redmine-mcp-server

# Redmine MCP Server

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A local MCP server for accessing a corporate Redmine instance. By default the server is fully
read-only; an optional flag enables a limited set of write operations for issues and time entries.
It lets AI agents (Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, etc.) work with issues, projects,
members, versions, wiki, attachments, time entries, and reference data.

## Quick Start

This documentation covers installing and connecting Redmine MCP Server itself. Installing and
configuring the AI clients themselves is out of scope here.

1. Install JDK 25+.
2. Download `redmine-mcp-server.jar` from the [latest release](https://github.com/igorolv/redmine-mcp-server/releases/latest),
   or build it yourself: `./gradlew bootJar` (see [Build](#build)). A [Docker image](#docker) is
   published as well.
3. Obtain `REDMINE_URL` and `REDMINE_API_KEY` (see [Configuration](#configuration)).
4. Verify that the JAR starts (see [Smoke Test](#smoke-test)).
5. Add the JAR to your client's MCP configuration (see [Connecting to an AI Client](#connecting-to-an-ai-client)).

For Claude Code that is one command:

```bash
claude mcp add --scope user -e REDMINE_URL=https://redmine.example.com -e REDMINE_API_KEY=your_key -- redmine java -jar /path/to/redmine-mcp-server.jar
```

## Architecture

The server supports only the `stdio` transport.

### Stdio

```
┌─────────────┐     stdio      ┌──────────────────┐    REST API    ┌──────────┐
│  AI agent   │ <------------> │  redmine-mcp-    │ -------------> │ Redmine  │
│ (Claude Code│   stdin/stdout │  server (Java)   │   HTTP + API   │ (corp.)  │
│  Cursor...) │                │                  │   Key          │          │
└─────────────┘                └──────────────────┘                └──────────┘
```

The AI client launches the server as a child process; communication follows the MCP protocol
over stdin/stdout.

## Tools

By default the server exports **32 read-only MCP tools**. When
`REDMINE_MCP_WRITE_ENABLED=true` is set, 7 more write tools are added.

### User

| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| `getCurrentUser` | Current user: ID, login, groups, projects. Useful for "my issues" filtering |

### Projects

| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| `listProjects` | List of all accessible projects |
| `getProject` | Project details: trackers, modules, description |
| `listProjectMembers` | Project members with roles |
| `listVersions` | Project versions (milestones) |

### Issues

| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| `listIssues` | Issue list with filters: project, status, tracker, assignee, priority, version, saved query, custom fields (`customFieldFilters` in `cf_<id>=value` format), sorting |
| `searchIssues` | Full-text issue search with detailed results |
| `getIssue` | Issue details: description, status, assignee, dates, notes, relations, custom fields, attachments, linked revisions (`changesets`). Parameters: `issueId`, `focus` (`default`, `implementation`, `timeline`, `full`; optional) |
| `getIssueJournal` | A single complete issue journal note/event without response compression. Parameters: `issueId`, `journalId` |
| `getMyIssues` | Issues of the current user. Parameters: `projectId`, `statusId`, `sort`, `limit`, `offset` |
| `getIssueTree` | Dependency tree: parent chain upward, subtasks downward, relations. Parameters: `issueId`, `depth` (default 2, max 5) |

### Issue, Time Entry, and Wiki Writes (optional)

These tools appear in `tools/list` only when `REDMINE_MCP_WRITE_ENABLED=true`:

| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| `createIssue` | Creates an issue. Supports core Redmine fields and custom fields via `customFieldsJson` |
| `updateIssue` | Partially updates the specified fields of an existing issue |
| `addIssueNote` | Adds a note to the issue journal |
| `attachFileToIssue` | Uploads a file from any readable local path and attaches it to the issue |
| `createTimeEntry` | Creates a time entry for the user from `REDMINE_API_KEY`; accepts exactly one of `issueId`/`projectId`, hours, date, activity, comment, and custom fields |
| `createWikiPage` | Creates a wiki page and rejects the request if the page already exists |
| `updateWikiPage` | Fully replaces the wiki page text, requiring the optimistic-lock version returned by `getWikiPage` |

Redmine itself enforces the permissions, workflow, and required-field rules of the `REDMINE_API_KEY`
user. The MCP server introduces no additional model of "own" issues or notes. To make AI changes
recognizable, created-issue descriptions, updated descriptions, new notes, and time-entry comments
are prefixed with `AI_EDIT:`. For wiki pages this prefix goes into the revision comment,
without changing the page markup. Uploaded file names are prefixed with `AI_EDIT__`.

