OpenProject CE MCP Server

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List projects

list_projects

Read-onlyIdempotent

Retrieve OpenProject projects page by page to resolve a project name into the id or identifier other tools require, enumerate a parent's direct sub-projects, or filter by active, search, or phase.

Instructions

List projects, filtered server-side, one page at a time.

Use this to turn a project name into the id or identifier that every other tool consumes, to enumerate the sub-projects of a parent, or to review which projects are off track. It is the id-producing path for every project_id parameter in this server.

Returns the standard list envelope: items of {id, identifier, name, active, public, parent, status_code, workspace_type} plus pagination with total/page/page_size/has_more. Nothing is truncated silently — page explicitly until has_more is false.

Pitfalls: search matches name and identifier only (not descriptions); parent_id returns direct children, so a deep hierarchy needs one call per level; status_code is a code such as on_track, never a translated label. On OpenProject 17.x this listing deliberately mixes plain projects with programs and portfolios — workspace_type says which each row is. in_phase tests phase dates ("which projects are in Executing today"), so projects whose phases carry no dates never match it.

For a single project's description and status explanation use get_project. For the types, versions, categories and time-entry activities valid inside a project use get_project_metadata. To list a project's work packages use list_work_packages(project=...).

Input Schema

Name	Required	Description
`page`	No	1-based page number.
`active`	No	true (default) lists active projects, false lists only archived ones, null lists both. Archived projects are read-only in OpenProject.
`search`	No	Case-insensitive substring matched against the project name AND its identifier. Descriptions are not searched. Omit to list everything the filters allow.
`sort_by`	No	Server-side sort, e.g. [["name", "asc"], ["created_at", "desc"]]. Allowed keys: active, created_at, id, identifier, name, public, updated_at. Unknown keys are rejected with the allowed set listed.
`in_phase`	No	Restrict to projects whose named phase covers a date (today unless phase_on_date says otherwise). Accepts a definition id or name from list_project_phase_definitions. Requires OpenProject 16.1+.
`fetch_all`	No	Aggregate every page into one result instead of returning page 1. Capped at 500 items with a note when the cap bites; mutually exclusive with page.
`page_size`	No	Records per page (max 100); the instance may clamp it lower and the returned pagination reports what actually came back.
`parent_id`	No	Numeric id or identifier of a parent project; returns its DIRECT children only, not the whole subtree. Ids come from a previous list_projects call.
`phase_on_date`	No	ISO date (YYYY-MM-DD) the in_phase filter should test instead of today. Only valid together with in_phase.
`favorites_only`	No	Restrict to projects the authenticated user has favorited. Instances that predate project favorites reject this filter with a 400.

Output Schema

Name	Required	Description	Default
`sums`	No
`items`	No
`notes`	No
`groups`	No
`pagination`	Yes

Schema Changelog

Changes observed during successful MCP inspections.

Changed45 schema fields changedv0.4.0Oct 24, 2026

changedOutput schema / properties / groups / anyOf

Previous value: -[
-  {
-    "items": {
-      "description": "A server-side group bucket, computed over the full filtered set.",
-      "properties": {
-        "count": {
-          "default": 0,
-          "description": "Records in this group across all pages.",
-          "type": "integer"
-        },
-        "sums": {
-          "anyOf": [
-            {
-              "additionalProperties": {
-                "type": "number"
-              },
-              "type": "object"
-            },
-            {
-              "type": "null"
-            }
-          ],
-          "default": null,
-          "description": "Per-group sums when show_sums was requested."
-        },
-        "value": {
-          "anyOf": [
-            {
-              "type": "string"
-            },
-            {
-              "type": "null"
-            }
-          ],
-          "default": null,
-          "description": "Group value, e.g. a status name."
-        }
-      },
-      "type": "object"
-    },
-    "type": "array"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]New value: +[
+  {
+    "items": {
+      "properties": {
+        "count": {
+          "type": "integer"
+        },
+        "sums": {
+          "anyOf": [
+            {
+              "additionalProperties": {
+                "type": "number"
+              },
+              "type": "object"
+            },
+            {
+              "type": "null"
+            }
+          ]
+        },
+        "value": {
+          "type": [
+            "string",
+            "null"
+          ]
+        }
+      },
+      "type": "object"
+    },
+    "type": "array"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "null"
+  }
+]

removedOutput schema / properties / groups / default
```
Removed value: -null
```

removedOutput schema / properties / groups / description

Removed value: -"Present only when group_by was requested."

