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Author SHA1 Message Date
DottaandClaude Opus 5.5 958f9aa9f3 feat(issues): limit agent-created task trees to parent and child (#19312)
## Thinking Path

> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work.
> - Agents split work into tasks. A task can have a parent task.
> - Today agents can nest tasks to any depth: parent, child, grandchild,
and deeper.
> - Deep agent-made trees are hard to follow, and an agent that works on
a child task makes grandchildren by default.
> - This pull request limits agent-created trees to two levels: a
top-level task and its children.
> - A request for a grandchild does not fail. The server puts the new
task beside the requester and tells the agent.
> - Board users keep full control. They can still nest to any depth.
Existing deep trees stay valid.
> - The pull request also records which task created each new task, so
the audit trail stays complete when the parent changes.

## Linked Issues or Issue Description

No public issue exists. This is the feature description. Related: #16853
(budgets that include descendant work) also reasons about task trees;
this change does not alter its traversal.

**Subsystem affected**

Issues (tasks): create, child create and move in the issue service and
routes. Agent tools, chat suggestions and creation provenance use these
paths.

**Problem or motivation**

Agents create subtasks as deep as they want. An agent that runs on a
child task gets that child as the default parent, so its follow-ups
become grandchildren. The trees become deep and hard to read. The parent
link is also the only record of which task created a follow-up, so that
record is lost when the parent changes.

**Proposed solution**

Limit agent-created trees to a parent and its children. When an agent
asks for a grandchild, put the new task under the requester's parent and
return `parentAdjusted`. Do not reject the request. Keep board users
unrestricted. Record the originating task in a new server-set
`origin_issue_id` column. Keep `origin_run_id` as the originating run.

**Alternatives considered**

Reject grandchild requests with an error. We did not do this, because
agents then fail mid-task. Add a database constraint. We did not do
this, because existing deep trees must stay valid and nesting can return
later.

## What Changed

- Add `MAX_AGENT_TASK_HIERARCHY_DEPTH` (2) and the
`IssueParentAdjustment` type in `packages/shared`.
- Add `resolveNewTaskParent` and `planIssueParentChange` in
`server/src/services/issues.ts`. `create`, `createChild` and `update`
use the agent limit by default (`parentDepthPolicy: "flatten"`).
- The issue create, `/children` and PATCH routes pass `allow_nested` for
board users. For agents, the routes check authorization against the
parent that the server actually writes.
- The requester keeps its behavior when the server moves a task beside
it: `blockParentUntilDone` blocks the requester, and the new task
inherits the requester's workspace and privacy.
- The server never moves a task above a low-trust boundary root that
contains the requester.
- These subsystems keep any depth, because they find their work by
parent: watchdog reviews, monitor recovery, email-channel placement, and
routines that a person configured.
- An agent move of a task that has children skips only the parent change
and returns `reason: "has_children"`.
- Add `issues.origin_issue_id` (nullable, `on delete set null`, indexed)
in migration `0434`. Only the server sets it. The `createdFrom` detail
field, the `createdFromIssueId` filter and task-creation provenance read
it first.
- Chat prompts now let a chat agent create one task, a task with
children, or separate tasks. The conversation is never a parent.
- The runner `create_task` tool accepts an optional `parentTaskId`. A
chat agent can create a top-level task and then put subtasks under it.
The run must be able to read and change the parent. A conversation is
never a parent. The depth limit still applies. Project tools map the
field to `parentId` through the issue route. The protocol manifest,
semantic contracts and eval fixture are regenerated.
- Watchdog runs that have an active watchdog keep their requested parent
on all create paths, because their access is limited to the watched
subtree.
- Fix a bug that the test drive found: the chat (MCP) `create_task`
ignored the requested `status`, so a `backlog` task became `todo` and
started to run. It now uses the same rule as the native tool.
- Update `skills/paperclip`, `doc/SPEC-implementation.md`, and add the
plan `doc/plans/2026-11-05-two-level-task-hierarchy.md`.

## Verification

- `cd server && npx vitest run
src/__tests__/agent-task-hierarchy-depth.test.ts
src/__tests__/agent-task-hierarchy-depth-routes.test.ts`: 19 new tests
for service and route behavior, all pass.
- Related suites (64 files: issues service, thread interactions,
privacy, watchdogs, provenance, runner tool authority, decisions,
routines, project tools): 1208 tests pass. Two tests changed because of
the intended behavior and pass now. Two `email-channels.integration`
tests fail locally because the test cannot find a bundled skill file
from this worktree path. This change does not touch that code.
- `packages/db`: migration safety, snapshot drift and journal tests
pass.
- Typecheck passes for `server`, `packages/shared`, `packages/db`, `cli`
and `ui` (local `ui` errors come only from generated Storybook catalog
files that are absent).
- Local test drive on an isolated instance with real Claude agents: 29
of 29 use cases pass, including an agent on a child task (follow-ups
placed beside it, with the notice) and a chat that creates a top-level
task with three subtasks.
- I did not run the full `pnpm test:run` or `pnpm build` locally. CI
runs them.

