# Show HN: Paca – Lightweight Jira alternative for human-AI collaboration > Source: > Published: 2026-06-13 09:44:25+00:00 **AI-native. Free. Lightweight. Open-source.The fully customizable alternative to Jira, Trello, ClickUp, and Monday.** [Getting Started](#getting-started) · [MCP Server](#mcp-server--connect-any-ai-agent-to-paca) · [Claude Code Skill](#claude-code--paca-skill) · [Architecture](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/docs/architecture/overview.md) · [Contributing](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) · [Roadmap](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/ROADMAP.md) Paca is a **self-hosted project management platform** where AI agents and humans collaborate as equal teammates inside a Scrum team — not as chatbots bolted on the side. Jira gives you a backlog. ClickUp gives you automations. Monday gives you dashboards. **Paca gives your AI agents a seat at the table.** They join sprint planning, pick up tasks from the board, write BDD specs, and adapt alongside humans in real time. Everything about Paca — its workflow, its data model, its UI — is **configurable and extendable via plugins**. | Jira / Trello / ClickUp / Monday | Paca | | |---|---|---| AI integration | Chatbot add-ons, peripheral automation | AI agents as first-class Scrum teammates | Collaboration model | Human-only by default | Human + AI, side by side on the same board | Hosting | Vendor cloud (your data, their servers) | Self-hosted, you own everything | Cost | $8–$20+ per seat/month | Free forever | Customization | Limited; locked behind enterprise tiers | Fully open: configuration + plugins | Weight | Bloated feature sprawl | Lightweight core; extend only what you need | Source | Closed / proprietary | 100% open-source (Apache 2.0) | The central insight behind Paca is that **AI agents should participate in the Scrum process**, not just generate output in isolation. In Paca, AI agents: - Are **assigned to sprints** and appear on the Scrumban board alongside human teammates **Pick up tasks** from the backlog and update their status in real time**Collaborate on BDD specs**— helping Product Owners and BAs write Gherkin scenarios** Contribute to System Design Documents**— keeping the architecture visible to the whole team** Probe, sense, and respond**to emerging complexity, just like a human would This is not automation. It is **genuine collaboration** — rooted in the Cynefin / Stacey framework's recognition that complex domains require teams, not pipelines. Paca ships as a small, focused core. Everything else is optional. **Configuration-driven:** workflows, statuses, field definitions, board layouts, sprint rules, and agent behavior are all driven by project-level configuration files. No code needed to adapt Paca to your team's process. **Plugin system:** extend or replace any part of Paca via plugins. Plugins are compiled to **WebAssembly (WASM)** for the backend (write in Go, Rust, AssemblyScript — anything with a WASM target) and standard module bundles for the frontend. Plugins run in a sandboxed environment with a capability-based permission model; they declare exactly what host functions they need, and nothing more. ``` plugins/ ├── backend/ # WASM modules — add custom routes, logic, data models └── frontend/ # UI modules — add custom pages, board views, widgets ``` Browse and install community plugins directly from the **Plugin Marketplace** inside the Paca UI — no command line required. Go to **Settings → Plugins → Marketplace**, find a plugin, and click **Install**. For local development or custom plugins, you can also install from the filesystem: ``` ./scripts/install-local-plugin.sh ./my-plugin --api-key ``` Paca structures team collaboration around four phases that mirror both Scrum and the scientific method: ``` Plan → Act → Check → Adapt ↑ | └─────────────────────────────┘ ``` | Phase | What happens | |---|---| Plan | POs, BAs, and AI agents collaboratively refine the backlog. BDD scenarios and SDD designs are written together. | Act | Sprint is live. Humans and AI agents pull tasks from the board, execute, and post updates. | Check | QA agents run automated verification. Humans review AI output. The board reflects reality. | Adapt | Data from the sprint informs the next cycle. The team — human and AI — retrospects together. | **In-app AI chat**— chat with AI agents at the project level to plan work, create or update epics, stories, tasks, and documentation — all in plain English without leaving Paca **Activity diff & revert**— every field change in the activity pane now shows a before/after diff; one click reverts a change to its previous value **Unified Scrumban Board**— humans and AI agents share a single real-time board; no separate "AI workspace"** In-app AI chat**— chat with AI agents at the project level to plan work, create or update epics, stories, tasks, and documentation in plain English**Activity diff & revert**— see a visual diff for every field change in the activity pane and revert any change with