Redmine MCP Server

A Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that integrates with Redmine project management systems. This server provides seamless access to Redmine data through MCP tools, enabling AI assistants to interact with your Redmine instance.

mcp-name: io.github.jztan/redmine-mcp-server

Tool reference | Changelog | Contributing | Troubleshooting

Features

• 45 MCP Tools (plus 1 operator tool gated by REDMINE_MCP_EXPOSE_ADMIN_TOOLS=true): Issues, projects, time tracking, wiki, Gantt, file operations, membership management, products, contacts (CRM), DMSF documents, and more
• Flexible Authentication: API key, username/password, or OAuth2 per-user tokens
• Prompt Injection Protection: User-controlled content wrapped in boundary tags for safe LLM consumption
• Read-Only Mode: Restrict to read-only operations via REDMINE_MCP_READ_ONLY environment variable
• HTTP File Serving: Secure attachment access via UUID-based URLs with automatic expiry
• Pagination Support: Efficiently handle large result sets with configurable limits
• MCP Compliant: Full Model Context Protocol support with FastMCP and HTTP transport
• Docker Ready: Complete containerization support

Quick Start

1. Install the package
   bash

   pip install redmine-mcp-server
   

2. Create a .env file with your Redmine credentials (see Installation for template)
3. Start the server
   bash

   redmine-mcp-server
   

4. Add the server to your MCP client using one of the guides in MCP Client Configuration.

Once running, the server listens on http://localhost:8000 with the MCP endpoint at /mcp, health check at /health, and file serving at /files/{file_id}.

Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ (for local installation)
• Docker (alternative deployment, uses Python 3.13)
• Access to a Redmine instance

Install from PyPI (Recommended)

# Install the package
pip install redmine-mcp-server

# Create configuration file .env
cat > .env << 'EOF'
# Redmine connection (required)
REDMINE_URL=https://your-redmine-server.com

# Authentication - Use either API key (recommended) or username/password
REDMINE_API_KEY=your_api_key
# OR use username/password:
# REDMINE_USERNAME=your_username
# REDMINE_PASSWORD=your_password

# Server configuration (optional, defaults shown)
SERVER_HOST=0.0.0.0
SERVER_PORT=8000

# Public URL for file serving (optional)
PUBLIC_HOST=localhost
PUBLIC_PORT=8000

# File management (optional)
ATTACHMENTS_DIR=./attachments
AUTO_CLEANUP_ENABLED=true
CLEANUP_INTERVAL_MINUTES=10
ATTACHMENT_EXPIRES_MINUTES=60
EOF

# Edit .env with your actual Redmine settings
nano .env  # or use your preferred editor

# Run the server
redmine-mcp-server
# Or alternatively:
python -m redmine_mcp_server.main

The server runs on http://localhost:8000 with the MCP endpoint at /mcp, health check at /health, and file serving at /files/{file_id}.

Environment Variables Configuration

* Required when REDMINE_AUTH_MODE=legacy-per-user. † Required when REDMINE_AUTH_MODE=legacy. Either REDMINE_API_KEY or REDMINE_USERNAME+REDMINE_PASSWORD must be set. API key is recommended. ‡ Required when REDMINE_AUTH_MODE=oauth or REDMINE_AUTH_MODE=oauth-proxy. § Required when REDMINE_AUTH_MODE=oauth-proxy. Secret values can also be supplied with Docker/Kubernetes-style file variables: REDMINE_INTROSPECT_CLIENT_SECRET_FILE, REDMINE_MCP_JWT_SIGNING_KEY_FILE, and REDMINE_OAUTH_CLIENT_SECRET_FILE.