## Risks

- Behavior change for agents: some follow-ups that were grandchildren
are now siblings. The parent of the requester is woken when all its
children finish, which now includes these tasks.
- The runner `create_task` input contract adds one optional field, so
the protocol manifest and the pack contract change. The tool output does
not change: it shows the actual `parentId`, and the activity log records
`parentAdjusted`.
- Migration `0434` adds a nullable column, a foreign key and an index.
It does not backfill rows.
- `IssueCreationSource.run` is now nullable.

## Model Used

- Claude Opus 5.5 (`claude-opus-5-5`) in Claude Code, with tool use
(shell, file edits, local test runs).

## 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
- [ ] All Paperclip CI gates are green
- [ ] Greptile is 5/5 with no open P2s, recommendations, or follow-ups
- [ ] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge

🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code)

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-11-05 21:22:33 -06:00
DottaandPaperclip 7b829efdf6 feat: show tasks created from a task by project (#13241)
## Thinking Path

> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work.
> - A task can cause an agent to create more tasks.
> - Those tasks can belong to other projects or have another parent.
> - The subtask view does not show all work created from the current
task.
> - This pull request adds a Tasks tab with separate subtask and
creation groups.
> - Operators can follow created work without changing its parent or
project.

## Linked Issues or Issue Description

**Problem or motivation**

Operators need to see all work that an agent creates while running for a
task. Parentage alone does not describe this relationship. Legacy and
native runs must follow the same rules.

**Proposed solution**

Show all subtasks in one section. Separately group tasks created from
the source task by their current project, with a No project group when
needed. A created subtask appears in both sections. Use saved run
context and recorded creation activity to find the source task.

**Alternatives considered**

Making all created tasks children would change their hierarchy. Removing
overlap between sections would hide the creation relationship. This
change keeps the two memberships separate.

**Roadmap alignment**

This extends the existing Activity log & action attribution capability.
It does not add a new roadmap area. Related PR: #9727 adds a stored
source-task field and inbound attribution UI. This PR adds the outgoing
task list using existing run and activity records and does not require
that schema change.

## What Changed

- Add a company-scoped createdFromIssueId filter to issue lists.
- Save the actor run during task creation, including legacy child-helper
calls.
- Recover historical run attribution from creation activity when the
origin run is absent.
- Render the production Tasks panel with all subtasks and independently
grouped created work.
- Keep progress only for subtasks. Add folding, hover fades and project
links.
- Fetch all result pages and refresh on issue activity. Show load
failures with Retry.
- Add database, API, UI and pagination tests, design-guide examples and
Storybook pages.

## Verification

- Before rebase: 158 targeted tests passed. Workspace typecheck,
UI/server builds, Storybook build and token gates passed.
- After rebase: full workspace typecheck and build passed. The cursor
fix passes 26 focused tests and UI/server typechecks.
- The full local test command completed its general-server group with
10,563 passing tests and two failures: a missing native-runner fixture
and a concurrency-test timeout. Building the fixture and rerunning both
affected files passed all 41 tests. The local command stopped before its
remaining groups; all corresponding GitHub test shards passed on the
submitted head.
- GitHub checks on commit 3b4bf0bd8: 31 passed, including the aggregate
CI gate, all server/workspace/browser test shards, typecheck, build,
runner verification, canary dry run, policy and security checks. Two
conditional Storybook jobs were skipped by the workflow.
- Greptile reviewed commit 3b4bf0bd8 at 5/5 with no unresolved comments.
- Open Storybook at UX Labs / Tasks Created From a Task / Full Task
Page. Check that a created subtask appears in both sections. Fold each
group and use a project link. Check the No project group and first-task
arrival story.

## Risks

- Old tasks without a saved origin run or attributed creation activity
cannot be linked to a source. The code does not infer a source from a
shared creator or a comment.
- The new list filter reads run and activity records. Source, run,
activity and result stay within the requested company.
- Task creation now saves the actor run when no explicit origin run is
supplied. Existing explicit origins remain unchanged. No database
migration is required.

## Model Used

- OpenAI GPT-6 through Codex. The runtime identifies the model family as
GPT-6 but does not expose a more specific model ID or context-window
size. Used reasoning, repository tools, code execution and browser
inspection.

## 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>
2026-09-11 12:39:08 -05:00