. It enhances the default Jira UI with: • Live Issue Status & Progress Visualization • Context-Aware Tips or Suggestions • Custom Workflow Shortcuts (e.g., auto-assign, change priority) • Smart Activity Feed with Filters • Integration with external APIs (optional) for developer tools or metrics
Users can take action faster, understand issue context at a glance, and customize the panel per team or project needs.
How we built it
• Frontend: Built using Atlassian UI Kit components for seamless Jira integration.
• Backend: Powered by Forge Functions using Node.js, with secure access to Jira REST APIs.
• Auth & Permissions: We used the Forge app manifest to declare scopes and manage issue-level permissions safely.
• Dev Tools: GitHub for version control, Jira itself for issue tracking, and Figma for UI mockups.
• Testing: Local development using forge tunnel, followed by deployment using forge deploy for live testing in Jira Cloud.
Challenges we ran into
• Understanding Forge’s serverless environment limits and adapting our code to run without traditional backend control.
• UI Kit’s limited design flexibility, which made it tricky to implement custom layouts while maintaining native look and feel.
• Latency with API calls when chaining multiple Jira operations.
• Learning curve around Forge authentication, scopes, and permission models.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
• Successfully created an interactive Jira app from scratch, integrated it with live issues, and deployed it to a test environment.
What we learned
• Deep understanding of Jira Forge ecosystem and how it differs from traditional cloud app development.
• Best practices for building user-centric panels inside complex tools like Jira.
• Hands-on experience with Atlassian Design System, state handling in UI Kit, and debugging in a cloud sandbox.
• The importance of simple UI/UX to make a real impact in high-velocity environments.
What's next for Flow Panel
• Drag & Drop Workflow Control: Allow users to move issues across statuses directly from the panel.
• AI Assistant Integration: Suggest next actions or auto-generate comments using OpenAI or similar models.
• Team-Specific Panel Customization: Let teams define panel layout per project.
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