When REDMINE_AUTOFILL_REQUIRED_CUSTOM_FIELDS=true, create_redmine_issue retries once on relevant custom-field validation errors (for example <Field Name> cannot be blank or <Field Name> is not included in the list) and fills values only from:

• the Redmine custom field default_value, or
• REDMINE_REQUIRED_CUSTOM_FIELD_DEFAULTS

Example:

REDMINE_AUTOFILL_REQUIRED_CUSTOM_FIELDS=true
REDMINE_REQUIRED_CUSTOM_FIELD_DEFAULTS='{"Required Field A":"Value A","Required Field B":"Value B"}'

SSL Certificate Configuration

Configure SSL certificate handling for Redmine servers with self-signed certificates or internal CA infrastructure.

If your Redmine server uses a self-signed certificate or internal CA:

# In .env file
REDMINE_URL=https://redmine.company.com
REDMINE_API_KEY=your_api_key
REDMINE_SSL_CERT=/path/to/ca-certificate.crt

Supported certificate formats: .pem, .crt, .cer

For environments requiring client certificate authentication:

# In .env file
REDMINE_URL=https://secure.redmine.com
REDMINE_API_KEY=your_api_key
REDMINE_SSL_CERT=/path/to/ca-bundle.pem
REDMINE_SSL_CLIENT_CERT=/path/to/cert.pem,/path/to/key.pem

Note: Private keys must be unencrypted (Python requests library requirement).

⚠️ WARNING: Only use in development/testing environments!

# In .env file
REDMINE_SSL_VERIFY=false

Disabling SSL verification makes your connection vulnerable to man-in-the-middle attacks.

For SSL troubleshooting, see the Troubleshooting Guide.

Authentication

The server supports four authentication modes, selected via REDMINE_AUTH_MODE. It defaults to legacy, so existing deployments keep working with no changes; OAuth2 support is purely additive.

The advanced modes are collapsed below. For full setup, the OAuth2 Setup Guide covers oauth and oauth-proxy, and the legacy-per-user guide covers legacy-per-user.

Legacy mode (default)

A single shared credential (API key or username/password) configured once in .env. Every request to Redmine uses the same identity.

REDMINE_AUTH_MODE=legacy        # or omit entirely; this is the default
REDMINE_URL=https://redmine.example.com
REDMINE_API_KEY=your_api_key
# OR:
# REDMINE_USERNAME=your_username
# REDMINE_PASSWORD=your_password

Each MCP request carries its own Authorization: Bearer <token>, so every user authenticates with their own Redmine account. The server validates each token against Doorkeeper's introspection endpoint before forwarding it, and exposes the OAuth2 discovery and /revoke endpoints clients need.

REDMINE_AUTH_MODE=oauth
REDMINE_URL=https://redmine.example.com
REDMINE_MCP_BASE_URL=https://redmine-mcp.example.com   # public URL of this server

# Confidential OAuth app registered in Redmine admin (see setup guide)
REDMINE_INTROSPECT_CLIENT_ID=...
REDMINE_INTROSPECT_CLIENT_SECRET=...

You register the OAuth app manually in Redmine admin → Applications (no Dynamic Client Registration). Full walkthrough, endpoint reference, and troubleshooting: OAuth2 Setup Guide.

FastMCP acts as the MCP-facing authorization server: it handles DCR for MCP clients, then redirects users to Redmine as the upstream OAuth provider for consent. Use this when clients (e.g. Claude Desktop, VS Code) expect to register themselves.

REDMINE_AUTH_MODE=oauth-proxy
REDMINE_URL=https://redmine.example.com
REDMINE_MCP_BASE_URL=https://redmine-mcp.example.com   # public URL of this server

# Confidential OAuth app registered in Redmine admin (see setup guide)
REDMINE_INTROSPECT_CLIENT_ID=...
REDMINE_INTROSPECT_CLIENT_SECRET=...
REDMINE_MCP_JWT_SIGNING_KEY=...

The upstream Redmine app must register ${REDMINE_MCP_BASE_URL}/auth/callback as its redirect URI. Storage, scaling, and credential-reuse notes are in the OAuth2 Setup Guide.

For Redmine instances too old for OAuth, each user's MCP client sends its own Redmine API key in an X-Redmine-API-Key header. Each request runs as that user's identity with that user's permissions.

