Files
PaperClipAI/doc/testing-native-remote-continuity.md
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DottaandPaperclip db11d899cf fix(native): recover remote sessions while preserving warm runs (#16451)
## Thinking Path

> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work.
> - Native agents keep remote processes and conversation history across
warm turns.
> - A completed turn can leave handoff authority only in controller
memory.
> - Losing that controller can block a follow-up even while its sandbox
survives.
> - This pull request verifies durable ownership and reconnects the
exact prior process before handing it to the next run.
> - Healthy follow-ups stay warm. Recovery preserves saved work without
replaying a completed turn.

## Linked Issues or Issue Description

**What happened?**

A remote warm turn can finish without suspended backup authority. A
replacement controller rejects that prior owner even when its exact
process and completed checkpoint remain. A single unavailable identity
probe can also stop an otherwise valid reattachment.

**Expected behavior**

Keep healthy follow-ups warm. Recover a completed session after proving
that its controller stopped and that the successor holds current
authority. Reuse compatible processes; otherwise save and resume the
conversation. Retry unavailable identity reads within one shared
deadline.

**Steps to reproduce**

Use `doc/testing-native-remote-continuity.md`. Its Linux cases execute
real turns through PostgreSQL, TLS ingress, and the Rust runner. They
kill a separate controller process, recover old checkpoint metadata, and
change process configuration. The provider is deterministic.

Related: #16432 and #16441 fix live warm-owner handoffs. #16341 adds
recovery diagnostics. #14695 covers provider process retention.

## What Changed

- Preserve warm process reuse between healthy remote turns.
- Verify a committed prior result, stopped controller, matching
checkpoint and sandbox, and current task/coordinator ownership before
recovering an orphaned warm session.
- Reconnect through the prior run route, then use the existing
authenticated run attachment to change authority.
- Persist a process-configuration digest. Close and save recovered
sessions when old or changed configuration cannot support reuse.
- Retry unavailable state, marker, and process reads within one
30-second deadline. Keep signals and definitive identity failures
single-attempt.
- Record closed recovery diagnostics, including unreadable or malformed
saved state.
- Retire the recovery-only ownership check after verified attachment, so
later warm turns use their current authority.
- Add real-process Linux regressions and refusal controls.
- Expose the existing source-only file-recovery form for retained native
holds, with the same board authority, evidence, and exact stop-receipt
requirements as legacy holds. Recording recovered files does not change
task status or replay a run.

## Verification

- `pnpm -r typecheck` passed; the server check was repeated for the
third-turn fix.
- `pnpm build` passed after the final UI change. The UI typecheck, token
gates, and map checks also pass.
- Four Linux continuity cases passed: warm reuse, controller loss,
legacy checkpoint metadata, and changed configuration. Each creates one
conversation and starts exactly three turns, including a healthy
follow-up after recovery. The fixture uses expired prior leases; the
third turn keeps the runner and provider processes.
- Greptile caught the retained recovery gate; the third-turn regression
now covers it. An initial test omitted the heartbeat’s saved input and
left a test process after failure; the fixture was corrected and its
disposable container reset before the passing run.
- The current focused executor/restart group passes all 749 tests,
including the original failure classifications.
- Native file-recovery and UI tests pass (52 tests), including blocked
tasks and both native and legacy holds.
- After merging current master and retaining its equivalent CI
expression check, the CI policy tests pass (15 tests) and all four
three-turn Linux continuity cases pass again on
`dec418ae55ff21b4fb067132613658cce445f181`.
- `pnpm test:run` completed its general server group with 20,572 passes,
103 skips, and three failures: the skill-audit child process and two
HTTP test timeouts. The same three suites then passed in isolation (89
tests) without code changes. That local command stopped before later
groups; the complete final-head CI, including general, serialized,
Runner, build, and browser gates, is green.
- Greptile reviewed the combined head
`dec418ae55ff21b4fb067132613658cce445f181` at 5/5 with no actionable
findings; both earlier findings are resolved. All final-head CI gates
and the security scan passed. Staging deployment and retained-incident
disposition remain deployment acceptance work.

