## Thinking Path
> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work.
> - Agents read runtime prompts, tool help, skills, and role
instructions.
> - Several of these texts tell agents to create child tasks as a normal
next step.
> - One accepted-plan prompt even forbids work on the current task.
> - Task parentage is useful, but it does not need a prompt that
encourages task creation.
> - This pull request removes those prompts and keeps the task APIs
available.
## Linked Issues or Issue Description
Refs #10642. This change adjusts prompt wording; it does not add
delegation-cycle guards.
**Current behavior**
Prompts tell agents to create children after plan approval, use children
for long work, and create a task just to pass context. Onboarding
requires a child even for a single request.
**Proposed behavior**
Continue work on the current task. Keep explicit assignments, optional
task creation, parentage, dependencies, and approval gates. Use the
separate-task recipes when the user requests that structure or when
continuing existing work.
**Reason and benefit**
Reduce needless task trees without removing subtask support. Keep the
patch limited to wording, existing test expectations, and generated
catalog data.
## What Changed
- Align accepted-plan prompts and remove direct child-creation advice
from runtime and error text.
- Make task tool descriptions neutral. Keep their fields, defaults, and
handlers.
- Update the main skill, onboarding, CEO instructions, company
templates, specialist workflows, and matching guides.
- Keep historical release snapshots intact. Refresh the explicitly
seeded schema fixture's catalog digest; the server still verifies
historical release snapshot hashes.
- Refresh the affected generated catalogs, capability inventory,
semantic contracts, and fixture manifest.
## Verification
- Final tested head: `c6e304d0c105cdbfbe0b2ab0a233307fcd91a04b`.
- All 66 check runs are complete: 60 pass, one is neutral, and five are
skipped by CI conditions. Snyk also passes. No checks fail or remain
pending.
- [PR
CI](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/42846226554)
passes typecheck, build, server/general tests, all eight E2E shards,
Runner support, Runner Rust, and the aggregate verify gate.
[Windows](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/42846226546)
and [Docker
Runner](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/42846226108)
also pass.
-
[Greptile](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/20362#issuecomment-6751419835)
and [Paperclip
review](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/20362#issuecomment-6751454010)
give this exact head 5/5. All six inline threads are resolved. Neither
current summary has findings.
- Merged master `bf0220d34a156c81853755c3d1365ddc527037de`. Resolved
three generated-file conflicts with the canonical generators.
- Local verification passes: 473 focused prompt, continuation, UI,
catalog, runtime and native-execution tests; Runner TypeScript build;
generated metadata; UI token gates; and diff checks.
- The prior head `c22018cb0f` failed three SDK evidence tests because
two source hashes were stale. Reproduced all three failures locally. The
existing generator refreshed only the hashes for the denial-copy file
and its test. All 53 affected evidence/source-pin tests then passed,
including private-value rejection. No scanner logic, assertions, or
runtime dependency pins changed. Current CI confirms the support suite
passes.
- A prior commit failed the Rust process reaping test. Its cause remains
unproven. No Rust code or assertions changed. Later Rust runs pass; this
does not establish the cause of the earlier failure.
- Local preflight built shared/plugin SDK packages, then stopped because
`cargo` is absent. Current-head CI supplies Rust and full build
coverage. `pnpm verify --explain` selects broad required CI; full local
suites were not repeated.
## Risks
- Wording changes guide the model; they do not enforce a ban on
subtasks.
- Existing installed skill versions and saved custom instructions need
their normal refresh process. This PR does not migrate company
configuration.
- Existing approved task assignments and approval gates remain in
effect.
## Model Used
- OpenAI GPT-6, through Codex, with reasoning, tool use, and code
execution. The exact routed model ID and context-window size were not
exposed in this session.
## Checklist
- [x] I have included a thinking path that traces from project context
to this change
- [x] I have specified the model used (with version and capability
details)
- [x] I have checked ROADMAP.md and confirmed this PR does not duplicate
planned core work
- [x] I have searched GitHub for duplicate or related PRs and linked
them above
- [x] I have either (a) linked existing issues with `Fixes: #` / `Closes
#` / `Refs #` OR (b) described the issue in-PR following the relevant
issue template
- [x] I have not referenced internal/instance-local Paperclip issues or
links (only public GitHub `#NNN` / `github.com/paperclipai/paperclip`
URLs)
- [x] My branch name describes the change (e.g. `docs/...`, `fix/...`)
and contains no internal Paperclip ticket id or instance-derived details
- [x] I have run tests locally and they pass
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable
- [x] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [x] All Paperclip CI gates are green
- [x] Greptile is 5/5 with no open P2s, recommendations, or follow-ups
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge
---------
Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
## Thinking Path
> - Paperclip orchestrates AI agents for zero-human companies
> - The control plane must recover stranded agent work without creating
new operational loops
> - Stranded recovery issues can themselves fail, and exposing raw retry
errors in comments can leak sensitive adapter details
> - New local companies also should not force a hire-approval gate
unless operators enable that policy
> - This pull request hardens recovery issue handling, redacts retry
failure details in issue copy, preserves `maxConcurrentRuns: 1`, and
flips new-hire approval to an opt-in default
> - The benefit is safer automatic recovery and smoother default company
setup without hidden migration conflicts
## What Changed
- Added migration `0071_default_hire_approval_off` and updated company
schema/import/export/docs so hire approvals default off and serialize
only when enabled.