This is an advanced, opt-in mode. It requires TLS end-to-end and a correctly configured reverse proxy. Read docs/legacy-per-user-auth.md for the threat model, firewall guidance, and revocation runbook before enabling it.

mcp-remote (recommended):

{ "mcpServers": { "redmine": {
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://your-host/mcp",
           "--header", "X-Redmine-API-Key:${RM_KEY}"],
  "env": { "RM_KEY": "<your redmine api key>" }
}}}

Note the colon with no surrounding spaces in X-Redmine-API-Key:${RM_KEY} -- this avoids an arg-escaping bug in Cursor and Claude Desktop on Windows.

VS Code (mcp.json):

Use .vscode/mcp.json (workspace file) or the user profile mcp.json. The workspace .mcp.json silently drops headers (see microsoft/vscode#319528), so do not use that file. Pin VS Code 1.102 or newer.

{
  "servers": {
    "redmine": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://your-host/mcp",
      "headers": { "X-Redmine-API-Key": "${input:rmKey}" },
      "inputs": [{ "id": "rmKey", "type": "promptString",
                   "description": "Redmine API key", "password": true }]
    }
  }
}

Unsupported: any client that cannot set a custom request header, or that reserves the Authorization header for its own OAuth flow.

MCP Client Configuration

The server exposes an HTTP endpoint at http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp. Register it with your preferred MCP-compatible agent using the instructions below.

The examples below assume legacy or oauth mode. In legacy-per-user mode each client must also send an X-Redmine-API-Key header; see legacy-per-user mode above for header-aware configs.

VS Code has built-in MCP support via GitHub Copilot (requires VS Code 1.102+).

Using CLI (Quickest):

code --add-mcp '{"name":"redmine","type":"http","url":"http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp"}'

Using Command Palette:

1. Open Command Palette (Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+P)
2. Run MCP: Open User Configuration (for global) or MCP: Open Workspace Folder Configuration (for project-specific)
3. Add the configuration:
   json

   {
     "servers": {
       "redmine": {
         "type": "http",
         "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp"
       }
     }
   }
   

4. Save the file. VS Code will automatically load the MCP server.

Manual Configuration: Create .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace (or mcp.json in your user profile directory):

{
  "servers": {
    "redmine": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add to Claude Code using the CLI command:

claude mcp add --transport http redmine http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp

Or configure manually in your Claude Code settings file (~/.claude.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "redmine": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop's config file supports stdio transport only. Use FastMCP's proxy via uv to bridge to this HTTP server.

Setup:

1. Open Claude Desktop
2. Click the Claude menu (macOS menu bar / Windows title bar) > Settings...
3. Click the Developer tab > Edit Config
4. Add the following configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "redmine": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--with", "fastmcp",
        "fastmcp",
        "run",
        "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

5. Save the file, then fully quit and restart Claude Desktop
6. Look for the tools icon in the input area to verify the connection

Config file locations:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Note: The Redmine MCP server must be running before starting Claude Desktop.

Add to Codex CLI using the command:

codex mcp add redmine -- npx -y mcp-client-http http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp

Or configure manually in ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.redmine]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "mcp-client-http", "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp"]

Note: Codex CLI primarily supports stdio-based MCP servers. The above uses mcp-client-http as a bridge for HTTP transport.

Kiro primarily supports stdio-based MCP servers. For HTTP servers, use an HTTP-to-stdio bridge:

1. Create or edit .kiro/settings/mcp.json in your workspace:
   json

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "redmine": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": [
           "-y",
           "mcp-client-http",
           "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp"
         ],
         "disabled": false
       }
     }
   }
   

2. Save the file and restart Kiro. The Redmine tools will appear in the MCP panel.

Note: Direct HTTP transport support in Kiro is limited. The above configuration uses mcp-client-http as a bridge to connect to HTTP MCP servers.

