OpenProject 17.8 lets AI assistants edit work packages

An AI assistant can do more than search in OpenProject 17.8: it can create and edit work packages, write comments and manage relationships between work packages. Released on September 2, 2026, the version expands the MCP server rather than restricting artificial intelligence to read-only queries.

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. The protocol connects AI clients with external applications and their functions. According to OpenProject, it applies the same permissions and validation rules as the web interface and application programming interface (API). Required fields remain mandatory. A version check is designed to prevent an assistant from overwriting a work package that a user has changed in the meantime. Comments, including emoji reactions, and custom fields are supported as well.

For release planning, the existing “Version” field is becoming “target versions” and can contain multiple entries. A bug report could, for example, be assigned to a maintenance release and an upcoming major version at the same time. On existing installations, OpenProject does not enable multiple assignment automatically. Administrators must turn it on; once enabled, it cannot be undone. Existing assignments remain intact. For integrations, this means OpenProject advises updating affected clients and custom scripts to targetVersions before enabling the feature.

Time tracking is also getting rules that apply to the entire instance. Administrators can set maximums per time entry or per user and day, limit bookings to recorded working hours, and block entries on non-working days or for closed months. These checks are initially disabled after the update. Project-specific exceptions are not yet available.

In the views, project phases, milestones and sprints will in future be shown together in the project timeline. Milestones link to the associated work package view; sprints can only be viewed there, not moved by drag and drop. Cards from sprint and backlog views can be dragged into external applications. The free Community Edition can also display relationships between work packages as table columns.

For companies and public authorities running OpenProject on their own infrastructure, this means an AI assistant can carry out project work directly, but only within the access rights already in place. This makes the new feature interesting for teams that want to combine data sovereignty with automated workflows. Before the update, however, administrative tasks remain: target versions must be deliberately switched over, API integrations adjusted and time-tracking rules enabled separately. OpenProject recommends the 17.8.0 update, which also fixes numerous issues in editors, documents, meetings, exports, wiki features, Jira migration and storage integrations.