Files
PaperClipAI/maps
DottaandPaperclip 370fb50ad4 fix(mcp): keep sibling tools available after transient calls (#16890)
## Thinking Path

> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work.
> - Agents use remote MCP tools through a governed gateway.
> - The gateway lists tools only while their shared connection is
healthy.
> - One failed call currently marks the whole connection as unhealthy.
> - Later calls to healthy sibling tools then fail with
`tool_not_found`.
> - This pull request keeps non-authentication call failures on their
invocation.
> - Agents can continue their work while credential and access gates
remain in force.

## Linked Issues or Issue Description

Refs #10147.

Related work: #15462 fixed oversized and malformed response handling.
#15448 covers timeout and JSON-RPC health handling together with
separate SSE and catalog discovery changes. Its patch still marks fetch
failures and HTTP failures as connection errors. #15325 proposed a
transport failure counter; it has merge conflicts and has not changed
since October 6. #11910 is an older timeout fix with merge conflicts.
This PR covers the remaining fetch and HTTP failure paths on current
master, with the same narrow call-health rule for timeouts and JSON-RPC
failures. It does not include the SSE or discovery changes from #15448.
The timeout session-reset check follows the recovery case discussed in
#15448.

**What happened?**

A shared remote MCP connection works until one call has a network
failure, timeout, HTTP 503, or JSON-RPC error. Every later call on that
connection returns `tool_not_found`, including healthy sibling tools.
Connection setup then asks for user attention even though the failure
did not prove that credentials need repair.

**Expected behavior**

The original invocation retains its failure. Authorized sibling tools
remain callable. The gateway does not replay an ambiguous action. HTTP
401/403, missing credentials, and explicit insufficient scope keep their
access gates.

**Steps to reproduce**

1. Give an agent access to two read tools on one remote MCP connection.
2. Make one tool fail with a network error or HTTP 503.
3. Call the other tool in the same gateway session.
4. Before this fix, the second call fails with `tool_not_found` before
provider dispatch.

**Paperclip version or commit**

`master` at `e6dcd1e8e9`. The regression runs against source with
synthetic data.

**Deployment mode**

Any deployment that uses a shared remote MCP connection. This is a core
gateway issue.

## What Changed

- Preserve connection health after a network failure, timeout,
non-authentication HTTP error, or JSON-RPC error from one tool call.
- Retain HTTP 401/403 and insufficient-scope health gates.
- Retain HTTP 401/403 gates during MCP initialization and its
initialized notification, with HTTP 503 controls for both stages.
- Discard only the upstream session used by a network failure or
timeout. Let the next explicit call initialize again.
- Add sibling-tool regression cases, authentication controls, and real
HTTP header/body timeout checks.
- Update runtime recovery guidance and the feature and access maps.

## Verification

- Red: the four new sibling-tool cases failed on the original
implementation. Each second call returned HTTP 404 with
`tool_not_found`. HTTP 401/403 control cases passed.
- Green: the same six-case selection passed after the production change:
`pnpm --filter @paperclipai/server exec vitest run
src/__tests__/tool-gateway-service.test.ts -t 'keeps sibling MCP tools
usable|keeps the connection blocked' --maxWorkers=1`.
- The regression checks the actual gateway and embedded PostgreSQL. The
injected provider fault preserves the call boundary. It checks failure
recording, no automatic replay, catalog retention, and successful
sibling dispatch.
- The real local HTTP fixture checks cancellation before headers and
during a body, then a successful explicit call with a fresh MCP session.
- `node scripts/check-maps.mjs` and `git diff --check` pass.
- Complete nearby suites pass: 166 tests across
`tool-gateway-service.test.ts`, `tool-gateway.test.ts`,
`remote-mcp-protocol.test.ts`, and `mcp-http.test.ts`, with one test
worker.
- `pnpm --filter @paperclipai/server exec tsc --noEmit` passes after
refreshing Runner TypeScript declarations. The first package typecheck
used declarations from before the rebase and failed two unchanged
native-session call sites; rebuilding that dependency resolved both
errors.
- The rebased head also passes all 11 selected
sibling/authentication/session regressions.
- Review regression red: setup-stage HTTP 401/403 controls failed
because connection health stayed `ok`; the two setup-stage HTTP 503
controls passed. Green: all six setup controls and the complete 166-test
nearby run pass. The fix separately handles typed initialization
authentication failures and preserves the existing caller error. The
server compiler also passes after this change.
- Full repository CI passes on
`256a65ccc302c1c31a80e87f1f91411d955028de`: typecheck, build, test
shards, Runner checks, browser checks, Canary dry run, and aggregate
gates. All checks are terminal: 55 successful, 2 expected skips, and the
separate Paperclip Review check is neutral. Greptile is 5/5 on this
exact head, with no open findings.
- Full repository checks were run in CI. Local verification in this
worktree used the focused suites and server compiler to keep parallel
work bounded.
- This change has no live provider or staging deployment proof.

