ProjectForge - project management solution

ProjectForge is an open source, web-based solution for project management. It covers time tracking, team calendar, Gantt charts, financial administration, controlling and work breakdown structures, and works together with issue management systems such as Jira. Besides the web application there is a mobile app and a REST API.

Screenshots

Click a picture to see it in full size.

Order book	Structure tree with consumption bars	Time sheets
Team calendar	Chat	Dark theme

Mobile app for iPhone and iPad

The ProjectForge app (iOS) will be available in the Apple App Store soon.

Time sheets

Structure tree

Calendar

Chat

Calendar on the iPad

Chat on the iPad

Documentation

• projectforge.org: the complete documentation, including the installation, the user guide and the admin guide.

• Development guide: architecture, backend, REST API, frontend, plugins, tests.

• dev-docs: reference notes and plans for developers.

• Changelog and the documentation of the plugins in doc.

Installation

The fastest way is the Docker image or the executable jar, see Installation.

If you just want to run ProjectForge, download it from https://sourceforge.net/projects/pforge/ and start it with java -jar projectforge-application-X.X.X.jar (Java 21 or newer).

Building from source

You only need the following steps for developing ProjectForge.

1. Checkout: git clone git@github.com:micromata/projectforge.git

2. Use JDK 21 or newer: java -version.

3. Build ProjectForge, including the Next.js frontend in projectforge-next:
   ./gradlew build -x test (gradlew.bat on Windows)

4. Run ProjectForge:
   java -jar projectforge-application/build/libs/projectforge-application-X.X.X.jar or ./gradlew bootRun

5. Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

For several instances side by side, hot reload of the frontend and test data see bin/pfDev.sh and the development guide.

IntelliJ

1. Launch IntelliJ IDEA and import the project as Gradle project.

2. Run ./gradlew clean build -x test once.

3. Start org.projectforge.start.ProjectForgeApplication (in projectforge-application/src/main/java).

Configuration

No configuration is needed. When ProjectForge is started for the first time, a console or desktop based wizard does a quick setup (choose the directory and optionally set some parameters).

To use a different home directory you have several options (choose your favorite):

1. Create ProjectForge as top level directory of your home directory: $HOME/ProjectForge, or

2. Create a directory named ProjectForge and put the jar file in it or next to it. ProjectForge detects the folder ProjectForge relative to the executed jar, or

3. Create a directory and pass it as command line parameter: java -Dhome.dir=yourdirectory -jar projectforge-application-X.X.X.jar, or

4. Create a directory and set it as environment variable PROJECTFORGE_HOME.

All available parameters are listed in application.properties; own values go into projectforge.properties in the home directory. More details are in the admin guide.

Quickstart with PostgreSQL (optional)

You may use PostgreSQL instead of the built-in data base.

Using PostgreSQL (Podman)

• Choose and set a database password:
  export PGPASSWORD=mypassword

• Run PostgreSQL:
  

podman volume create projectforge-pgdata
podman run -d \
  --name projectforge-postgres \
  -p 127.0.0.1:5432:5432 \
  -e POSTGRES_DB=projectforge \
  -e POSTGRES_USER=projectforge \
  -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$PGPASSWORD \
  -v projectforge-pgdata:/var/lib/postgresql/data \
  docker.io/library/postgres:17

• Configure ProjectForge (see Configuration for the home directory):

$HOME/ProjectForge/projectforge.properties

projectforge.base.dir=${user.home}/ProjectForge
spring.datasource.url=jdbc:postgresql://localhost:5432/projectforge
spring.datasource.username=projectforge
spring.datasource.password=${PGPASSWORD}
spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.postgresql.Driver

• Start ProjectForge. For regular operation and backups see the admin guide.

Table 1. Helpful Podman commands

Stop	podman stop projectforge-postgres
Start	podman start projectforge-postgres
Import dump (optional)	podman exec -i projectforge-postgres psql -U projectforge -d projectforge < ~/ProjectForgeBackup/pf.sql Files dump (projectforge_files.dump): podman exec -i projectforge-postgres pg_restore -U projectforge -d projectforge --no-owner < ~/ProjectForgeBackup/projectforge_files.dump The dump contains the schema pf_files (attachments) in custom format, so pg_restore instead of psql. Import it after the main dump and before starting ProjectForge. If the schema already exists, drop it first (DROP SCHEMA pf_files CASCADE;) or add --clean --if-exists. Afterwards run Administration → System → Check system integrity. See the admin guide.
PSQL	podman exec -it projectforge-postgres psql -U projectforge -d projectforge
Reset passwords (optional)	update t_pf_user_password SET password_hash='SHA{BC871652288E56E306CFA093BEFC3FFCD0ED8872}', password_salt=null; update t_pf_user SET password='SHA{BC871652288E56E306CFA093BEFC3FFCD0ED8872}', password_salt=null, email='m.developer@localhost'; password is now test123.
Clear calendar subscriptions (optional)	update t_calendar set ext_subscription=false where owner_fk != [pk]; This is useful for avoiding a lot of external calendar calls of foreign users if your productive data contains a lot of users with calendar subscriptions.
Uninstall	podman stop projectforge-postgres && podman rm projectforge-postgres && podman volume rm projectforge-pgdata

Plugins

ProjectForge is extensible by plugins. The built-in plugins live in plugins as Gradle modules and are activated by administrators under Administration → Plugins (a restart is required), or with projectforge.plugins.ensure-active=datatransfer (comma-separated ids) in projectforge.properties, see Installation.

How to write an own plugin (backend, REST, frontend pages) is described in the development guide.