Most MCP clients use a standard configuration format. For HTTP servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "redmine": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

For clients that require a command-based approach with HTTP bridge:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "redmine": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-client-http", "http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Testing Your Setup

# Test connection by checking health endpoint
curl http://localhost:8000/health

Available Tools

This MCP server provides 45 tools for interacting with Redmine (plus 1 operator tool exposed by REDMINE_MCP_EXPOSE_ADMIN_TOOLS=true, and 5 plugin-gated tools that opt in via env vars, for a maximum of 46 when all enabled). For full documentation of every tool, see the Tool Reference.

Core tools (40, always available): Project Management (9), Issue Operations (13), Time Tracking (4), Discovery / Enumeration (6), Search & Wiki (2), File Operations (4), Gantt (1), Meta (1).

Plugin-gated tools (5, opt in via env var): Checklists (2), Products (1), Contacts / CRM (1), Documents / DMSF (1). Each requires the matching Redmine plugin installed and its env flag set; they stay hidden from tools/list otherwise.

Operator tools (1, admin-gated): cleanup_attachment_files, registered only when REDMINE_MCP_EXPOSE_ADMIN_TOOLS=true.

Core tools (40, always available)

These tools require only a Redmine instance and credentials — no extra plugins or feature flags.

• Project Management (9 tools)

  • list_redmine_projects - List all accessible projects
  • list_project_issue_custom_fields - List issue custom fields configured for a project
  • list_redmine_versions - List versions/milestones for a project
  • manage_redmine_version - Create, update, or delete a version/milestone
  • list_project_members - List members and roles of a project
  • summarize_project_status - Get comprehensive project status summary
  • list_redmine_roles - List all roles defined in the Redmine instance (for discovering valid role_ids)
  • get_project_modules - Retrieve the enabled modules for a project
  • manage_project_member - Add, update, or remove a project membership

• Issue Operations (13 tools)

  • get_redmine_issue - Retrieve detailed issue information (supports journal pagination, watchers, relations, children)
  • list_redmine_issues - List issues with flexible filtering (project, status, assignee, etc.)
  • search_redmine_issues - Search issues by text query
  • create_redmine_issue - Create new issues, with optional file attachments via the uploads parameter
  • update_redmine_issue - Update existing issues, with optional file attachments via the uploads parameter (combine with notes to attach files to a journal note)
  • delete_redmine_issue - Hard-delete an issue with required confirmation flags and a cascade-impact preview before irreversible deletion.
  • copy_issue - Duplicate an existing issue with optional field overrides
  • list_subtasks - List subtasks (child issues) of a given parent
  • get_private_notes - Retrieve private notes on an issue
  • manage_issue_relation - List, create, or delete issue relations
  • manage_issue_watcher - Add or remove a watcher on an issue
  • manage_issue_note - Edit a journal note's text or toggle its privacy
  • manage_issue_category - List, create, update, or delete issue categories
  • Note: get_redmine_issue can include custom_fields and update_redmine_issue can update custom fields by name (for example {"size": "S"}).

• Time Tracking (4 tools)

  • list_time_entries - List time entries with filtering by project, issue, user, and date range
  • manage_time_entry - Create or update a time entry (use user_id to log on behalf of another user)
  • list_time_entry_activities - Discover available activity types for time entries
  • import_time_entries - Bulk import time entries via sequential API calls with per-entry error reporting

• Discovery / Enumeration (6 tools): help LLMs find valid IDs before calling create/update tools

  • list_redmine_trackers - List all trackers (Bug, Feature, Support, etc.)
  • list_redmine_issue_statuses - List all issue statuses with their is_closed flag
  • list_redmine_issue_priorities - List all priority levels
  • list_redmine_users - Filter/list users (admin-only; supports name and group filters)
  • get_current_user - Get the authenticated user's profile (works for non-admins)
  • list_redmine_queries - List saved custom queries (read-only)

• Search & Wiki (2 tools)

  • search_entire_redmine - Global search across issues and wiki pages (Redmine 3.3.0+)
  • manage_redmine_wiki_page - List, get, create, update, delete, or rename wiki pages

• File Operations (4 tools)