removedOutput schema / properties / items / description
```
Removed value: -"The page of results."
```
removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / description
```
Removed value: -"Compact project row for list results."
```

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / active / anyOf

Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "boolean"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / active / default
```
Removed value: -null
```
removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / active / description
```
Removed value: -"False for archived projects (read-only in the UI)."
```
addedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / active / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "boolean",
+  "null"
+]
```

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / id / anyOf

Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "integer"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "string"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / id / default
```
Removed value: -null
```
removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / id / description
```
Removed value: -"Numeric project id; accepted by every project_id parameter."
```
addedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / id / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "integer",
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]
```

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / identifier / anyOf

Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "string"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / identifier / default
```
Removed value: -null
```

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / identifier / description

Removed value: -"URL slug from /projects/<identifier>; also accepted wherever an id is."

addedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / identifier / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]
```

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / name / anyOf

Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "string"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / name / default
```
Removed value: -null
```
removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / name / description
```
Removed value: -"Display name."
```
addedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / name / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]
```

changedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / parent / anyOf

Previous value: -[
-  {
-    "additionalProperties": false,
-    "description": "A reference to another resource. Canonical output shape.",
-    "properties": {
-      "id": {
-        "anyOf": [
-          {
-            "type": "integer"
-          },
-          {
-            "type": "string"
-          },
-          {
-            "type": "null"
-          }
-        ],
-        "default": null,
-        "description": "Resource id."
-      },
-      "name": {
-        "anyOf": [
-          {
-            "type": "string"
-          },
-          {
-            "type": "null"
-          }
-        ],
-        "default": null,
-        "description": "Human-readable name."
-      }
-    },
-    "type": "object"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]New value: +[
+  {
+    "additionalProperties": false,
+    "properties": {
+      "id": {
+        "type": [
+          "integer",
+          "string",
+          "null"
+        ]
+      },
+      "name": {
+        "type": [
+          "string",
+          "null"
+        ]
+      }
+    },
+    "type": "object"
+  },
+  {
+    "type": "null"
+  }
+]

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / parent / default
```
Removed value: -null
```
removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / parent / description
```
Removed value: -"Parent project, when this is a subproject."
```

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / public / anyOf

Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "boolean"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / public / default
```
Removed value: -null
```
removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / public / description
```
Removed value: -"True when visible to users without a membership."
```
addedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / public / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "boolean",
+  "null"
+]
```

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / status_code / anyOf

Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "string"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / status_code / default
```
Removed value: -null
```

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / status_code / description

Removed value: -"Project status code, one of: on_track, at_risk, off_track, not_started, finished, discontinued. A code, never a translated label; null means no status has been set."

addedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / status_code / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]
```
removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / workspace_type / anyOf
```
Removed value: -[
-  {
-    "type": "string"
-  },
-  {
-    "type": "null"
-  }
-]
```
removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / workspace_type / default
```
Removed value: -null
```

removedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / workspace_type / description

Removed value: -"Workspace kind: 'project', 'program' or 'portfolio'. Pre-17 instances only have 'project'; on 17.x project listings mix all three kinds, so check this before treating a row as a plain project."

