Tracking time on Jira, GitLab and GitHub with the browser extension
How the extension recognises a page
Open the Keepr extension on an issue in Jira, GitLab or GitHub and an “On this page” card appears above the timer. Press “Use” and the timer description becomes the issue's key and title, for example “KEEPR-142 Onboarding flow QA” or “!12 Add webhooks”, so your entries read the same as the tracker.
The extension decides from two things only: the address of the tab and its title. It installs no script on your tracker's pages and keeps nothing running in the background, which is also why it works on your company's own Jira or GitLab without being told about them in advance.
When the title does not carry the issue's name — an issue opened in a board drawer, for example — the extension runs one short script in that tab when you open it: the script asks the tracker, with your existing session, for that one issue's title, or else reads the heading on the page. Nothing else on the page is read.
Which pages are supported
Jira: an issue opened on its own (“/browse/KEY-1”) and an issue opened on a board or backlog, on Jira Cloud and on Jira Data Center, including Data Center installed under a path such as “/jira”. On a Data Center site the tab title has to have Jira's own form “[KEY-1] Title - Jira”, since any website can have addresses shaped like a Jira issue.
GitLab: issues and work items, issues opened in a board or list drawer, and merge requests on every tab — overview, commits, pipelines and changes — including one opened in the drawer of a merge request list. This works on gitlab.com and on self-managed GitLab, also under a relative URL root such as “/gitlab”.
GitHub: issues and pull requests on github.com, on every pull request tab, and on GitHub Enterprise Server. Lists, search results, settings and project home pages are not recognised on any of the three, and the extension only reads pages served over HTTPS.
How the Keepr task is matched or created
Keepr stores the tracker's key on the task together with the issue's address: the Jira key, such as KEEPR-142; the bare number of a GitLab or GitHub issue, 12, which Keepr shows as #12; or !12 for a GitLab merge request. To link a task by hand, enter its External ID exactly that way. A task matches only when both agree, so issue #12 of one repository never meets #12 of another, and a GitLab merge request never meets the issue that happens to share its number.
If a matching task exists, Use fills its project and task too. If not, the card names the project a new task would go into: the project that already holds most tasks from the same tracker project, then the one you last started it in from this browser, then a Keepr project named exactly like it. You can change the project before starting.
The task is created only when you press “Start timer”, named after the issue's title, so a card you open and abandon leaves nothing behind. Tasks created this way show their key in front of the name in the Tasks list, with a link back to the tracker.
Permissions and plan
The extension asks for no access to your tracker sites when you install it. The popup reads the tab it is opened on and nothing else. The pinned side panel, which follows the tab you switch to, asks first: either to read tab addresses and titles, or, if you prefer, only your tracker's own site, which you can also add or remove under the extension's Options.
The extension connects with a personal API token, part of the Ultimate plan, with the timers and projects scopes. Creating a task from a page also needs the projects write scope and the right to manage the chosen project; without either, the timer still starts on the description alone.
Jira users: the timer panel inside Jira
On Jira Cloud there is a second way: the Keepr timer panel, an Atlassian app that sits in the issue view itself, so you can start and stop a timer without opening the extension. It also maps each Jira project to a Keepr workspace for the whole team. See the timer panel article under Related articles.
Both record ordinary Keepr time against the same kind of task, keyed by the Jira issue, so you can use either, or both. The extension, which you can get from Downloads, is the one that also covers Jira Data Center, GitLab and GitHub.