Focus
Back on task in one glance
One task in focus with its Jira ticket, pull request and Figma links, plus a note on where you left off. Pinged mid-thought? Open the panel and you are back in context — links switch to the tab you already have open.
Sprint tracker for developers on a team
Your sprint, one glance away.
Your priorities in the team’s sprint, in Chrome’s side panel. Any tab — a Jira ticket, a Slack thread, a pull request, an email — becomes a task in your queue. One task in focus, a work log that writes your daily standup, and your next meeting always in sight.
- No account
- No Kotsu servers
- No integrations to set up
The idea
Any link becomes a task. Your queue inside the team’s sprint.
Teamwork reaches you as links: a ticket, a Slack thread, a pull request, an email. Kotsu turns them into your queue for the sprint — what’s on you, in what order, and what you’re waiting on — without waiting for the board to catch up or the next grooming. Press Add task and the link becomes a task; click the task and you’re back on that page. Not a Jira plugin, not a to-do list: your view of the team’s work.
Your open tabs
- LUM-2481 · Apple Pay button with fallbacklumora.atlassian.net/browse/LUM-2481
- Priya: can you check the promo banner on iPhone SE?lumora.slack.com/archives/…
- Review PR #1191: webhook retry with backoffgithub.com/lumora/pay-web/pull/1191
- Tom: update the 3-D Secure test card listmail.google.com/…
- Spike on /checkout after last night’s deploylumora.sentry.io/issues/…
Your queue in Kotsu
- In focusApple Pay button with graceful fallback
- Check promo banner overlap on iPhone SE
- Review Dan’s PR #1191
- Check the Sentry spike on /checkout
- Update 3-D Secure test cardsWaiting · QA wiki access
Your status, not the ticket’s
Kotsu never changes Jira. The board keeps the team’s statuses and process; focus, queue and waiting are your working view of them — you know what’s next without moving a card.
Nothing to connect
No integration, API tokens or admin approval. Kotsu reads the title and address of the tab you are on — only when you press Add task.
Any site with a link
Jira, Linear, GitHub, Slack, Gmail, Notion, Figma, Sentry, a doc or a log line — if it has a URL, it can be a task. One click on the task takes you back to it.
Everything a developer juggles, in one narrow panel
The team board tracks tickets. Your day is pings, reviews, meetings and context switches. Kotsu keeps that day next to whatever you’re working in — and remembers it for the standup.
Your queue
Your plan, not just the team board
The sprint board shows one ticket on you; your day has ten asks. Keep the small stuff too small for Jira — reviews, replies, checks — in your own queue, in your order, each with its Slack, Gmail or GitHub link.
Waiting
Blocked isn’t broken
Waiting on a PR approve, design or QA is normal. Park the task with a reason, move on, and pick it up the moment it unblocks — the PR link is right there. A gentle nudge only when the pile grows.
Capture
That Slack ask? Now it’s a task
Hit “Add task” on any tab — Slack, Gmail, Jira, GitHub — and Kotsu fills in the link from the page you are on. Two seconds, and the ask from chat is not lost in the scroll.
Daily standup
Standup in 10 seconds
What did I do yesterday? Your day log already knows. Kotsu groups everything done, picked up and waiting since the last standup into a ready answer — copy it into the Slack thread and go.
Meetings
Your next meeting, always in sight
A countdown to the next call, a Join button five minutes before, and today’s agenda with the focus windows between meetings — so you know whether there is time to start something big. Google Calendar, read-only.
Hover a benefit to see it in the panel.
Sprint progress on view
Sprint goal, days left, and markers for testing day and release — so the end of the sprint never sneaks up.
A day log that writes itself
Every status change lands in the log with a time. Add a one-line note when something happens; it shows up in the standup.
Notes for the retro
Jot decisions and pains into sprint notes as they happen. Finish sprint packs them, with the work you closed, into a sealed look-back.
Privacy by design
Your work stays in your browser
Task names, ticket links, standup notes — work data is sensitive. Kotsu has no backend at all, so there is nothing to leak, sell or breach.
Read the privacy policyNo Kotsu servers
There is no backend to send anything to. Your tasks, notes and day log never reach us.
Stored in your browser
Everything lives in Chrome’s extension storage. If Chrome sync is on, Chrome syncs it through your own Google account — not ours.
Calendar is read-only
Google Calendar is read directly from your browser with a read-only permission. Kotsu can’t change or share your events.
No account, no tracking
No sign-up, no analytics on your work. A page is read only when you add a task from it.
Set up in a minute
- 01
Add Kotsu to Chrome
Free, from the Chrome Web Store. No account to create.
- 02
Open the side panel
Ctrl+Shift+S (⌘⇧S on Mac) or the cat in the toolbar. Pin your sprint dates and goal.
- 03
Work, then standup in seconds
Focus, queue, park, capture — the day log fills itself and writes your standup.
Not sure yet? — a real Kotsu panel on a sample sprint, right in this page.
Questions
How do I prepare for the daily standup quickly?
Keep a running log instead of reconstructing the day from memory. Kotsu records every task you finish, pick up or park as waiting, plus one-line notes, and turns everything since your last standup into a ready answer: done, in progress, waiting. Copy it into the Slack thread in about ten seconds.
Does Kotsu sync with Jira?
No — on purpose. Kotsu is your working view of the sprint, not an integration: it never creates, updates or moves tickets, and your statuses in Kotsu (focus, queue, waiting, done) are yours alone. A Jira ticket is just one kind of link you can turn into a task, like a Slack thread or a pull request. If you open a Jira board, Kotsu can read the sprint dates from it to fill in your sprint — that is all.
How do I keep track of my own priorities in a team sprint?
Keep the team board for the team and a queue for yourself. In Kotsu, anything with a URL becomes a task — Jira or Linear tickets, GitHub pull requests, Slack asks, emails, Figma files, Sentry issues — so the reviews and replies that never reach the board sit next to your tickets, in your order, with what you are waiting on. Nothing to connect and no admin to ask; the team’s process stays as it is.
Does Kotsu send my data anywhere?
There is no Kotsu server, so your tasks, notes and log never reach us. Data is stored with chrome.storage in your browser; if Chrome sync is on, Chrome syncs it through your own Google account. Google Calendar is read with a read-only permission directly from your browser. No account, no tracking of your tasks.
Does it work with Google Calendar?
Yes. Sign in once and Kotsu shows how long until your next meeting, a Join button five minutes before it starts, and today’s agenda with the focus windows between calls. Access is read-only.
Can I add tasks from Slack, Gmail or GitHub?
Open the page with the ask and press “Add task”: Kotsu fills in the link and the source from the current tab. Opening the task later switches to the tab if it is already open instead of creating a duplicate.
Is Kotsu free?
Yes. Kotsu is a free Chrome extension. Install it from the Chrome Web Store and open it with Ctrl+Shift+S (⌘⇧S on Mac).
What does “Kotsu” mean?
Kotsu (コツ) is Japanese for the knack of doing something well; kotsu-kotsu means “steadily, bit by bit”. That is the idea: calm, steady work, one task at a time.
Calm, steady sprints. Bit by bit.
Kotsu is free. Install it, press ⌘⇧S, and tomorrow’s standup is already half written.