PaperClipAI/packages/paperclip-runner/spec/capability/catalog-reconciliation.md

Semantic Catalog Reconciliation

Document status: Canonical reconciliation ledger (TASK-17025 gate + TASK-17039 collapse)
Date: 2026-08-11
Source of truth: src/catalog/canonical-operations.ts (CAPABILITY_CANONICAL_OPERATIONS) — the single hand-authored 41-operation list. Both catalog modules derive their operation set, placement, required claims, and task-mode policy from it.
Drift authority: src/catalog/reconciliation.ts (machine-readable ledger), drift-checked by src/catalog/reconciliation.test.ts and src/catalog/catalog-docs.test.ts.
Parent plan: Runner foundation review plan (TASK-17016), deliverable D and execution step 1.

Purpose

The runner carried two independently hand-maintained semantic catalogs. TASK-17025 established one machine-readable authority over both and recorded every divergence. TASK-17039 performed the physical collapse: the authoritative operation list, placement, required claims, and task-mode policy now live once in src/catalog/canonical-operations.ts, and both catalog modules derive from it — neither declares an independent operation list or an independent claim/mode policy any longer. Each catalog supplies only its per-surface presentation (title, description, input/output schema, and the scenario-only mock mapping and redaction rules), and a bidirectional parity check fails the build if either catalog's presentation set drifts from the canonical surface.

The two catalogs

Catalog	Module	Count	Descriptor	Consumers
Scenario / eval	src/tools/	37 (14 always + 23 optional)	Rich: placement (disposition), sideEffectClass, idempotency, redaction, mockCommandMapping	src/scenarios/*, src/conformance/*; package-root default export
Live runtime	src/semantic-tools/	28 (13 always + 15 optional)	Live: exposure, allowedModes, disabledByDefault, provider input/output schemas; runtime dispatcher + policy + redaction	src/live/* (live Codex), src/issue-thread/*, generated semantic-tool-contracts.json; package-root acceptedCapabilitySemanticTools

Reconciled op-set relationship (pinned by the drift test):

• 24 shared operation ids.
• 13 scenario-only: administer_company, export_company, inspect_operation_result, list_cases, list_company_skills, list_goals, list_projects, list_routines, list_secret_metadata, manage_routine, read_secret_value, sync_company_skills, upsert_case.
• 4 live-only: get_agent, get_approval, get_approval_context, schedule_wake.
• Union = 41 operations.

Canonical authority decision

• Single source of truth: src/catalog/canonical-operations.ts hand-authors the 41-op union exactly once (CAPABILITY_CANONICAL_OPERATIONS), each entry naming surfaces, placement, optional group, claims, task modes, roles, side-effect class, idempotency, disabled-by-default, real-binding status, PRP evidence, and legacy aliases. Both catalog modules import it and project it: src/tools/ renders the rich scenario descriptor and src/semantic-tools/ renders the live provider descriptor.
• Drift ledger: src/catalog/reconciliation.ts enriches the canonical list with the scenario mock mapping and redaction flag (CAPABILITY_CANONICAL_CATALOG), and capabilityCatalogReconciliation() recomputes the op-set summary and any remaining metadata divergence between the two catalogs' actual descriptors.
• Neither src/tools/ nor src/semantic-tools/ is canonical; both are projections of canonical-operations.ts.

Real-binding status (before real Paperclip service binding)

No operation is bound to a real Paperclip service yet; the deterministic mock is the only backend (real-service binding is deliverable G). Each operation's current executability is classified as:

• live_codex (27): executed by the live dispatcher against the mock and exposed to live Codex — the 24 shared ops (minus the test-only escape hatch) plus the 4 live-only ops.
• scenario_mock (13): defined only in the scenario/eval catalog and driven through the scenario runtime / mock extensions; no live dispatcher binding.
• test_only (1): generic_api_request — the escape hatch, which by rule cannot count as product capability coverage.

