Browser Companion

Overview

Install the Companion, open a Jira Cloud issue, and open the extension's side panel: it detects the issue you're viewing and lets a moderator capture it straight into a SprintBee room's queue — no Jira site connection, OAuth consent, or admin approval required.

It's deliberately narrow. The Companion reads only the issue key and a best-effort title from the tab you're on; it never searches Jira, never imports more than one issue at a time, and never writes anything back to Jira. If you need Jira search, bulk import, or story-point write-back, use the full Jira integration instead — the two are independent and can be used together.

The Companion is free on every SprintBee plan, including Free.

Install

The Companion is rolling out and isn't yet listed on the Chrome Web Store. This page will link directly to the store listing once it's live — check back, or contact us if you'd like early access.

Pairing a Jira tab with a room

Once installed, open a Jira Cloud issue (a URL like https://yoursite.atlassian.net/browse/KEY) and click the SprintBee Companion icon to open its side panel.

1. Open a Jira issue in the current tab. The panel detects it and shows the issue key (and title, when it can read one).
2. Open your SprintBee room — either in its own browser tab, or by entering a room code or link directly in the panel and clicking "Open". A remembered room code offers a one-click "Reopen" the next time you open the panel.
3. As a moderator, use "Add to queue" to send the issue to the room's queue, or "Estimate now" to start a round on it immediately (disabled while another round is already in progress).
4. Watch for the capture feedback in the panel — "Round started on {ISSUE_KEY}" or "{ISSUE_KEY} added to queue" confirms it reached the room.

What it does — Issue Capture and Follow Mode

Issue Capture is the moderator's side: capturing the issue you're viewing into the room's queue, described above.

Follow Mode is the participant's side: once you're paired with a room and you're not the moderator, your own Jira tab can follow the active round. When the room moves to a new Jira-linked round, your Jira tab shows a prompt to jump to that issue (or, if you've turned on "Auto-follow this session", it navigates automatically). It never interrupts you mid-draft — if you have an unsent comment or description open, the Companion waits and offers the prompt instead of navigating out from under you.

The moderator's own tab is never auto-navigated by Follow Mode — only participants follow; the moderator drives the room by capturing.

What it can and cannot see

The Companion only has permission to read pages on your Jira Cloud site (*.atlassian.net) — it cannot see any other site you browse, and it requests no broad host permissions.

From a Jira tab it reads the issue key and, best-effort, a short title (the tab title or a single defensive selector on board views) — never the full description. It never scrapes comments, attachments, or other issue fields, and it never writes anything back to Jira, not even by manipulating the page.

It doesn't use or store a Jira API connection, OAuth token, or password of any kind — it relies entirely on the Jira session you're already signed into in that tab. Its only local storage is session-scoped (cleared when you close the browser) and holds nothing beyond which tabs are paired and your Follow Mode preference.

How captured issues behave in the room

A captured issue becomes a normal queue item or round, tagged as a linked Jira source rather than a connected one. It carries the issue key, title, and a link back to Jira, but no description, status, or other fields — because the Companion never fetched them.

Capturing works whether or not the room also has the full Jira integration connected; the two are independent. If a room does have Jira connected with story-point write-back configured, that write-back still only applies to issues imported through the Jira integration itself, not ones captured by the Companion — matching the "no write-back, ever" rule above.

Troubleshooting

Most connection problems come from the panel and the room page not having finished negotiating, or not agreeing on a protocol version:

• "Update the Companion to work with this version of SprintBee." — your installed Companion is older than what the room page expects. Update the extension to the latest build.
• The panel shows the "no room yet" state instead of connecting, even though a room tab is open — the panel retries the handshake for about 10 seconds after opening; if a room tab was just opened, give it a moment and reopen the panel.
• "Only moderators can capture issues." — capture is moderator-only; ask to be made moderator in the room, or have the moderator capture it.
• "A round is already in progress in the room." — "Estimate now" can't start a second concurrent round; use "Add to queue" instead, or wait for the current round to finish.
• "{ISSUE_KEY} is already in the queue." — someone already captured this issue; check the room's queue.
• "Couldn't reach the room. Try again." or "Still working on it — try again in a moment." — the room tab didn't confirm the capture in time, often because it was navigated away from or closed mid-request. Make sure the room tab is still open and try again.
• Nothing happens when you open a Jira issue — the Companion only activates on Jira Cloud pages (*.atlassian.net); Jira Server/Data Center isn't supported.

FAQ

Is this the same as the Jira integration? No. The Jira integration is an OAuth connection that lets a room search Jira, bulk-import issues, and write estimates back onto them — it's a Pro feature. The Companion is a free browser extension that captures one visible issue at a time and never writes back to Jira. You can use either, or both, in the same room.

Does the Companion need my Jira admin's approval? No — it never authorizes against Jira's API, so there's nothing for a Jira admin to approve.

Which browsers are supported? Chrome today. The extension's detection and capture logic is written to be portable, and support for other browsers may follow.

Can participants without moderator access capture issues? No — only moderators can capture. Participants get Follow Mode instead, so their Jira tab follows whatever the room is estimating.

Is the Companion available on the Free plan? Yes — it's free on every SprintBee plan.