one click** BDD Collaboration**— Gherkin scenario editor co-authored by POs, BAs, and AI agents** System Design Documents (SDD)**— living architecture docs that keep AI agents contextually grounded** MCP Server**— connect Claude, custom agents, or any MCP-compatible tool directly into Paca's data layer** Claude Code skill**—`/paca` slash command for Claude Code; manage tasks, docs, and sprints in plain English without leaving your editor**Real-time updates**— Socket.IO delivery; everyone sees changes the moment they happen** OpenHands-powered agents**— AI agents run on the[OpenHands](https://github.com/All-Hands-AI/OpenHands)SDK; each agent executes inside its own isolated sandbox container so your host environment is never touched**WASM plugin sandbox**— extend Paca safely; plugins cannot escape their declared permissions** Self-hosted**— runs on a single Docker Compose command; your data never leaves your infrastructure** Lightweight by default**— minimal core, no feature bloat; add only what your team actually needs Runs on any Linux server with Docker. No repository clone required. ``` curl -fsSL https://github.com/Paca-AI/paca/releases/latest/download/install.sh | bash ``` The script walks you through configuration interactively and starts the full stack. Open `http://your-server-ip` when it finishes. ``` # 1. Create a directory and download the compose file mkdir paca && cd paca curl -fsSL https://github.com/Paca-AI/paca/releases/latest/download/docker-compose.yml -o docker-compose.yml mkdir -p nginx curl -fsSL https://github.com/Paca-AI/paca/releases/latest/download/gateway.conf -o nginx/gateway.conf # 2. Create your environment file cat > .env <<'EOF' JWT_SECRET= ADMIN_PASSWORD= POSTGRES_PASSWORD= AGENT_API_KEY= INTERNAL_API_KEY= ENCRYPTION_KEY= PUBLIC_URL=http://localhost EOF # 3. Start the stack docker compose --env-file .env up -d ``` Open `http://localhost` — log in with `admin` and the password you set. Customizing the stack:scale down services you don't need. ``` # External PostgreSQL (supply DATABASE_URL in .env) docker compose --env-file .env up -d --scale postgres=0 # AWS S3 instead of MinIO (set STORAGE_PROVIDER=s3 in .env) docker compose --env-file .env up -d --scale minio=0 # Without the AI agent (reduces resource usage) docker compose --env-file .env up -d --scale ai-agent=0 # Clone the repository git clone https://github.com/Paca-AI/paca.git && cd paca # Start infrastructure dependencies (PostgreSQL + Valkey) docker compose -f deploy/docker-compose.dev.yml up -d postgres valkey # Or start the full dev stack in containers docker compose -f deploy/docker-compose.dev.yml up -d ``` See [docs/guides/local-development.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/docs/guides/local-development.md) for running services on the host for active development. Paca ships an [MCP (Model Context Protocol)](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) server that gives any compatible AI agent direct, structured access to your workspace — projects, tasks, sprints, documents, members, and more. No scraping, no custom APIs to wire up. The server is published as ** @paca-ai/paca-mcp** on npm. You run it with `npx` ; your MCP client handles the rest.- Open (or create) the Claude Desktop config file: **macOS**:`~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` **Windows**:`%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json` - Add the `paca` entry: ``` { "mcpServers": { "paca": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@paca-ai/paca-mcp"], "env": { "PACA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here", "PACA_API_URL": "http://localhost:8080" } } } } ``` - Restart Claude Desktop. Claude now has access to all Paca tools and can answer requests like: *"List all active sprints in project X"**"Create a task for implementing OAuth and assign it to sprint 3"**"Add a comment to task #42 with my progress update"* Any client that speaks MCP works. Typical configuration: ``` { "name": "paca", "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@paca-ai/paca-mcp"], "env": { "PACA_API_KEY": "your-api-key-here", "PACA_API_URL": "http://your-paca-instance:8080" } } ``` | Variable | Required | Default | Description | |---|---|---|---| `PACA_API_KEY` | Yes | — | API key from your Paca instance (Settings → API Keys) | `PACA_API_URL` | No | `http://localhost:8080` | URL of your Paca API | The server exposes tools across these categories: | Category | Tools | |---|---| | Projects | `list_projects` , `get_project` , `create_project` , `update_project` , `delete_project` | | Tasks | `list_tasks` , `get_task` , `create_task` , `update_task` , `delete_task` , + more | | Sprints | `list_sprints` , `create_sprint` , `update_sprint` , `complete_sprint` , + more | | Documents | `list_documents` , `get_document` , `create_document` , `update_document` , `delete_document` | | Members & Roles | `list_project_members` , `add_project_member` , `list_project_roles` , + more | | Task Types & Statuses | `list_task_types` , `create_task_type` , `list_task_statuses` , + more | | Views & Custom Fields | `list_views` , `create_view` , `list_custom_fields` , `create_custom_field` , + more | | Attachments | `list_task_attachments` , `get_attachment_download_url` , `delete_task_attachment` | | Activity & Comments | `list_task_activities` , `add_task_comment` , `update_task_comment` , `delete_task_comment` | | Plugin tools | Installed plugins can register additional tools at runtime | For a complete reference and advanced configuration (agent-mode, plugin tools, programmatic usage), see [docs/guides/mcp-server-setup.