The widget shows the number of tickets assigned to the user (or any other result of a JQL query, see customization section) and when clicked shows them in the list, grouped by the ticket status. Left-click on the item opens the issue in the default browser:
Widget uses cURL to query Jira's [REST API](https://developer.atlassian.com/server/jira/platform/rest-apis/). In order to be authenticated, widget uses a [netrc](https://ec.haxx.se/usingcurl/usingcurl-netrc) feature of the cURL, which is basically to store basic auth credentials in a .netrc file in home folder.
If you are on Atlassian Cloud, then instead of providing a password in netrc file you can set an [API token](https://confluence.atlassian.com/cloud/api-tokens-938839638.html) which is a safer option, as you can revoke/change the token at any time.