Apps Lookahead: Read-only Gantt for Jira
Lookahead: Read-only Gantt for Jira
Lookahead puts Jira work items on a Gantt timeline, with their hierarchy, "blocks" dependencies and release dates, across one project or many. It can only read your Jira data. It has no permission to create, edit, move or delete anything.
In development. Lookahead is built and running, but it is not on the Atlassian Marketplace yet. This page will link to the listing once it is published.
What it does
Pick one or more projects, a saved Jira filter, or any JQL query. Lookahead draws what that selection contains as a timeline: initiatives, epics, stories and sub-tasks nested under their parents, with bars for the dates they already have in Jira.
Because several projects can sit on one timeline, a dependency between two teams is drawn as a single arrow rather than being split across two boards. Parents that live outside the current selection are still shown, in grey, so the tree stays readable.
Read-only by design
Lookahead asks for read permissions only. There is no write scope, so there are no bulk date resets, no accidental edits and no "updated" timestamps changed by the app. It also runs on Atlassian, with no external network calls, so no Jira data leaves Atlassian's platform.
Why this matters. A planning tool that can rewrite dates is a planning tool that can rewrite them by mistake. Lookahead reads your schedule and shows you what it implies. Changing anything stays a deliberate act you perform in Jira itself.
Where the bars come from
Lookahead does not invent dates. Each bar is built from dates that already exist in Jira, in this order.
| Bar edge | First choice | If that is empty | If that is empty too |
|---|---|---|---|
| Start | Start date field | Start of the item's sprint | Start date of its fix version |
| End | Due date | End of its sprint | Release date of its fix version |
A date borrowed from a sprint or a version is drawn as a light dashed bar, so an inferred schedule never looks like a committed one. Hovering a bar says exactly where each of its dates came from. A parent with no dates of its own spans its children.
Dependencies and conflicts
"Blocks" links are drawn as arrows, including across projects. When work is scheduled to start on or before the day its blocker ends, the arrow turns red and the item is counted as a conflict. The toolbar shows that count, and selecting it filters the timeline down to just the work involved.
This is the part a board cannot show you: a plan can be perfectly reasonable in each project and still impossible once the dependencies between them are lined up on one axis.
Saved views and export
A view stores its source, zoom, grouping, levels, sort and display options. Keep it to yourself or share it with everyone on your site. Shared or not, people only ever see work items they already have permission to see in Jira. Only the person who created a view can change or delete it.
Any view exports to CSV, or to a PNG image of the timeline. Both are produced in your browser and saved to your device. Nothing is uploaded.
Availability
Lookahead is in development. It is a Forge app for Jira Cloud, and it is not yet listed on the Atlassian Marketplace. Jira Server and Data Center are not supported, and there are no plans to support them.
If you would like to hear when it lists, or you want to try it on your own site before then, email hello@dripwork.dev.
Pricing
Lookahead will be a paid app, sold through the Atlassian Marketplace with the free trial the Marketplace provides. Prices are set as part of publishing the listing, so there is no price to quote yet. When the listing goes live, the pricing on it is the authoritative one and this page will point at it.
Billing, trials, invoicing, refunds and cancellation are handled by Atlassian under the Atlassian Marketplace terms. We never take payment on this website.
Data and permissions
Jira data is read in your browser, using your own Jira permissions, and drawn on screen. It is not stored by the app. The only things the app stores are saved views and per-person preferences, held in Forge storage hosted by Atlassian.
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
read:jira-work | Read work items, projects, fields, filters and versions to draw the timeline |
read:jira-user | Show assignee names |
storage:app | Keep saved views and preferences in the app's own storage |
There is no write permission of any kind. The privacy policy sets out the detail.
Known limits
These are stated plainly so you know them before you rely on the app.
- Only "blocks" links are drawn. Other Jira link types, such as "relates to" or "duplicates", are not shown as dependencies.
- Dates are shown, never changed. There is no drag-to-reschedule. To move work, open the item and edit it in Jira.
- 10,000 work items per view. A selection matching more than that asks you to narrow it.
- Icons and avatars are not Jira's images. Work type icons use Atlassian Design System icons, and assignees are shown as initials.
- Items with no dates are not drawn. They are counted in the toolbar and can be listed or shown as empty rows, but there is nothing to place on the timeline.
Support
Lookahead is published by Dripwork. For questions, issues or feedback, email support@dripwork.dev, or see the support page for what to include and answers to common questions.
Atlassian and Jira are trademarks of Atlassian Pty Ltd. Lookahead is an independent app and is not made or endorsed by Atlassian.