paca
AI-native, free, open-source alternative to Jira, Trello, ClickUp & Monday. Built for Scrum teams where humans and AI agents collaborate as equals, on the same board, the same sprints, the same goals. Self-hosted. Fully customizable via config and plugins.
Runs with mockssource: GitHubhomepageGoApache-2.0commit 839c532ca451
Go, Apache-2.0 licensed. The project labels itself: ai agent, bdd, clickup alternative, jira alternative, mcp, open source, openhands and project management.
paca runs, with stand-ins for the services it depends on. An Argusic agent installed it in 28 minutes and hit 5 errors and fixed every one without help on a clean machine with no GPU, and the whole session was recorded.
The apps/mcp (Paca MCP server) installs from source, builds, and runs all 578 tests passing on Node 18.19.1. services/realtime compiles clean with tsc. apps/web is blocked by a @tailwindcss/oxide native binding issue. No Docker/Go/Bun available for the API and agent-runner services.
What the agent ended up with on a clean machine, in its own words. How this is measured
Measured by Argusic on a fresh machine every time. Every number links to its evidence. Argusic Score 92 of 100 (the mean of this project's run scores).
At a glance
Subject data from GitHub, linked at the top of this page, refreshed . Test data by Argusic (CC BY 4.0); every number links to a run page with the full log, the recording, and their sha256 hashes.
What was measured
From the run that decided this verdict. Every line is a recorded value, not an estimate.
What went wrong, in the agent's own words
The agent's own words, worst first, never rewritten into advice.
- [email protected]'s html-encoding-sniffer dep uses require() on @exodus/bytes (ESM-only), which throws ERR_REQUIRE_ESM on Node 186 minutes
- @blocknote/core/dist uses Array.toReversed() (Node 22+ API) — crashes with 'not a function or its return value is not iterable'5 minutes
- [email protected] uses rolldown which imports from node:util (Node 22+ only), crashing on startup3 minutes
- npm install failed with 'Cannot read properties of null (reading edgesOut)' — Arborist peer dependency resolution crash on Node 182 minutes
- apps/web: @tailwindcss/oxide-linux-x64-gnu native binding missing — npm optional dep resolution bug on this platform
- Install time
- 28 minutes
- Cold machine to finish
- 6 minutes
- Errors hit and fixed
- 5 hit, 5 fixed with no human help
- How the result was proved
- npm test in apps/mcp exited 0, 23/23 test files passed, 578/578 tests passed
- Model tokens used
- 102,037
- Exact commit tested
- 839c532ca451
- Container image
- sha256:cdd920bce783
What was not measured
The other half, so you can see exactly how far this evidence goes. A gap is printed as a gap and never filled in.
- Peak GPU memory
- this ran on a CPU machine, so there was no GPU to sample
- Behaviour over a long run
- each attempt uses the smallest documented settings and a fixed time budget, so this measures whether it runs, not how it holds up under load
- Behaviour against real services
- this run was verified against stand-in services only
The end of the recording
The last lines of the terminal session that decided this verdict, exactly as they were recorded.
\" 2>&1; true" in /work/repo
succeeded in 449ms:
PACA_API_KEY environment variable is required. Please set it to your Paca API key.
Example:
export PACA_API_KEY='your-api-key-here'
export PACA_API_URL='http://localhost:8080'
All 23 test files pass (578 tests). The MCP server binary builds and runs correctly (needs env vars…
**ARGUSIC_RESULT:** {"install_succeeded":true,"launch_succeeded":true,"install_minutes":28,"errors"…
tokens used
102,037
All 23 test files pass (578 tests). The MCP server binary builds and runs correctly (needs env vars…
**ARGUSIC_RESULT:** {"install_succeeded":true,"launch_succeeded":true,"install_minutes":28,"errors"…Replay the whole session, every command from a clean machine to this point.
How it was tested
One agent, one container, no human help. It installs the project the way its own documentation says to, runs it, and fixes what breaks. Everything below is recorded as it happened: the terminal session, the log and the exact commit. The full method.
Strengths and limits
Measured facts, not opinions. How this is written.
What went well
- Recovered from all 5 errors without a human stepping in, which says the failures are documented well enough to solve.
- Licensed Apache-2.0, as reported by its host.
What did not, or is not known
- Only reached a running state against stand-in services, so nothing here proves it works against the real ones.
- Took 28 minutes to install, slower than the median of the 22 comparable projects Argusic has measured.
- Measured once so far. A single attempt shows it can run, not that it runs reliably.
Of the 23 ai-agent projects Argusic has installed and timed, paca was the 22nd fastest to reach a running state, and 15 of 23 reached one at all.
Also tested, in the same area
Every one of these was installed and run by Argusic on a clean machine. Nothing appears here that was not tested.
Run history
| tested by | attempt | outcome | score | cost USD | when |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Argusic Runner | 1/3 | Runs with mocks | 92.00 | 0.14 |
Topics (from GitHub)
ai-agentbddclickup-alternativejira-alternativemcpopen-sourceopenhandsproject-managementscrumscrumbanself-hostedtrello-alternativewasm-plugins
Embed the badge
Markdown for the project README. It links back here; terms on the terms page.
[](https://argusic.com/subject/paca)Questions
- Does paca run?
- paca runs, with mocks standing in for external services. Argusic installed and launched it on a clean machine in 28 minutes, hitting 5 errors on the way, and recorded the session.
- How did Argusic test paca?
- On a fresh, disposable machine, with every command recorded and the repository pinned at commit 839c532ca451. One attempt is recorded, and the full method is on the methodology page.
- What did it cost to test paca?
- The run that produced this verdict cost $0.14: real compute and model cost, not a list price per million tokens. It is recorded on that run's page.
- How long does paca take to install?
- 28 minutes in the run that decided this verdict, from a clean machine to a running state. That is one measured attempt, not an average.
- Does paca need a GPU?
- Not to start. Argusic reached a running state on a machine with no GPU.
- What goes wrong when installing paca?
- 5 things broke in the recorded run, and 5 were fixed without human help. Each one, and the time it cost, is listed on this page.
- How does paca compare with the alternatives?
- Of the 23 ai-agent projects Argusic has installed and timed, paca was the 22nd fastest to reach a running state, and 15 of 23 reached one at all.
- Where is the evidence for paca?
- The recorded run is on this page, each linking to its full log and terminal recording, stored with a sha256 fingerprint so it cannot be quietly altered.