Divergence ledger (after the TASK-17039 collapse)

requiredClaims and task modes are single-sourced from canonical-operations.ts, so the two catalogs cannot diverge on them; the drift test asserts both divergence sets are now empty. The reconciliation ledger recomputes divergences from the two catalogs' actual descriptors:

• Claims (0): unified. generic_api_request carries a single claim, test:generic_api_request, on both surfaces.
• Task modes (0): unified to one canonical policy — the live runtime exposure policy unioned with skill_test. Reads stay open in every mode; work-writes (report_progress, write_document, request_human_input, register_deliverable) allow standard/planning/skill_test; lifecycle and state writes (finish_task, block_task, request_review, create_task, set_dependencies, request/decide/comment approvals, control_workspace_service) allow standard/skill_test. The skill_test mode makes every operation the eval harness must drive drivable, while the live runtime keeps its intended per-mode exposure.
• Input-schema shape (reviewed intentional projection): one input contract is projected two ways by design — the live provider descriptor threads idempotencyKey in-band with provider length/pattern bounds for the model, while the observable scenario runtime threads idempotency out-of-band. This is a single reviewed projection recorded in the ledger, not two independently authored schemas.

Effect on live provider schemas (QA gate)

• The generated live contract golden generated/capability/semantic-tool-contracts.json is byte-identical after the collapse: it serializes name, description, input/output schema, exposure, and required claims — none of which changed on the live surface (allowedModes is not serialized).
• The live runtime allowedModes gained skill_test for the nine previously standard-only operations (finish_task, block_task, request_review, create_task, set_dependencies, request_approval, decide_approval, control_workspace_service, schedule_wake). This is a behavioral change to eval-harness exposure only; real live tasks never run in skill_test mode.

Legacy MCP aliases

Legacy MCP aliases are indexed in spec/capability/mcp-tool-map.yaml (inventoryRole: legacy_alias_index, generated from packages/mcp-server). Each alias row carries a foldedInto disposition linking it to the native eval/ operation that now covers its behavior; the reconciliation drift test asserts every row has one. The authority additionally records the direct native operation for the well-known aliases (for example paperclipListAgents → list_agents, paperclipGetAgent → get_agent, paperclipListIssues → search_tasks, paperclipCreateIssue → create_task).

Collapse decisions executed by TASK-17039

1. One source of truth. src/tools/ and src/semantic-tools/ no longer declare independent operation lists; both project CAPABILITY_CANONICAL_OPERATIONS. Placement, optional group, required claims, task modes, allowed roles, side-effect class, idempotency, and disabled-by-default are single-sourced. Bidirectional parity checks fail the build on any drift between a catalog's presentation and the canonical surface.
2. generic_api_request claim unified to test:generic_api_request (scenario callers/tests updated). It stays test_only and is excluded from product capability coverage.
3. One canonical task-mode policy (live runtime policy ∪ skill_test); the ledger's 15 task-mode divergences are resolved to zero.
4. Input schema unified as one contract, projected two ways — idempotency in-band with provider bounds for the model, out-of-band for the observable scenario runtime — recorded as the single reviewed intentional projection.
5. Placement of scenario-only (13) and live-only (4) operations retained. The 13 scenario-only ops stay scenario_mock (eval-only via mock extensions); the 4 live-only reads/continuation ops (get_agent, get_approval, get_approval_context, schedule_wake) stay live_codex with no scenario projection. No operation crossed surfaces this increment; a future real-service binding (deliverable G) is where scenario-only ops would gain a live binding.

Consumed by the real-surface-ledger (deliverable B) and eval (deliverable F) tasks: the live contract golden is unchanged; the only behavioral delta is the allowedModes skill_test addition described above.

Verification

• src/catalog/reconciliation.test.ts — pins the op-set relationship, asserts both catalogs derive their operation set from the canonical source, asserts claims/modes/placement are single-sourced (no divergence), and requires a reviewed disposition for the surviving input-schema projection.
• src/catalog/catalog-docs.test.ts — recomputes the catalog counts and membership in docs/capability-semantic-tools.md from the catalog so a stale hand count fails.
• Live golden byte-identity checked by check:semantic-contracts; the scenario and live runtime behavior is covered by the test:scenarios suites.