Editing and deleting existing notes is not implemented: the targeted Redmine 4.0.4
does not provide a compatible REST API for it. Editing and deleting time entries; deleting,
renaming, and protecting wiki pages; and creating time entries on behalf of another user are
outside the current operation set.

### Search

| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| `searchAll` | Global Redmine search: issues, wiki, news, documents, commits, etc. Parameters: `searchQuery`, `projectId`, `types`, `limit`, `offset` |

### Attachments and Wiki

| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| `getAttachment` | Downloads the original attachment file into a local snapshot directory, returns `localPath`/`fileUri`, and immediately adds text context to `parts[]` if the format is supported: txt/log/xml/json/csv, PDF, Word (.docx), Excel (.xlsx), PowerPoint (.pptx), ZIP. A ZIP may yield a separate part per entry. Parameters: `issueId`, `attachmentId`, `maxChars`, `partLimit` |
| `getWikiPage` | Content of a project wiki page |
| `listWikiPages` | List of all wiki pages of a project |
| `searchWikiPages` | Full-text search across wiki pages. Parameters: `searchQuery`, `projectId`, `limit`, `offset` |

### Time Entries

| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| `listTimeEntries` | Logged time with filters: project, issue, user, period |
| `getMyTimeEntries` | Logged time of the current user. Parameters: `projectId`, `issueId`, `from`, `to`, `limit`, `offset` |

### Reference Data

| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| `listQueries` | Saved queries (custom filters) — ID + name. Use the ID with `listIssues(queryId)` to apply the filter, including custom-field filters |
| `listStatuses` | All issue statuses (ID + name) — for filtering in `listIssues` |
| `listTrackers` | All trackers (ID + name) — for filtering in `listIssues` |
| `listPriorities` | All priorities (ID + name) — for filtering in `listIssues` |
| `listIssueCategories` | Issue categories of a project (ID + name) |
| `listTimeEntryActivities` | Activity types for interpreting existing time entries (ID + name) |

### Analytics

| Tool | Description |
|---|---|
| `getProjectSummary` | Aggregated project summary: overall open/closed count; analyzed open issues broken down by status, tracker, priority, assignee; overdue issues; estimated/spent hours. Analyzes up to 500 open issues and returns a truncation flag. Parameters: `projectId`, `versionId` (optional) |
| `getUserWorkload` | Workload analysis: open issues by project and priority, overdue issues, top issues. Analyzes up to 500 open issues and returns a truncation flag. Parameters: `userId` (optional, defaults to current user), `projectId` (optional) |
| `getVersionChangelog` | Version issues grouped by tracker, open/closed statistics. Analyzes up to 500 issues and returns a truncation flag. Parameters: `projectId`, `versionId` |
| `getBlockerChain` | Recursive traversal of the blocking chain (blocks/blocked_by) upward and downward, limited to depth 10 and 30 loaded issues. Parameters: `issueId` |
| `getStaleIssues` | Open issues not updated for N days, oldest first. Parameters: `projectId`, `daysSinceUpdate` (default 30), `limit` |
| `getReleaseRisks` | Release risk assessment: blockers, overdue items, high-priority issues, unassigned issues. Analyzes up to 500 open issues and returns a truncation flag. Parameters: `projectId`, `versionId` |
| `compareVersions` | Compares two versions: unique issues, shared issues, closure percentage. Analyzes up to 500 issues per version and returns a truncation flag. Parameters: `projectId`, `versionId1`, `versionId2` |

Without `REDMINE_MCP_WRITE_ENABLED=true` all tools are read-only and no data in Redmine is modified.

### Tool Groups (enable/disable)

Tools are grouped by domain, and each group can be disabled via an environment variable.
All groups are enabled by default — the out-of-the-box tool manifest is unchanged. Disabling
groups shrinks the MCP `tools/list` manifest that the client loads into model context at session
start. This helps small-context (local) models: disable unneeded groups so only the tools the
model actually needs remain.

| Variable | Group (tools) |
|---|---|
| `REDMINE_MCP_TOOLS_ISSUE` | Issues (core): `listIssues`, `searchIssues`, `getIssue`, `getMyIssues`, `getIssueJournal` |
| `REDMINE_MCP_TOOLS_ISSUE_STRUCTURE` | Issue structure/history: `getIssueTree`, `getIssueHistory` |
| `REDMINE_MCP