Semantic Search Plugin for Redmine

This Redmine plugin enables AI-based semantic search functionality using OpenAI embeddings and PostgreSQL's pgvector extension. It allows users to search for tickets using natural language queries rather than exact keyword matches.

Features

• Semantic search across issue content (subject, description, comments, time entries)
• Vector similarity search using OpenAI embeddings
• Background processing for embedding generation
• Role-based access control (Developer and Manager roles)
• Compatible with Redmine 5.1.x and 6.0.x

Domain Model

For the rendered Mermaid Domain Model, have a look at this file.

Requirements

• PostgreSQL installed
• Valid OpenAI API key

More information in Setup Guide.

Installation

Check out SETUP.md for a step-by-step guide on how to set the Plugin up.

Configuration

1. Log in as an administrator
2. Go to Administration > Plugins
3. Click "Configure" next to the Semantic Search plugin
4. Adjust settings as needed

Usage

1. Ensure your user has a Developer or Manager role in at least one project
2. Click on "Semantic Search" in the top menu
3. Enter a natural language query (e.g., "Issues about login problems with the mobile app")
4. View the results ordered by semantic relevance

How It Works

1. The plugin creates embeddings for issues when they are created or updated
2. Embeddings are stored in a separate database table using pgvector
3. When a search is performed, the query is converted to an embedding
4. PostgreSQL's vector similarity search finds the most semantically similar issues
5. Results are filtered based on user permissions

Testing

Important

Make sure you are in Redmine's root directory before running the tests

The tests are written with MiniTest, the default testing framework for Ruby on Rails.

bundle exec rake redmine:plugins:test NAME=semantic_search

Linting

In order to lint the application, run the following command:

bin/lint

Continuous Integration

This project uses GitHub Actions for continuous integration and testing:

• CI Workflow: Runs linting and syntax checks on every push and pull request
• Test Workflow: Sets up a complete Redmine environment and runs all plugin tests

To run the workflows locally, you can use act.

GitHub Secrets

The test workflow requires the following GitHub secret to be configured:

• OPENAI_API_KEY: A random string of characters. It does not have to be a valid OpenAI API Key.

License

This plugin is licensed under the MIT License.

Author

• Sami Hindi

Help

If at any point while using this plugin you face certain problems, just open an issue.

Copyright

© 2025 Renuo AG