openproject-mcp

An MCP server over the OpenProject APIv3 — work packages, comments, time entries, users, and activities. Zero dependencies, stdio transport, one file.

Why this exists

OpenProject ships its own MCP server as of 17.2, but it is an Enterprise add-on (Professional, Premium, Corporate) and is read-only: "Right now OpenProject only offers read-only tools." That rules it out for the job this server does, which is creating and updating work packages.

The community alternatives were surveyed before writing this:

None combined comments with time entries, and all three carry immaturity warnings. Hence 13 tools, tightly scoped, no delete tools at all.

Related MCP server: OpenProject MCP Server

Tools

Read — op_list_projects, op_list_work_packages, op_get_work_package, op_list_types, op_list_statuses, op_list_time_entry_activities, op_list_time_entries, op_list_users, op_list_activities

Write — op_create_work_package, op_update_work_package, op_comment_work_package, op_log_time

Lists stay slim — id, subject, status, and the like. op_get_work_package is the one that is genuinely full: description, custom fields, priority, version, the spentTime/estimatedTime/remainingTime aggregates, and createdAt.

op_list_projects and op_list_work_packages page via pageSize (capped at 200) and offset, returning total/offset/limit; op_list_time_entries takes pageSize too. On op_list_work_packages, project: "all" searches across every project even when OPENPROJECT_PROJECT_ID is set.

op_list_users exists to resolve assignee ids — they feed the assignee argument of create/update. op_list_activities reads comments back, the read-your-comments counterpart to op_comment_work_package.

Writes default to notify=false — op_log_time doesn't even expose the flag — so bulk agent activity does not email the whole project. op_update_work_package fetches lockVersion itself, so a concurrent edit fails loudly instead of silently overwriting; parent: null on an update clears the parent link. Arguments are validated up front: ids must be positive integers, dates must be YYYY-MM-DD, and unknown statuses/activities/ids fail with messages that name the offending value.

Configuration

Resolution order:

1. OPENPROJECT_ENV_FILE — path to a .env to read OPENPROJECT_* from. Values in an explicitly named .env win over the ambient environment. Deliberate: a stale exported OPENPROJECT_API_KEY silently shadowing a freshly rotated one in .env cost hours of debugging — the API reports it as 401 You did not provide the correct credentials, indistinguishable from a bad key. Naming a file is a deliberate act; an inherited variable usually is not.

2. OPENPROJECT_URL (or OPENPROJECT_BASE_URL) + OPENPROJECT_API_KEY + OPENPROJECT_PROJECT_ID from the environment

3. ~/.config/openproject-mcp/config.json — {"url": "...", "apiKey": "...", "defaultProject": "..."} (consulted only when a URL or key is still missing)

OPENPROJECT_PROJECT_ID sets the default project, so most calls need no project argument.

Auth is HTTP Basic with the literal username apikey and the key as password. The key is never written to stdout, stderr, or any tool result — and the URL must be https (plain http is rejected unless the host is localhost or 127.0.0.1), because the key must not travel in the clear.

OPENPROJECT_TIMEOUT_MS sets the per-request timeout (default 30000). Transient failures (429, 502, 503, 504) are retried twice with backoff, honoring Retry-After — GETs only; writes are never retried, so a timed-out create is not silently replayed.

.env and config.json should be chmod 600 — the server warns on stderr when either is readable by others. An unreadable or missing OPENPROJECT_ENV_FILE prints a stderr warning and falls through to the remaining sources instead of failing silently.

Install

Requires Node.js ≥ 18. The server is a single self-contained file with no dependencies — no build step, nothing to compile. Install it in one line, then register it with your client below.

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DDeluca06/openproject-mcp/master/scripts/install.sh | bash

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://raw.githubusercontent.com/DDeluca06/openproject-mcp/master/scripts/install.ps1 | iex

Both download server.mjs into ~/.local/bin (Windows adds an openproject-mcp.cmd shim, since shebangs don't work there) and print the next steps. If ~/.local/bin isn't on your PATH (macOS and Windows by default), the installer tells you how to add it:

export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"   # put this line in ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc

GUI-launched apps (VS Code, some terminals) inherit a minimal PATH — if your client can't find openproject-mcp, use the absolute path the installer printed.

Alternative (npm, all three platforms) — installs the same one file with a proper bin entry:

npm install -g --allow-remote https://github.com/DDeluca06/openproject-mcp/tarball/master

--allow-remote is required on npm ≥ 12, which blocks GitHub tarballs by default; older npm versions ignore the flag.

Either way, verify the server starts: openproject-mcp should run and wait on stdin.

Claude Code

claude mcp add openproject -s user \
  -e OPENPROJECT_URL=https://projects.example.com \
  -e OPENPROJECT_PROJECT_ID=your-project-identifier \
  -e OPENPROJECT_ENV_FILE=/path/to/.env \
  -- openproject-mcp

The snippet sets both OPENPROJECT_URL and OPENPROJECT_ENV_FILE; if the .env also holds OPENPROJECT_URL, the -e value is ignored — deliberate, so a freshly rotated .env key wins.

OpenCode

In ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json, under the top-level mcp key — not nested under mcp.servers, which fails schema validation and silently disables every server in the file:

{
  "mcp": {
    "openproject": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["openproject-mcp"],
      "enabled": true,
      "environment": {
        "OPENPROJECT_URL": "https://projects.example.com",
        "OPENPROJECT_PROJECT_ID": "your-project-identifier",
        "OPENPROJECT_ENV_FILE": "/path/to/.env"
      }
    }
  }
}

Verify with claude mcp get openproject and opencode mcp list.

Tests

npm test              # mock suite (no credentials needed) + live smoke test
npm test -- --writes  # smoke also creates a real work package, comment, and time entry

npm test runs test/mock.test.mjs (a deterministic fake APIv3 server, 59 checks, no credentials) and then test/smoke.mjs against the live instance; the smoke test self-skips when OPENPROJECT_URL is unset. --writes creates a real work package, comment, and time entry — the work package is clearly marked as a smoke test, then permanently deleted through the APIv3 DELETE endpoint after the run (its time entries go with it). The MCP tool surface itself still has no delete tool — the test cleanup bypasses it on purpose. If the API key lacks the delete permission the deletion is skipped loudly (DELETE 403), and the work package is left closed for manual cleanup; pass --keep to always leave the records in place.

APIv3 quirks this server absorbs

Each of these was found by a failing call, not from the docs:

• A parentless work package still returns parent: {href: null} rather than omitting the link, so naive parent.href.split() throws.

• time_entries rejects a project identifier and demands the numeric id, unlike the work_packages endpoints which take either. Resolved and cached internally.

• The work-package filter on time_entries is entity, not work_package — the resource was generalised to attach to meetings too, and the old filter name no longer exists.

• TimeEntriesActivity has no collection endpoint. The server first asks /api/v3/time_entries/schema for activity.allowedValues; instances that omit it fall back to probing /api/v3/time_entries/activities/{id} in parallel batches of 12, stopping after the first fully-missed batch (capped at id 120). The set is cached for 30 minutes. That plural /time_entries/activities/{id} path is an undocumented alias — it works, but it is not in the API docs.

• hours is an ISO-8601 duration (PT1H30M; day components like P1DT2H parse too). op_log_time accepts decimal hours and converts; reads return both forms plus a decimal total. A duration that will not parse comes back as hoursDecimal: null with a parseWarnings count in op_list_time_entries — not silently as 0.

• op_log_time's default spentOn is the local calendar date, not UTC — "today" in the server's timezone.

• Time entries are always attributed to the API key's own user. OpenProject makes that field read-only, so time cannot be logged on someone else's behalf.