  • list_files - List files uploaded to a project's Files section
  • upload_file - Upload a new file to a project (from base64 content, a URL, or a server-side file_path), optionally tied to a version
  • delete_file - Delete a file from a project
  • get_redmine_attachment - Download an attachment (works in both HTTP and stdio mode)

• Gantt (1 tool)

  • get_gantt_chart - Retrieve project timeline data: issues with dates, dependencies, and milestones

• Meta (1 tool)

  • get_mcp_server_info - Report server version, auth mode, read-only state, the authenticated user (current_user), and which plugin-gated tool families are enabled. Use to detect deployment lag before relying on a recently-shipped fix, or to confirm who assigned_to_id="me" resolves to.

Plugin-gated tools (5, opt in via env var)

These tools require a corresponding Redmine plugin installed on the server and the matching environment variable set to true on the MCP server. They stay completely hidden from tools/list when their flag is unset.

• Checklists (2 tools) — set REDMINE_CHECKLISTS_ENABLED=true; requires the RedmineUP Checklists Pro plugin

  • get_checklist - Retrieve all checklist items for an issue
  • update_checklist_item - Update a checklist item's text, done state, or position

• Products (1 tool) — set REDMINE_PRODUCTS_ENABLED=true; requires the RedmineUP Products plugin

  • manage_product - List, get, create, or update products

• Contacts (CRM) (1 tool) — set REDMINE_CRM_ENABLED=true; requires the RedmineUP CRM plugin

  • manage_contact - List, get, create, update, delete, or assign/remove project association for contacts

• Documents (DMSF) (1 tool) — set REDMINE_DMSF_ENABLED=true; requires the redmine_dmsf plugin

  • manage_document - List, get, create (upload), or update (new revision) DMSF documents

Operator tools (1, admin-gated)

Hidden from tools/list by default. Set REDMINE_MCP_EXPOSE_ADMIN_TOOLS=true to register them on the MCP surface. The underlying background tasks run regardless of this flag — exposing them only adds the option to drive them through MCP.

• cleanup_attachment_files - Manually trigger cleanup of expired attachment files (the background cleanup task runs automatically regardless)

Docker Deployment

Quick Start with Docker

# Configure environment
cp .env.docker.example .env.docker
# Edit .env.docker with your Redmine settings

# Run with docker-compose
docker-compose up --build

# Or run directly
docker build -t redmine-mcp-server .
docker run -p 8000:8000 --env-file .env.docker redmine-mcp-server

Use the Published Image

Prebuilt multi-architecture images (linux/amd64, linux/arm64) are published to the GitHub Container Registry on each release, so you can run the server without building it yourself:

docker pull ghcr.io/jztan/redmine-mcp-server:latest
docker run -p 8000:8000 --env-file .env.docker ghcr.io/jztan/redmine-mcp-server:latest

Pin to an exact version (e.g. ghcr.io/jztan/redmine-mcp-server:2.2.0) or track a minor series (e.g. :2.2). Published images are available starting from the next release.

Production Deployment

Use the automated deployment script:

chmod +x deploy.sh
./deploy.sh

Troubleshooting

If you run into any issues, checkout our troubleshooting guide.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please see our contributing guide for details.

Contributors

Thank you to everyone who has helped improve this project through code, reviews, testing, and feature requests:

@sebastianelsner · @mihajlovicjj · @aadnehovda · @martindglaser · @Vitexus · @timcomport · @Bricklou

Per-release contributor credits are listed in the Changelog.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Additional Resources

• Roadmap - Future development plans
• Blog: How I linked a legacy system to a modern AI agent with MCP - The story behind this project
• Blog: Designing Reliable MCP Servers: 3 Hard Lessons in Agentic Architecture - Lessons learned building this server
• Blog: What It Actually Takes to Ship a Production MCP Server for Redmine - The full journey from prototype to production
• Blog: MCP Tool Sprawl: How I Cut 69 Tools to 43 With a Decorator - The major v2 architecture change that consolidated the tools to cut context overhead and sharpen agent tool selection