- Added migration `0072_large_sandman` with a partial unique index
preventing duplicate active stranded recovery issues for the same source
issue.
- Blocked failed `stranded_issue_recovery` issues in place instead of
creating nested recovery issues.
- Redacted latest retry failure details from recovery issue comments
while still linking reviewers to run evidence.
- Allowed `maxConcurrentRuns: 1` to be honored by heartbeat concurrency
normalization.
- Added focused regression coverage for recovery recursion, redaction,
migration ordering, and concurrency behavior.
## Verification
- `pnpm --filter @paperclipai/db run check:migrations`
- `pnpm exec vitest run --project @paperclipai/server
server/src/__tests__/recovery-classifiers.test.ts`
- `pnpm exec vitest run --project @paperclipai/server
server/src/__tests__/company-portability.test.ts --pool=forks
--poolOptions.forks.isolate=true`
- `pnpm exec vitest run --project @paperclipai/server
server/src/__tests__/agent-permissions-routes.test.ts --pool=forks
--poolOptions.forks.isolate=true`
- `pnpm --filter @paperclipai/server typecheck`
- `pnpm exec vitest run --project @paperclipai/server
server/src/__tests__/heartbeat-process-recovery.test.ts --pool=forks
--poolOptions.forks.isolate=true` exits 0, but this host skipped the
embedded Postgres tests with the existing init guard.
- `pnpm exec vitest run --project @paperclipai/server
server/src/__tests__/heartbeat-dependency-scheduling.test.ts
--pool=forks --poolOptions.forks.isolate=true` exits 0, but this host
skipped the embedded Postgres tests with the existing init guard.
## Risks
- Migration risk is low but this PR intentionally owns both new
migrations to avoid separate PR migration-journal conflicts.
- Recovery comments now require operators to inspect linked run evidence
for details instead of reading raw errors inline.
- The hire approval default changes behavior for newly created/imported
companies only; existing persisted company settings are not changed
except by the SQL default for future rows.
> For core feature work, check [`ROADMAP.md`](ROADMAP.md) first and
discuss it in `#dev` before opening the PR. Feature PRs that overlap
with planned core work may need to be redirected — check the roadmap
first. See `CONTRIBUTING.md`.
## Model Used
- OpenAI Codex, GPT-5 coding agent, tool-enabled terminal/GitHub
workflow, reasoning mode active. Context window not exposed in this
environment.
## Checklist
- [x] I have included a thinking path that traces from project context
to this change
- [x] I have specified the model used (with version and capability
details)
- [x] I have checked ROADMAP.md and confirmed this PR does not duplicate
planned core work
- [x] I have run tests locally and they pass
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable
- [x] If this change affects the UI, I have included before/after
screenshots
- [x] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge
---------
Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
* docs: add board-operator delegation guide
Create docs/guides/board-operator/delegation.md explaining the full
CEO-led delegation lifecycle from the board operator's perspective.
Covers what the board needs to do, what the CEO automates, common
delegation patterns (flat, 3-level, hire-on-demand), and a
troubleshooting section that directly answers the #1 new-user
confusion point: "Do I have to tell the CEO to delegate?"
Also adds a Delegation section to core-concepts.md and wires the
new guide into docs.json navigation after Managing Tasks.
Co-Authored-By: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
* docs: add AGENTS.md troubleshooting note to delegation guide
Add a row to the troubleshooting table telling board operators to
verify the CEO's AGENTS.md instructions file contains delegation
directives. Without these instructions, the CEO won't delegate.
Co-Authored-By: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
* docs: fix stale concept count and frontmatter summary
Update "five key concepts" to "six" and add "delegation" to the
frontmatter summary field, addressing Greptile review comments.
Co-Authored-By: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
---------
Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
- Restored docs/ directory that was accidentally deleted by `git add -A`
in the v0.2.3 release script
- Replaced generic "P" favicon with actual paperclip icon using brand
primary color (#2563EB)
- Added light/dark logo SVGs for Mintlify navbar (paperclip icon + wordmark)
- Updated docs.json with logo configuration for dark/light mode
- Fixed release.sh to stage only release-related files instead of `git add -A`
to prevent sweeping unrelated changes into release commits
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
