OpenProject is a self-hosted, open-source project management platform designed for teams that need robust planning, collaboration, and tracking capabilities without vendor lock-in. Built with Ruby on Rails and Angular, it provides a comprehensive suite of tools including Gantt charts, Kanban boards, issue tracking, and time reporting—making it ideal for technical teams, product managers, and DevOps environments. Unlike cloud-only alternatives, OpenProject’s Community Edition allows full control over data and infrastructure, supporting deployment via Docker or traditional server installs. Its integration with GitHub enables seamless linking of work packages to commits and pull requests, enhancing traceability across development workflows.
The platform serves organizations ranging from small startups to enterprises managing multi-team projects with complex dependencies. With built-in wikis, forums, meeting agendas, and BCF/IFC support for construction and engineering workflows, OpenProject unifies project documentation and collaboration in a single platform. Its GPLv3 license ensures transparency and community-driven development, with commercial support available through OpenProject GmbH for enterprise users requiring SLAs and advanced features.
What You Get
- Gantt charts and timeline planning - Visualize project schedules with drag-and-drop task dependencies, milestones, and progress tracking; supports manual and automated date calculations based on work package durations.
- Kanban boards with customizable workflows - Create board columns for stages like ‘To Do’, ‘In Progress’, and ‘Done’; assign work packages to team members with priority levels and due dates.
- GitHub integration - Automatically link commits, pull requests, and issues to OpenProject work packages via repository URLs or commit messages; view integrated activity feeds within project tasks.
- Time tracking and cost reporting - Log hours per work package with start/stop timers or manual entries; generate budget vs. actual cost reports by role, project, or team.
- Agile and Scrum support - Manage sprints with backlog prioritization, burndown charts, and sprint planning boards; integrate user stories, tasks, and bugs into a unified work package system.
- Bug tracking with custom fields - Report, assign, and track bugs with severity levels, reproduction steps, and attachments; extend via custom fields for team-specific metadata.
- Wikis and forums - Collaborate on documentation with WYSIWYG editing, version history, and embedding of work packages; use forums for team discussions linked to projects.
- Meeting agendas and minutes - Schedule meetings, assign action items directly from agenda templates, and store minutes with linked work packages for follow-up.
- BCF/IFC support - Import and export BCF (Building Collaboration Format) files for construction and engineering projects; view 3D model comments directly in the interface.
Common Use Cases
- Building a multi-tenant SaaS dashboard with real-time analytics - Product teams use OpenProject to track feature development, link GitHub PRs to user stories, and manage sprint cycles with Gantt timelines while tracking time spent per module for cost analysis.
- Creating a mobile-first e-commerce platform with 10k+ SKUs - Engineering and ops teams coordinate between frontend, backend, and QA using work packages with custom fields for SKU categories; time tracking helps allocate budget per feature set.
- Problem: Disconnected development and project planning → Solution: OpenProject links GitHub commits to work packages, enabling managers to see real-time progress on tasks without switching tools - Teams reduce context-switching and improve transparency by having all project data—code, tasks, documents—in one place.
- DevOps teams managing microservices across multiple cloud providers - Use OpenProject to map infrastructure tasks (e.g., ‘Deploy Redis cluster on AWS’) as work packages with dependencies, track deployment hours, and document runbooks in attached wikis.
Under The Hood
OpenProject is a feature-rich, open-source project management platform built on Ruby on Rails that emphasizes extensibility, enterprise-grade functionality, and developer-friendly architecture. It combines a monolithic backend with modern frontend practices to deliver a flexible and scalable solution for collaborative work environments.
Architecture
OpenProject adopts a modular monolithic architecture with strong emphasis on component-based UI design and clear separation of concerns.
- The application follows a Rails-based structure with extensive use of view components and custom engines for modularity
- Module organization supports clear boundaries between features such as project management, user permissions, and activity tracking
- Configuration-driven approach allows for flexible customization without extensive code changes
Tech Stack
OpenProject leverages a mature Ruby on Rails ecosystem with modern frontend enhancements and robust tooling.
- Built primarily with Ruby 3.x and Rails 6.1+, utilizing view components and engine support for extensibility
- Integrates with PostgreSQL, Git, and Subversion systems alongside key gems like ‘primer/view_components’ and ‘active_support’
- Employs Bundler, Rake, Docker, and CI/CD pipelines for streamlined development and deployment workflows
- Comprehensive test suite includes RSpec, Capybara, Brakeman, and Lefthook for quality assurance
Code Quality
The codebase reflects a mature development process with consistent patterns, strong testing practices, and adherence to Rails conventions.
- Extensive test coverage ensures reliability across core features and integration points
- Error handling is consistently implemented with appropriate exception types and fallbacks
- Code linting and structured warnings are configured to maintain style and quality standards
What Makes It Unique
OpenProject stands out through its innovative UI architecture and enterprise-grade extensibility features.
- A component-based UI system powered by Turbo Streams enables real-time updates without heavy client-side frameworks
- Highly configurable admin interface supports custom fields, SCIM integration, and antivirus scanning for enterprise needs
- Activity tracking system uniquely handles hierarchical project structures and detailed user activity logs
- Developer-focused extensibility allows for easy customization through well-defined UI components and patterns