## Thinking Path > - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for work. > - The shared ACP adapter engine records agent failures for operators. > - ACP providers can report a failure category, title, and detailed cause. > - Our patch kept only the category in the saved error, so an operator could not diagnose a failure when tracing was off. > - This pull request preserves redacted provider diagnostics in the run error, transcript, and structured run result. > - Operators can now inspect the provider message and any supplied request ID or stack trace after the run ends. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description Refs #13889 (the diagnostic gap; this PR does not update the bundled Claude version). Refs #14484 (related model-refusal classification; this PR retains diagnostics for all terminal failure categories). **What happened?** An ACP turn failed with only `ACP agent reported a terminal service failure.` The provider's title and details were available in memory but absent from the saved error and transcript. **Expected behavior** The run retains useful provider diagnostics even when raw tracing is disabled. Credentials remain redacted. A size limit must report truncation instead of silently removing the cause. **Steps to reproduce** 1. Run an ACP agent that returns an error-severity typed session failure. 2. Include an HTTP error, request ID, and stack text in its title and details. 3. Inspect the failed run with tracing disabled. Before this change, only the category survives. ## What Changed - Both pinned ACPX patches pass complete error text to the in-memory callback, so redaction happens before truncation. - The shared engine retains the sanitized category, title, and details in `resultJson.terminalSessionFailure` and includes the text in the run error and error transcript. - Diagnostics redact configured environment values even under arbitrary names, unknown launch-environment values, connection URL passwords, run credentials, and common credential syntax. Known boolean settings remain readable, while credential values are redacted even when embedded in other text. Diagnostics remove control characters and invalid Unicode. - Title and detail limits keep escaped transcript JSON below the server's chunk limit. Truncated fields include an omission count. The safe run-result projection preserves a byte-bounded diagnostic preview when the result exceeds its byte budget, with an explicit pointer to the full adapter-bounded run error and transcript. - The existing UI and CLI display the error. Diagnostics do not become assistant output. Issue continuation summaries and session-compaction prompts receive only the generic category, preventing provider text from becoming handoff instructions. Existing quota classification, warnings, timeout precedence, and control-channel failure precedence remain in place. - Regression tests cover real ACP child processes with both pinned versions in one-shot and persistent modes, credential redaction, request IDs after the old 4 KiB cutoff, transcript parsing, storage bounds, and database retrieval of oversized multibyte diagnostics. ## Verification - Full CI on `20ad4f5f1f66c46d2c260e6ad0339cbea607b4cf`: **54 passed, 2 intentionally skipped, no pending or failing checks**. Includes typechecking, build, all Vitest shards, Runner checks, browser E2E, and the canary packaging/public-install dry run. - Greptile: **5/5** on this commit. Superagent security scan passes. All review threads are resolved. - Local verification passed: shared ACP engine suite (395 tests); real Claude ACP child-process and diagnostic regressions across both pinned runtimes and both execution modes; run retrieval and model-handoff regressions (59 tests); ACPX patch packaging (16 tests); full typecheck and build. Affected package typechecks and focused tests were rerun after review fixes. - The broad local `pnpm test:run` was stopped after review edits made its cached imports stale. Fresh targeted runs pass, including both affected server suites. Cold-build import failures were also rerun after dependency builds: chat integration (1,063 tests) and tool access (351 tests) pass. The final commit's complete CI matrix is green. ## Risks - Provider diagnostic text is untrusted. This change retains more of it in company-scoped run records. Redaction and size bounds apply before persistence. - Diagnostics are limited to fields the provider supplies. Old runs cannot recover discarded error text. - No schema migration, recovery-policy change, or new Telemetry or OpenTelemetry export. ## Model Used - OpenAI GPT-6 through Codex, with reasoning, repository inspection, code editing, and test execution. The exact serving model ID and context-window size are 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>
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Run-Log Events
Run-log events write to the heartbeat_run_events table
(packages/db/src/schema/heartbeat_run_events.ts:6-20). They are not
Paperclip Telemetry events, and they are not OpenTelemetry exports. A run-log
event needs no operator endpoint.