## Risks

- Recovery requires exact durable evidence. Live conflicting
controllers, replacement sandboxes, Stop/pause, and uncertain effects
must remain blocked.
- After controller loss, tool-contract or process-configuration changes
can restart the provider. Normal healthy follow-ups retain their
processes.
- The new idle-recovery path has Linux fake-provider evidence. Live
Codex/OpenCode and retained quarantined-state recovery still need
staging qualification.
- No database schema, telemetry, or runner protocol changes.

## Model Used

OpenAI GPT-6 through Codex, with reasoning, repository inspection, code
execution, and browser tools. The session does not expose a more
specific model version or context-window size.

## 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 (targeted checks and
isolated reruns; full-run limitation recorded above)
- [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 on
`dec418ae55ff21b4fb067132613658cce445f181`
- [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>
2026-10-15 13:26:09 -05:00

3.1 KiB

Native remote continuity regression

The opt-in case in server/src/services/native-runtime/native-runner-restart-recovery.integration.test.ts runs the real executor, PostgreSQL, TLS ingress, Rust runner, remote file transfer, and backup validation against a deterministic fake Codex process in Linux. It checks the same runner process identity and one provider process across three warm turns, provider history reuse, and verified suspension at idle close. Separate cases kill the actual controller process and recover the next turn. They reject a still-live controller and a replacement sandbox before reconnecting. Legacy checkpoints and changed process configuration require verified suspension and replacement, while preserving the conversation and starting each turn once. Recovery can restart a provider to refresh its tool contract; process reuse is required for ordinary healthy follow-ups. Each recovery case includes another healthy turn after the recovered turn and asserts that it does not start another runner or provider process. It does not qualify a live model or a sandbox provider API.

Use a disposable Linux container with Node.js, sh, tar, base64, ps, and setsid. Build paperclip-runnerd and fake-codex-app-server from the checkout's packages/paperclip-runner/runner/Cargo.toml for that container's architecture. Keep the Linux runner binary on the host as well: the product hashes and stages that artifact. Put the fake provider at /opt/continuity/fake-codex-app-server inside the container. Do not put credentials in this container.

Start the container with --init and publish container port 43127 on localhost. Read its assigned port with docker port CONTAINER 43127; an automatic host port can change after a container restart. The test opens a local TLS tunnel to this port. Create a test-only certificate and key:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -nodes \
  -keyout /tmp/continuity-test.key -out /tmp/continuity-test.crt \
  -days 1 -subj '/CN=localhost' \
  -addext 'subjectAltName=IP:127.0.0.1,DNS:localhost'

Create an executable wrapper on the host at /tmp/continuity-fake-codex:

#!/bin/sh
if [ "$1" = '--version' ]; then
  echo 'codex-cli 0.999.0'
  exit 0
fi
exec /opt/continuity/fake-codex-app-server \
  --state-file-in-codex-home --durable-turn-ids --record-process-start \
  --call-log "$PWD/provider-calls.log" "$@"

Run the test with the container name, current host port, and Linux artifact path:

NODE_EXTRA_CA_CERTS=/tmp/continuity-test.crt \
PAPERCLIP_TEST_RUNNER_TLS_KEY=/tmp/continuity-test.key \
PAPERCLIP_TEST_RUNNER_CONTAINER=CONTAINER \
PAPERCLIP_TEST_RUNNER_PORT=HOST_PORT \
PAPERCLIP_TEST_LINUX_RUNNER_BINARY=/path/to/linux/paperclip-runnerd \
PAPERCLIP_TEST_FAKE_CODEX_WRAPPER=/tmp/continuity-fake-codex \
pnpm exec vitest run \
  server/src/services/native-runtime/native-runner-restart-recovery.integration.test.ts \
  -t 'preserves remote warm continuity' --maxWorkers=1

The caller owns the disposable container. Remove it after the run, including after failure; failed cases can retain remote processes and files for inspection. The test cleans up its database and host session directories.