addedOutput schema / properties / items / items / properties / workspace_type / type
```
Added value: +[
+  "string",
+  "null"
+]
```
removedOutput schema / properties / notes / default
```
Removed value: -null
```

removedOutput schema / properties / notes / description

Removed value: -"Degradation markers: capped aggregations, unavailable modules, …"

removedOutput schema / properties / pagination / description
```
Removed value: -"Total/page/page_size/has_more."
```
removedOutput schema / properties / pagination / properties / has_more / description
```
Removed value: -"True when further pages exist."
```
removedOutput schema / properties / pagination / properties / page / description
```
Removed value: -"1-based page number of this result."
```
removedOutput schema / properties / pagination / properties / page_size / description
```
Removed value: -"Records requested per page."
```
removedOutput schema / properties / pagination / properties / total / description
```
Removed value: -"Total matching records on the server."
```
removedOutput schema / properties / sums / default
```
Removed value: -null
```

removedOutput schema / properties / sums / description

Removed value: -"Present only when show_sums was requested."

First observedv0.1.0Aug 12, 2026

TDQS

A4.2/5.0

Behavior3/5

Does the description disclose side effects, auth requirements, rate limits, or destructive behavior?

Annotations already declare readOnlyHint=true, idempotentHint=true, openWorldHint=true and destructiveHint=false, so the safety profile is covered. The description adds genuinely useful behavior beyond that: the list envelope shape, the explicit pagination/truncation contract ('nothing is truncated silently — page until has_more is false'), the fetch_all cap, and version-specific mixing of programs/portfolios. With annotations doing the safety work, a 3 reflects that the remainder is helpful but partly overlaps the output schema.

Agents need to know what a tool does to the world before calling it. Descriptions should go beyond structured annotations to explain consequences.

Conciseness4/5

Is the description appropriately sized, front-loaded, and free of redundancy?

Front-loaded with the core action and routing in the first line, and the later paragraphs are dense rather than padded. However, the paragraph enumerating the returned envelope fields partly duplicates the output schema, and some pitfalls restate schema text, so it is slightly longer than strictly necessary.

Shorter descriptions cost fewer tokens and are easier for agents to parse. Every sentence should earn its place.

Completeness5/5

Given the tool's complexity, does the description cover enough for an agent to succeed on first attempt?

For a read-only, 10-parameter list tool with full schema coverage and an output schema, this leaves nothing material unexplained: filter scope, pagination behavior, parent-child semantics, version caveats, and alternative tools are all covered. An agent can call it correctly on the first attempt.

Complex tools with many parameters or behaviors need more documentation. Simple tools need less. This dimension scales expectations accordingly.

Parameters3/5

Does the description clarify parameter syntax, constraints, interactions, or defaults beyond what the schema provides?

Schema description coverage is 100%, so every one of the 10 parameters is already documented, which sets the baseline at 3. The description mostly repeats schema facts (search matches name/identifier only, parent_id returns direct children, status_code is a code), with one genuinely additive pitfall: in_phase tests phase dates, so projects whose phases lack dates never match.

Input schemas describe structure but not intent. Descriptions should explain non-obvious parameter relationships and valid value ranges.

Purpose5/5

Does the description clearly state what the tool does and how it differs from similar tools?

States a specific verb and resource (list projects) plus the concrete jobs it serves: resolving names to ids, enumerating sub-projects, and finding off-track projects. It explicitly contrasts itself with get_project, get_project_metadata and list_work_packages, so an agent can distinguish it from siblings without opening a schema.

Agents choose between tools based on descriptions. A clear purpose with a specific verb and resource helps agents select the right tool.

Usage Guidelines5/5

Does the description explain when to use this tool, when not to, or what alternatives exist?

Gives explicit when-to-use guidance ('turn a project name into the id or identifier that every other tool consumes') and names the three alternatives with the conditions that select them. The note that it is the id-producing path for every project_id parameter is a strong routing cue for the whole server.

Agents often have multiple tools that could apply. Explicit usage guidance like "use X instead of Y when Z" prevents misuse.

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