Native PRP Run-Log Events
The hidden native coordinator writes each validated PRP event to the bound
run's existing event stream before it acknowledges the runner. The row keeps
the PRP eventType, source instance, source event ID, source sequence, protocol
schema version, and a SHA-256 digest of the canonical source envelope. Its
payload is { "prpEvent": <canonical PRP event> }.
PostgreSQL JSONB cannot represent NUL (U+0000), which can occur in command
output such as Vite virtual-module paths. The run-event payload column uses a
lossless storage codec for these events: the JSONB projection renders NUL as
the literal \u0000, and the reserved $paperclipRunEventJsonV1 field contains
the original serialized JSON as a doubly escaped string. Ordinary payloads
retain their existing representation. Drizzle reads restore the exact original
payload before replay, hash validation, redaction, or API presentation. SQL
queries can still inspect ordinary routing fields in the projection; raw SQL
readers of the whole payload must apply decodeRunEventPayload. The column
remains JSONB and requires no schema migration.
The writer locks the native heartbeat_runs row and allocates the existing
per-run seq cursor. A byte-equivalent retry reuses the first row; a changed
retry or source-sequence gap is rejected. Company, issue, agent, run, session,
and runner-source bindings must match the persisted native run. Bootstrap
tickets, reconnect leases, authentication proofs, encryption keys, and raw
credential material are never written to the run log.
These records remain run-log events. They do not create an OpenTelemetry or Paperclip Telemetry export, and legacy adapters do not use this writer.
Omitted Unsafe Workspace Export
workspace_export_omitted is an informational system event in the local run log.
Its payload is { "reason": "restore_unsafe_archive" }, with "legacy": true
when recovering an unsafe failure from an older controller. It records that native
finalization discarded an unsafe export and continued with the accepted result.
It contains no archive names, link targets, or raw error details. It does not
create a task warning, recovery action, Telemetry event, or OpenTelemetry export.
Native Restart Recovery Run-Log Event
Paperclip writes a native.recovery.transition event for every native restart
classification and for graceful restart suspension. This immutable run-log
record lets operators reconstruct recovery decisions without exporting data to
Paperclip Telemetry or OpenTelemetry.
The payload contains the restart kind, recovery request id when one exists, runner disposition, and the controller generation and provider attempt for a claimed recovery. Live-runner adoption also records the runner PID, process group, and process-start fingerprint. A non-claim disposition records a bounded reason instead. Graceful suspension records the signal and confirms that it did not create a retry run.
The event never includes bootstrap tickets, reconnect leases, authentication
proofs, encryption keys, environment variables, provider credentials, command
arguments, or an unsanitized stderr stream. Detailed failed-attempt diagnostics
remain in the bounded native_run_finalizations.recovery_history ledger.
Native Local Process Stop Evidence
The server writes native.local_process_stopped in the same transaction that
clears a local run's process identity, after it verifies that its PID and process
group are absent. The payload contains only those process IDs. Remote process
IDs are never checked against the control-plane host.
The server writes native.process_start_requested before a backend can spawn,
and native.process_identity_recorded when it stores a new native process
identity. Either invalidates an earlier local stop receipt, including a crash
before the new PID callback. Continuation admission accepts only the latest
server-authored event among these three types; provider
source events cannot supply stop authority. These records stay in the local run
log and do not add Telemetry or OpenTelemetry data.
Verified Local Codex Replacement Evidence
The server writes native.stopped_text_turn_verified in the same transaction
that schedules a fresh successor for a stopped local Codex run. It records the
runner and provider process identities, retained-state digests, provider thread
and turn IDs, and IDs of exactly receipted task-completion calls. The server first
checks the complete turn inventory, process-stop receipt, and execution binding.
Unknown actions or changed retained state prevent this event and replacement.
The record documents why the old execution can be retired. It does not make the old session resumable, rewrite provider files, or authorize replay on its own. It remains in the local run log and adds no Telemetry or OpenTelemetry export.
Sandbox Startup Run-Log Event
Paperclip writes one run.startup.step event to the run log for each bring-up
step. This event is a run-log record, not a first-party telemetry event. The
generated telemetry contract does not cover it, so this section is its canonical
contract.
