Request Tracker

Request Tracker is one of the oldest continuously maintained open-source applications in production use. It has been handling support tickets, IT requests, and operational workflows since 1996. Universities, government agencies, financial institutions, and enterprises have run it for decades. The low GitHub star count reflects a project with a pre-GitHub community, not an inactive one.

The core model is email-driven. You configure RT to receive email from any number of addresses — support@, helpdesk@, billing@, security@ — and every incoming email creates or updates a ticket in the corresponding queue. Agents reply from the RT interface or directly by email, and the full conversation history is preserved on the ticket. PGP and S/MIME encryption for incoming and outgoing email are built in, which matters for teams handling sensitive requests.

Queues and lifecycles are where RT’s configurability shows. Each queue has its own ticket statuses, transition rules, access rights, and SLA definitions. The visual lifecycle editor configures these from the browser. Scrips — RT’s automation system — fire on any ticket event and can trigger email notifications, status changes, calls to external systems, or any custom Perl action. This level of automation depth requires configuration time, but it handles workflow requirements that simpler tools cannot.

Asset management is built into the core, not a plugin. Hardware, software licences, and infrastructure components can be tracked alongside the tickets they generate, with relationships linking an asset to all of its service history.

The RTIR module extends RT specifically for security incident response, adding dedicated queues, investigation workflows, and linkage between incidents, investigations, and countermeasures that security teams need.

The practical reality is that RT is a Perl application from an era when Perl was the language of web development. Customisation and extension require Perl knowledge. The Docker deployment path makes running it straightforward; going beyond the default configuration requires more investment than a PHP or Node.js-based alternative.

Request Tracker: Pros & Cons