## Thinking Path > - Paperclip manages agent work through adapters and heartbeat runs. > - ACP adapters resolve a timeout for the selected execution target. > - An untouched sandbox timeout uses a four-hour default. > - Heartbeat finalization rebuilt the metadata from the stored zero. > - This made a timed-out sandbox run report an effective timeout of zero. > - This change retains the adapter's resolved policy for accurate run diagnostics. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description **What happened?** ACP sandbox runs with `timeoutSec: 0` use the four-hour default. Their terminal metadata reports `effectiveTimeoutSec: 0` and `timeoutSource: config` because heartbeat finalization only reads the stored agent configuration. **Expected behavior** The result must report the policy the adapter used: `14400` and `sandbox_default`. Explicit limits, fractional limits, explicit unlimited overrides, and local defaults must keep their resolved values. **Steps to reproduce** Run an ACP adapter on a sandbox target with `timeoutSec: 0`. Compare the start log's four-hour policy with the terminal result's effective timeout. The new tests exercise the adapter result and the heartbeat metadata merge without waiting four hours. **Paperclip version or commit** Reproduced from `6eaf218924f0a89faf1c02eb0d6877a6c5c8a2cb`. **Deployment mode** Self-hosted server with an ACP sandbox execution target. Searched open timeout and metadata issues and PRs. Related #14804 exposes timeout configuration in forms; #14496 proposes a default policy; #14833 addresses CLI session retention. This PR changes only ACP result metadata. ## What Changed - Retain the resolved timeout in the ACP result after settlement. - Use validated adapter resolution when merging terminal timeout metadata. Preserve config fallbacks for older adapters and the HTTP millisecond policy. - Test sandbox defaults, explicit and fractional limits, explicit unlimited overrides, local defaults, malformed metadata, and unchanged cancellation fields. - Document the result fields and their meaning. ## Verification - `pnpm -r typecheck` passed. - `pnpm build` passed. - Stop metadata tests: 23 passed. - Reporter and diagnostic suites: 84 passed; two real-Sentry-SDK tests skipped because the optional SDK is not installed. - ACP engine suite: all 206 tests passed with a deterministic local `gemini --version` shim. Ambient host CLI probes made the existing Gemini session-resume fixture intermittent (one assertion failure in each of two broad runs); an isolated 15-case rerun and the clean-base 206-test suite also passed. No assertion or timeout was changed. - `pnpm test:run` is in progress. This PR does not claim a complete local suite pass. - Independent review found no blocking issues. The tests cover real adapter emission and the real metadata merge separately. ## Risks Low runtime risk: this changes result diagnostics. It does not change timeout values, cancellation acknowledgement, cleanup, checkpoint safety, retries, or provider operations. It does not fix the cause of a quiet or long-running tool. Older stored results are not rewritten. The new source values apply only when an adapter returns a valid resolution. ## Model Used OpenAI GPT-6 with reasoning, repository inspection, code editing, and test execution. The deployment-specific 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 - [ ] 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 - [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>
@paperclipai/adapter-utils
Shared utilities for Paperclip adapters: process spawning, environment injection, sandbox/SSH transport, workspace sync, and the round-trip helpers that move code between the local execution-workspace cwd and wherever the agent actually runs.
For the adapter-author guide see
docs/adapters/creating-an-adapter.md
and the in-repo notes at packages/adapters/AUTHORING.md.
Sandbox bridge deadlines
Command-managed bridge control operations (queue reads, input delivery, setup, and cleanup) have a host-enforced deadline of at most 30 seconds per shell command. A shorter configured timeout still applies. These operations cannot inherit the agent run's hours-long lifetime or wait forever on a provider that ignores its timeout. Long-lived agent session commands keep their own limits.
A control timeout reports a transport failure. It does not prove that the remote command stopped and does not replay an uncertain write. The process session closes failed input delivery and uses its existing shutdown path; normal execution settlement must still verify termination.
No-remote-git contract
The local execution-workspace cwd is the only persistence boundary across runs. No adapter may depend on a git remote for cross-run state.
Adapters that run the agent on a different host should use the SSH round-trip
helpers in src/ssh.ts:
prepareWorkspaceForSshExecution({ spec, localDir, remoteDir })— bundles the local cwd (tracked files, dirty edits, untracked additions, and the git history needed to reconstruct it) toremoteDirbefore the run starts. Runs with nogit remoteconfigured.restoreWorkspaceFromSshExecution({ spec, localDir, remoteDir, ... })— syncs the remote cwd back intolocalDirafter the run, including any new commits the agent created. Also runs with nogit remoteconfigured.
prepareRemoteManagedRuntime in
src/remote-managed-runtime.ts wraps both
calls for adapters that want a per-run remote workspace and an automatic
restoreWorkspace() finally hook.
The invariant is pinned by the no-remote-git contract case in
src/ssh-fixture.test.ts, which asserts that a
remote-only commit propagates to the local worktree through the
prepare → restore round-trip with no git remote configured at any point. Do
not regress that test.