The event payload carries only three fields.
| Field | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
step |
string | The bring-up step name, for example stage.sync. |
durationMs |
number | The wall time of the step. A skipped step reports 0. |
outcome |
string | The step outcome (ok, skipped, or failed). |
The event no longer carries the per-step round-trip count or the provider
duration fields. It dropped roundTrips, providerExecMs, providerGetMs,
createRuntimeMs, and ensureSessionMs. The startup spans in
doc/observability.md carry that detail now. The
sandbox.exec child spans hold the round-trip and provider durations. The
acp.handshake step span holds the create-runtime and ensure-session
sub-times.
To read the detailed timing, use the startup spans. The spans need an OTLP endpoint. A run with no endpoint keeps only the three run-log fields above.
Run Phase Timing Run-Log Event
Paperclip writes one run.phase.timing event to the run log for each
run-lifecycle phase. This event is a run-log record, not a first-party telemetry
event. The generated telemetry contract does not cover it, so this section is its
canonical contract. The producer is emitRunPhaseTiming in
packages/adapter-utils/src/acpx-engine/startup-timing.ts.
The event payload carries only three fields.
| Field | Type | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
phase |
string | The run-lifecycle phase name from the closed allowlist below. |
durationMs |
number | The wall time of the phase. A negative or a non-finite value clamps to 0. |
outcome |
string | The phase outcome (ok or failed). |
The phase field is one member of a closed, low-cardinality allowlist. The
producer drops any event whose phase name is outside this allowlist, so a
free-form label never reaches the run log. The allowlist has twelve phase names.
| Phase | Meaning |
|---|---|
place_workspace |
Place the run workspace. |
start_transport |
Start the agent transport. |
create_runtime |
Create the agent runtime. |
ensure_session |
Ensure the agent session exists. |
configure_session |
Configure the agent session. |
prepare_turn |
Prepare the turn. |
turn |
Run the turn. |
end_session |
End the agent session. |
settle_reuse |
Settle the session for reuse. |
stop_transport |
Stop the agent transport. |
sync_back |
Sync the workspace back. |
release_staging_lease |
Release the staging lease. |
The payload never carries a command, an argument, a path, an environment value,
or a raw identifier. The event rides the ctx.onEvent run-event bridge and is
run-log-only. It needs no OTLP endpoint.
ACP terminal failure diagnostics
The shared ACP adapter engine preserves typed terminal session failures in the
run error, the acpx.error transcript record, and
heartbeat_runs.result_json.terminalSessionFailure. The structured diagnostic
contains the provider category, title, and details. It works when raw provider
tracing is disabled. The existing UI and CLI render the diagnostic as an error,
not as assistant output or an automatic task response.
Issue continuation summaries and session-compaction handoffs retain only the
generic failure category; provider diagnostic prose is not copied into prompts.
Both pinned ACPX patches pass complete title and detail strings to the in-memory
callback. The engine redacts configured environment values (including resolved
secrets with arbitrary variable names), launch environment values outside a
closed allowlist of public process settings, known boolean flags, and run identifiers,
connection URL passwords, the run API key, and common credential forms before
truncation. It removes control characters,
retains line breaks for JSON and stack traces, and preserves up to 4,096 title
characters and 24,576 detail characters. These bounds also keep the escaped
transcript JSON below the server's 64 KiB chunk limit. Longer fields end with an explicit
omission count and appear in truncatedFields. The error message includes the
same sanitized text. Ordinary run retrieval preserves the bounded structured
diagnostic even when multibyte text or other result fields exceed the result
byte budget. In that reduced response, title and details have 1 KiB and 8 KiB
byte budgets, including truncation markers. retrievalTruncated directs callers
to the full adapter-bounded text in the run error or transcript. Other provider
metadata and action payloads are not copied.
Recovery still uses the typed failure category and the adapter's existing classifier. Provider warnings do not become failures, and timeouts or lost control channels keep their authoritative failure messages. These diagnostics stay in the instance's run records and configured run-log storage. They add no Paperclip Telemetry or OpenTelemetry export.
Related instrumentation
The sandbox duplex transport also writes one run-log event as one of its three sinks. See the Sandbox Duplex Transport Instrumentation section in the Observability contract.
