---
navigation: {"section":"Oversight and operation","sectionOrder":70,"order":40}
---

# Instance operations

An operator can install and run Paperclip, diagnose the instance, configure supported deployment settings, manage its service, and produce a recoverable database backup.

Implementation: [CLI entry point](../../cli/src/index.ts), [instance settings](../../ui/src/pages/InstanceExperimentalSettings.tsx), [backup command](../../cli/src/commands/db-backup.ts).

Agent access: [companion](../agent-access-map/instance-operations.md).

## Sub-features

- `install-update`: inspect install channel/version and apply supported update or rollback operations.
- `server-service`: start/stop the intended instance and inspect its service health.
- `configuration`: configure database, server binding, storage, secrets, and available experimental settings.
- `diagnostics`: use doctor/health output to distinguish readiness from a listening port.
- `backup`: create and inspect backups and verify restore only into a separate disposable target.

## How to get to it (user POV)

### `operator-cli`

Use `paperclipai install`, `run`, `service`, `doctor`, `configure`, `channels`, or `update --help` for the intended operation.

### `settings-backup`

Use currently visible instance settings for experiments/access and `paperclipai db:backup --help` for one-off backup. Some legacy general-settings URLs redirect.

## Driving it with Playwright and the Paperclip CLI

Preconditions: follow the [baseline](./README.md#before-driving-a-journey). Use a disposable data directory/service identity. Do not update, restart, or restore over an unrelated live instance as a documentation test.

### `operator-cli`

Automated: [doctor](../../cli/src/__tests__/doctor.test.ts), [update command](../../cli/src/__tests__/update-command.test.ts), and [service manager](../../cli/src/__tests__/service-manager.test.ts) cover command contracts.

Manual: Inspect the selected installation/channel and configuration, start the isolated instance, confirm health and browser access, then stop that instance. For update changes, use the dry-run/check path first and verify installed version and rollback state on an owned disposable installation.

Routine HTTP monitoring may use `GET /api/liveness` (or `HEAD`). It returns only
process startup status and the public build commit without SQL or authentication.
It remains reachable during an idle drain. Use `/api/health` for explicit database
readiness, signed bootstrap, and authorized diagnostics; liveness does not
establish database health or claim a workspace.

Automated: [static UI idle completion](../../server/src/__tests__/static-ui-idle.test.ts)
covers real aborted file streams, disconnects before file lookup, nested routers,
and unfinished parent/fallback writes. Mounted Express applications retain their
conservative hold. It does not qualify provider cleanup or a hosted sleep/wake cycle.

Manual: On an otherwise idle disposable instance, close a static UI download
served by the admitted application before it finishes. Repeat with a disconnect
before headers arrive. Confirm that neither leaves a permanent request hold. An
unfinished application write must still prevent sleep after its client leaves.

### `settings-backup`

Automated: [experimental settings](../../ui/src/pages/InstanceExperimentalSettings.test.tsx) and [database backup routes](../../server/src/__tests__/instance-database-backups-routes.test.ts) cover their UI/API contracts.

Manual: Change a harmless experimental setting, reload, and confirm the affected route honors it. Back up a disposable instance, inspect the reported file and metadata, and restore using the documented procedure into a second isolated target. Verify a known record after restoration.

Cloud staging: On a managed `*.staging.paperclip.app` instance, verify experiments
are visible, Cloud-enabled controls are locked on, and other experiments are
editable by a Cloud stack Admin or instance admin with changes surviving reload.
With an old stored false value and a Cloud true value, verify the effective
setting is true and an API attempt to disable it returns 403 without saving.
Repeat the enabled-feature check on production and managed stacks without a hostname.
As a stack Admin, verify a harmless experiment saves while general instance
settings and task-drain operations remain denied. Demote that user to Member
and verify the next experimental write is denied.
Production keeps its hidden controls and managed feature values. Staging retains
other Cloud restrictions. [Settings policy tests](../../server/src/__tests__/instance-settings-managed-overlay.test.ts),
[route tests](../../server/src/__tests__/instance-settings-routes.test.ts), and
[health tests](../../server/src/__tests__/health.test.ts) exercise simulated Cloud
identities and persistence; they do not establish a deployed staging walkthrough.

## Gotchas

- Source-checkout update/check commands report manual update guidance; they do
  not qualify a managed installation. Rollback restores retained CLI payloads,
  not database migrations. Service status applies to its selected service
  identity, not automatically to an owned foreground dev server.

- A successful backup write does not prove restoration works.
- Settings visibility and mutability differ for cloud-managed and self-hosted instances.
- Keep the three data paths distinct: first-party Telemetry, operator-configured OpenTelemetry, and local run logs.

### Storybook verification

#### `backup`

Scope: ui
Storybook: Mount shipped InstanceGeneralSettings in CompanySettings with daily/weekly/monthly retention presets, selected values, saving/error/loading and cloud-hidden controls. Backup creation and restore remain separate CLI/operator checks.
Production: PATCH /api/instance/settings/general must enforce instance settings authority and managed hidden fields, persist retention and survive reload. Separately inspect a real backup and restore a known record into a second disposable target; a successful write does not prove restoration.
Sources: Source: [InstanceGeneralSettings.tsx](../../ui/src/pages/InstanceGeneralSettings.tsx), [CompanySettings.tsx](../../ui/src/pages/CompanySettings.tsx), [instance-settings.ts](../../server/src/routes/instance-settings.ts), [db-backup.ts](../../cli/src/commands/db-backup.ts). Tests: [InstanceGeneralSettings.test.tsx](../../ui/src/pages/InstanceGeneralSettings.test.tsx), [instance-settings-routes.test.ts](../../server/src/__tests__/instance-settings-routes.test.ts), [instance-settings-managed-overlay.test.ts](../../server/src/__tests__/instance-settings-managed-overlay.test.ts), [instance-database-backups-routes.test.ts](../../server/src/__tests__/instance-database-backups-routes.test.ts)

#### `install-update`

Scope: cli
Storybook: No authored story required for install, channel selection, update or rollback command execution.
Production: Use an owned managed installation: check/dry-run, installed version, retained payload rollback and failure. Source-checkout guidance is a separate case; rollback does not undo database migrations.
Sources: Source: [index.ts](../../cli/src/index.ts), [install.ts](../../cli/src/commands/install.ts), [update.ts](../../cli/src/commands/update.ts). Tests: [install-command.test.ts](../../cli/src/__tests__/install-command.test.ts), [update-command.test.ts](../../cli/src/__tests__/update-command.test.ts)

#### `diagnostics`

Scope: cli
Storybook: No authored story required for doctor/health command results.
Production: Run doctor against an owned data directory; check readiness and nonzero failures. A listening port alone does not prove readiness; repair requires observing the repaired result.
Sources: Source: [doctor.ts](../../cli/src/commands/doctor.ts). Tests: [doctor.test.ts](../../cli/src/__tests__/doctor.test.ts)