## Risks

- A provider that remains unavailable can stay listed until a health
check detects the outage. Each call still fails with its original
controlled reason code.
- No automatic retry occurs because a failed remote action may already
have run.
- Already unhealthy connections still need a successful health check
after an upgrade.
- No schema, credential policy, or permission contract changes.

## Model Used

- OpenAI Codex, GPT-6 family, with tool use and code execution. The
runtime does not expose the exact serving model ID or context window.

## 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>
2026-10-19 16:11:15 -05:00
..

Paperclip maps

The maps describe the same capabilities from two perspectives:

  • Feature map: what a person can do, where to reach it, and how to verify the user journey. Preserve its Poteto format.
  • Agent access map: the APIs and agent entry points for those capabilities, their permission boundaries, and access verification.

These are sibling directories under maps/. Each feature file has a same-named agent access companion. Reuse the product map's sub-feature IDs, so tasks/create identifies the same capability in both maps. Product behavior remains governed by the implementation spec; a map cannot grant authority or redefine a permission denial as success.

Access contract

Every business operation needs both an API and a usable agent entry point for an actor authorized to perform it. A dedicated tool is optional when REST, the CLI, an assigned MCP client, or native search_api / call_api already provides the operation. Record which agent surfaces actually have that path; an installed CLI or optional MCP package cannot be assumed available to every native/remote run.

Track these independently:

Dimension Values and meaning
API present, missing, not-applicable, or unreviewed. Use exact methods/paths; distinguish protocols from REST.
Agent access available, partial, missing, restricted, operator-only, not-applicable, or unreviewed. Name the supported surface and actual entry point.
Policy Actor, action/grant, company/resource/ownership scope, responsible-user intersection, run requirements, work modes, and gates relevant to the operation.
Evidence source-only, verified, failed, blocked, or not-run. Source presence and successful board calls are not agent verification.
Review depth baseline records representative operations and known gaps; operation-reviewed enumerates the capability's meaningful operations and their individual access contracts.

Broad capabilities such as task properties must be split into operations before they count as operation-reviewed: renaming, metadata edits, assignment, dependencies, and lifecycle changes can use different tools and permission rules. An available read path cannot certify a write path. List/get/create/update/delete, execution/control, credential handling, and resolution are separate where their authority or transport differs. Do not duplicate request schemas from OpenAPI.

Exceptions and restrictions

Presentation-only state, static developer fixtures, and pre-start/local operator work may use not-applicable for a domain API, with a concrete reason and the existing local path. When a capability combines shared data with presentation, split the operations: browser recents do not exempt resource lookup from API coverage. Promoting local state to a shared feature requires revisiting the entry.

A board-only endpoint is restricted for agent identity, not an automatic exception or a missing API. Cite the enforced policy and record whether the agent can request the authorized human's action and observe its result. An unresolved delegation question remains in Gaps. Company access, a job title, a personal assistant's OAuth grant, or an accepted interaction does not grant board identity. Keep budget, approval, secret and execution authority intact.

