Your first scan
The first time you open Synaps, the app walks through every project on your Jira site, finds the issue links between them, and builds the dependency map from scratch. The result is cached, so every subsequent visit is instant.
You do not need to configure anything. Synaps uses your existing Jira data and your existing permissions - if you can browse a project, you can see it on the map.
01. What Synaps looks at
Synaps only touches what it needs to draw the map:
- Cross-project issue links between issues in different projects. These become the lines you see on the canvas - Reading the map covers what each line means and how to interpret it.
- Project metadata - key, name, category, lead, and aggregate issue counts. These become the labels, colours, and tooltips.
Synaps never reads issue descriptions, comments, or attachments. Nothing leaves your Jira instance.
02. How long it takes
For most Jira sites, the first scan finishes in a few seconds. The bigger the site, the longer it takes - dozens of projects with thousands of links are still fine, but a very large enterprise site may take a couple of passes (see below).
The map appears as soon as the scan is done. After that:
- The cached map opens instantly whenever you come back.
- Project details (lead, ticket counts, statuses) refresh quietly in the background while you use the app.
03. Refreshing the map
The map is cached so it loads instantly, but the underlying Jira data evolves. Refresh manually when you want the latest picture.
| Action | What happens |
|---|---|
| Click the Refresh button in the navbar | Synaps re-scans every issue link across the site. |
Press R anywhere on the map | Same, from the keyboard. |
The button is disabled while a scan is already running, so you cannot accidentally queue extra work.
[ADD SCREENSHOT/IMAGE: Close-up of the Synaps navbar with the Refresh button visible, tooltip "Refresh dependencies — R" showing.]
04. Partial results on very large sites
A single scan has a 20-second budget. If your site is so large that Synaps cannot finish in one run, it stops early and saves what it found so far. You will see a small amber "partial" indicator on the right side of the map, with a tooltip suggesting to refresh.
Press R (or click Refresh) again to pick up where the previous scan left off. Most sites finish in one pass.
[ADD SCREENSHOT/IMAGE: Amber "partial" indicator on the right side of the map next to the project + dependency counts, hover tooltip visible suggesting to refresh.]
05. If a scan fails
If Synaps cannot reach Jira or the scan errors out, a red indicator appears with the error message. Whatever you were looking at stays on screen - Synaps does not blank the canvas because of a failed refresh. Click Refresh again to retry.
06. The status panel
The top-right corner of the canvas always shows:
- The project count in the current view.
- The dependency count between those projects.
When a scan fails or returns partial results, the red or amber indicator described above appears next to those counts so you always know how fresh your map is.
[ADD SCREENSHOT/IMAGE: Top-right status panel showing project count and dependency count side by side in a clean, no-indicator state.]