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/docs/guides/mcp-server-setup.md). If you use [Claude Code](https://claude.ai/code), install the Paca skill set and manage your entire Paca workspace through natural-language slash commands — without leaving your editor and without creating local files. Every command reads your Paca documentation first to understand the project before acting. Skills are defined in the [ skills/](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/skills) directory using the [Agent Skills](https://agentskills.io/specification)format — one subdirectory per skill, each with a `SKILL.md` containing YAML frontmatter and instructions. The install script strips the frontmatter and writes the body to `~/.claude/commands/` for use as Claude Code slash commands.Run this once in your terminal to install all skills globally: ``` curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Paca-AI/paca/master/scripts/install-claude-skill.sh | bash ``` Then connect the Paca MCP server to Claude Code: ``` claude mcp add paca \ --env PACA_API_KEY= \ --env PACA_API_URL= \ -- npx -y @paca-ai/paca-mcp ``` Run `/paca-setup` inside a Claude Code session for a guided interactive walkthrough instead. | Command | What it does | |---|---| `/paca ` | General task, doc, and sprint operations in plain English | `/paca-epic ` | Turn requirements into an epic with child stories and a spec doc | `/paca-clarify ` | Identify ambiguities, ask questions, and update the spec in Paca | `/paca-breakdown ` | Decompose a task into independent, estimable sub-tasks | `/paca-sprint` | Plan a sprint from the backlog against capacity and goals | `/paca-estimate ` | Estimate story points and write them back to tasks | `/paca-prioritize` | Score and set priorities across the backlog | `/paca-do ` | Execute a task, update its status, and keep docs current | `/paca-test ` | Derive test cases, run them, and record results as a comment | `/paca-doc ` | Write or update documentation in Paca Docs | `/paca-setup` | Interactive MCP connection wizard | For full setup options and command reference, see [docs/guides/claude-code-skill.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/docs/guides/claude-code-skill.md). ``` apps/web React + TanStack Start + shadcn/ui — user interface apps/mcp @paca-ai/paca-mcp — MCP server for AI agent integration services/api Go + Gin — core business logic and REST API services/realtime Node.js + Socket.IO — real-time event fan-out services/ai-agent Python + FastAPI + OpenHands SDK — AI agent orchestration apps/e2e Playwright — end-to-end test suite skills/ Agent Skills — /paca slash commands for Claude Code PostgreSQL Persistent store Valkey Cache + async event streams between services ``` See [docs/architecture/overview.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/docs/architecture/overview.md) for detail. The name is a small pun on the Japanese word **"Baka" (ばか)** — "silly." In the early days, we jokingly called our AI assistants "silly" when they hallucinated. And building a serious project management platform as a free, open-source alternative to multi-billion-dollar tools might also seem a bit silly. But Paca is built from conviction: human-AI collaboration in a real Scrum team should be accessible to every team, everywhere — not locked behind a vendor's pricing model. We think that's worth being a little foolish about. 🦙✨ | Document | Description | |---|---| | [docs/guides/getting-started.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/docs/guides/getting-started.md)[docs/guides/local-development.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/docs/guides/local-development.md)[docs/guides/mcp-server-setup.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/docs/guides/mcp-server-setup.md)[docs/guides/claude-code-skill.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/docs/guides/claude-code-skill.md)`/paca` skill for Claude Code — manage Paca from your editor[docs/plugins/](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/docs/plugins)[deploy/README.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/deploy/README.md)[CHANGELOG.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md)[CONTRIBUTING.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md)[SECURITY.md](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/SECURITY.md)Distributed under the **Apache License 2.0**. See [LICENSE](/Paca-AI/paca/blob/master/LICENSE) for details.