Check actual route/service authorization and production tool admission. OpenAPI actor labels and scenario/evaluation tool declarations are supporting metadata; record disagreements rather than using them as proof of access. Native API fallback restrictions, tool field/scope limits, and rollout settings are part of the agent path, even when a legacy agent can call the REST endpoint directly.

Companion file format

Each agent-access-map/<area>.md has an H1, a relative link to its product file, followed by one H2 backticked ID per product sub-feature. Each capability contains these fields:

  • Review: baseline or operation-reviewed.
  • API: presence state and exact operation IDs, or a reasoned exception.
  • Agent access: availability state and concrete entry points by surface.
  • Policy: relevant permission and runtime boundaries, with source references.
  • Evidence: evidence state, reviewed commit and sources or executed proof.
  • Verification: allowed/denied assertions and observable result; record what has actually run separately from the proposed recipe.
  • Gaps: missing APIs/paths, discovery drift, unreviewed operations or policy decisions; use none only for the enumerated scope that was reviewed.

For an operation-reviewed capability, use H3 backticked operation IDs and repeat API, Agent access, Policy, Evidence, Verification and Gaps for each operation. Use small operation names such as create, update, read, or run-now. The enclosing capability has Review: operation-reviewed only after its meaningful operations have been enumerated. The following excerpt shows one operation; include the others before using that review label:

## `definition`

Review: `operation-reviewed`.

### `create`

API: `present` — POST /api/companies/{companyId}/routines.
Agent access: `available` — agent REST, CLI routine create and native call_api
under the enabled rollout and active-run/mode gates.
Policy: same company; assigneeAgentId must be the calling agent; cite the
routine authorization and native API policy sources.
Evidence: `source-only` — reviewed commit and source links; no live proof.
Verification: `not-run` — create an owned routine; reject assignment to another
agent; inspect saved configuration, attribution and retry behavior.
Gaps: verify ownership and responsible-user resolution with a permitted agent
context; source presence alone does not qualify this operation.

Keeping the maps synchronized

When a change adds/removes a capability or changes its behavior, API, permission, tool binding, CLI support, or work mode, update the affected companion and product recipe as appropriate in the same change. Preserve IDs across renames where the capability is unchanged; update the affected cross-links together. Indexes discover recipes automatically. An API-only change may update the companion without rewriting unchanged user instructions.

maintain-verification-skill owns reconciliation of both maps. It follows changed source and authorization, checks real agent reachability, and records product gaps without implementing them during a maintenance pass. The creation skill uses this structure. verify-paperclip consumes the relevant recipes and reports evidence/drift; map editing belongs to maintenance.

Run the structural check after map changes:

node scripts/check-maps.mjs

It checks paired areas/IDs, navigation metadata, required fields, and local references. It does not certify endpoint authorization, production bindings, operation completeness, or live behavior. Source audits must check those against the existing API and tool contracts; avoid a second schema catalog or runtime.

For live access proof, use Paperclip's existing API/runner/MCP fixtures or an owned isolated instance. Use the actual agent identity, target and work mode. Assert the allowed result and relevant denial (another company/private resource, wrong owner, missing grant, invalid run, restricted mode or resolver). Mutations also need persisted state/attribution and retry behavior. Capture evidence using the existing artifact workflow; keep executed run results separate from generated maps/generated/coverage.json, which lists page references.

Local authorship and generated indexes

Change only the recipes, access contracts and stories whose behavior or intent changed. Feature recipes own navigation metadata; stories own small parameters.paperclip annotations. Do not register entries or refresh counts in shared READMEs, inventories, fingerprints or review journals.

node scripts/storybook-catalog.mjs validates and generates aggregate navigation, Storybook data, verification routes and the page inventory. All outputs live in ignored maps/generated/, ui/storybook/generated/, and the ignored Storybook preview.tsx wrapper. Start/build and UI typechecking generate their own inputs. A clean merged checkout therefore assembles both branches' changes automatically.

Git provides history and diffs. PRs, issues and CI artifacts retain review/run evidence for the named revision. Capability associations do not create whole-file review dependencies. Keep durable scenario limits in the affected recipe or story.