Execution recovery
Provider identity diagnostics remain in the local run log. They record the notification method, expected and received thread/turn identifiers, and the classification (root, verified descendant, stale, unrelated informational, or invalid authoritative). They omit the original provider payload and credentials. Repeated informational notices are bounded.
Recovery lifecycle events retain the original structured failure code, retry attempt, next retry time, and predecessor/successor identifiers. Durable status delivery uses an idempotency marker; delivery grants no provider authority. Failed publication is retried without repeating provider work. These records are not first-party Telemetry.
If execution-continuation setup finds that a task no longer exists, is closed,
or its owner changed, the existing cancellation settlement records
continuation_task_ownership_changed. The run and wake request become cancelled
before adapter dispatch, with the run-log message
stale execution continuation cancelled before dispatch. Immediate recovery is
suppressed. Missing source context, authorization failures, and other setup
errors retain their failure classification. An untyped error with the same
message is also still a failure; cancellation requires the typed ownership guard.
Bounded retry exhaustion writes one lifecycle receipt per run, retry reason, scheduled attempt, and retry limit. Repeated or concurrent recovery checks reuse that receipt, including receipts from earlier builds, without advancing the event sequence or publishing another live event. Attention reads select the latest matching receipt in PostgreSQL and project only the run's issue/task identifiers from its context, so historical duplicate receipts cannot multiply run contexts in server memory. Existing duplicate events do not require deletion or migration.
Workspace restore failures
Legacy adapter results can carry workspaceRestoreFailure with the code
restore_permission_denied, restore_lock_timeout, restore_unsafe_archive,
or restore_failed. The heartbeat records workspace_restore_failed and keeps
the run failed and the workspace-finalization barrier closed. Available output,
usage, session metadata, and the previous execution outcome survive settlement.
executionBeforeRestore retains the earlier error code, exit code, signal, and
timeout flag. The ordinary redacted error field retains an earlier error message.
The chat reports the restore phase separately from a missing final response. A saved-plan link requires a stored document and its run-bound revision or a matching run-bound review record. Older unclassified failures use neutral wording. Diagnostics show only a validated relative member path, never an archive link target or host path.
An unsafe archive or an outbound confinement refusal keeps the existing execution recovery hold, including across
conversation resets. It cannot start another model turn until an operator uses
the existing recovery action to record executionReconciliation with
workspaceRepairEvidence (20–12000 characters). This evidence must describe
verified safe staging or repair for the referenced failed run. It does not grant
plan approval. Saved comments, document revisions, and confirmation IDs and
states stay unchanged. Recovery uses the existing delivery identity and links
the successor to the original failed run. Repair does not reset the automatic
retry budget. Transient failures retain the existing
bounded retry policy. Archive confinement remains required.
Sandbox restore tasks also write a Workspace restore diagnostic line to the
run log on failure. phase is workspace or asset, so a failed staged-asset
copy-back (such as credentials) can be distinguished from workspace restoration. The line
contains only an allowlisted OS/transport errorCode (otherwise unknown), an
optional numeric HTTP error status, and an optional bounded process exit code.
Up to four nested causes are inspected. Messages, URLs, filesystem paths, asset
names, credentials, and response bodies are excluded. Every failed outbound
task emits its own diagnostic; nested repository failures are logged once by
the enclosing workspace task. The original error and restore safety policy are
unchanged. These lines stay in the instance run log and its configured durable
storage, and are not new first-party telemetry events.
Codex resume usage snapshot
The native runner retains a bounded local harness.diagnostic event with code
codex_resume_usage_snapshot. It identifies thread/tokenUsage/updated as
resume_usage_snapshot, retains the reported thread and completed-turn IDs,
and records cumulative usage counters. It does not include provider credentials
or message content. The event establishes the accounting baseline; it is not a
new billable usage receipt or a user-facing provider warning. Other provider
identity checks remain in force.
AI subscription contention
A fresh task execution cannot enter this wait. A run that already entered this
wait writes an informational lifecycle event to the local run log. Its
payload contains only retryScheduled, a boolean that reports
whether the scheduler created a retry.
The message distinguishes an automatic retry from work that is no longer eligible.
This pre-provider wait records ai_connection_busy on the cancelled run and does
not consume the provider-failure retry allowance. The event contains no credentials
and creates no Telemetry or OpenTelemetry export.