## Thinking Path > - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for work. > - The Runner uses PRP to send harness events to the host. > - A harness can replace its stored OAuth tokens during a run. > - The host has no PRP signal that tells it to read the updated credential. > - This pull request adds a durable credential update event and observers for supported stores. > - The host can react before it acknowledges the event. Token values stay outside PRP. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description **Subsystem affected** `packages/paperclip-runner`: native provider execution, PRP schemas, and host event delivery. **Problem or motivation** A Paperclip host that consumes PRP needs to react when a harness changes its refresh-token credential. Existing credential copy-back paths do not provide a common event during a warm session. **Proposed solution** Add `auth.credentials.updated` as a P0 runner event. Include only the provider, binding ID, revision, and detection method. Observe native Codex and Codex/Grok ACPX credential files. Retain each pending event across runner restart until the durable outbox accepts it. Raw PRP consumers opt in with `observeCredentials: true` before session open. The bundled transport opts in for fresh sessions. **Alternatives considered** `harness.diagnostic` would mix a runner observation with harness diagnostics. Sending token values through PRP would expose credentials to event logs. Both approaches are unnecessary. **Roadmap alignment** I checked `ROADMAP.md`. This change extends the existing Runner protocol and does not duplicate a planned core feature. **Additional context** Refs: #11094, #14056, #12696. These describe credential copy-back and staging work. This PR adds the notification contract. It does not replace those private credential channels or claim to fix their full scope. ## What Changed - Add strict credential update payload validation to PRP v1, v2, and v3. Regenerate validators, the manifest, and the event catalog. - Watch supported credential directories with `notify`. Add a periodic read as a fallback and check at terminal and close boundaries. - Persist a private baseline and pending event together. Notify on account identity changes and retain the new baseline for later refreshes. Ignore incomplete files, unsafe files, and metadata changes. - Forward the event through the host transport. Test commit-before-ACK delivery and replay. - Commit pending runner observations before suspend and shutdown commands complete. Preserve the provider event backlog. - Create the private ACPX runtime directory before configuring observation. Cover fresh session startup with observation enabled. - Fence asynchronous PRP commits to the current authenticated connection and run authority. Ignore replaced callbacks while preserving the maintenance drain of admitted work. - Deliver observations found during final provider cleanup before clearing terminal recovery state. Retain the outbox and recovery state when the host ACK is lost. - Advance the pending Copilot candidate profile to v19 for the changed shared PRP source hashes. Preserve its v18 history and pending qualification status. Include the current fixture in the Docker build context. - Commit credential updates through an awaited host callback before PRP ACK, including during idle and close. Persist them in a separate run-log source namespace with company, agent, session, and runner checks. - Preserve public event metadata through server redaction. Register the event in task run details. - Document opt-in behavior, supported stores, event semantics, and the local run-log path. ## Verification - All 45 durable runner control tests and 24 native executor integration tests pass. - Ten Rust credential observer tests pass. They cover atomic replacement, polling, recovery, account-only changes and later refreshes for Codex and Grok, unsafe files, fresh runtime creation, and the Grok close handoff. Account identity stays private. - The full Runner TypeScript suite passes: 3,565 tests in 221 files. An additional 12 tests are skipped by the suite. - All 214 focused tests pass for the contract, Codex event routing, catalog, and durable host delivery. - All 13 Node protocol contract tests pass. - The exact Docker context integrity command passes: `docker buildx build --file .github/docker-context-checks.Dockerfile .`. - Rust formatting and generated protocol checks pass. - `pnpm -r typecheck` and `pnpm build` pass. The full local `pnpm test:run` was attempted with CI-compatible `init.defaultBranch=master`, then stopped after a reproducible failure outside this change: `git-workspace-expiration.test.ts` expects one re-expired workspace but gets zero. The same case fails in isolation on this macOS checkout. Full repository validation is provided by CI; the focused Runner and host tests pass locally. - All 253 native transport and restart tests pass against the final release binary. - All 3 durable recovery tests and 139 candidate profile and native admission tests pass. - All 41 host redaction and task protocol surface tests pass. `pnpm check:token-gates` passes. - All 467 CI policy tests pass, including the 15 CI profiling tests. The upstream secret-reference test fix is retained from master. No workflow changes are included. - The Apex host-delivery fix passes 381 targeted Runner tests, six host database tests, repository typecheck, and the production build. The Runner tests cover commit-before-ACK, retry after a rejected host commit, warm attachment, and close after the turn queue ends. - Prior head `2f125cfcb` passed CI, standard Greptile 5/5, and Apex 5/5. One CI shard was interrupted by GitHub runner shutdown; its single rerun passed. Both Apex findings are addressed: idle/cleanup host delivery and late callback reconnect fencing. Current head `5db78f082` passes CI (56 successful statuses and four optional skips) and standard Greptile 5/5. Apex review of the account-change update is 5/5 on this exact head, with no actionable issues. - All 121 durable control-plane and credential callback tests pass, including account-only change delivery, subsequent refresh on the new account during close, host commit retry, late success/failure races, forward cursor delivery on a replacement connection, and the existing maintenance retirement contract. All 27 native provider and durable recovery integration tests pass after the account-change update. ## Risks - File changes signal a stored credential update. They do not prove that an OAuth refresh succeeded. Changes between reads can be combined. - Unix Codex and Codex/Grok ACPX stores are supported. Other harnesses and credentials held only in memory need their own integration. - Hosts must update their event schemas before opting in. Older hosts omit the flag and receive no new event. Older runners ignore the flag. - The host must use its existing private credential channel and account checks to read or copy the token. Account switches trigger notification but do not authorize accepting the new account. The event grants no credential access. - Tests use synthetic credentials. No live OAuth refresh has been forced. ## Model Used OpenAI Codex, exact model ID `gpt-6.1-sol`, with high reasoning effort, repository inspection, tool use, and code execution. The session does not expose its 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 - [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>
PRP v1/v2 Contract
The JSON Schema files in schemas/ are the language-neutral source of truth for
Paperclip Runner Protocol versions 1 and 2. The fixtures in fixtures/ define
accepted and rejected compatibility cases.
Compatibility
protocolVersion,fixtureVersion, andevent.schemaVersionare required.- A consumer fails closed when a required version or schema discriminator is not supported.
- A v1 envelope can contain an unknown optional property when its schema marks that object as extensible.
- A consumer ignores an unknown optional property until a later contract gives it meaning.
- A required field, enum value, or typed structured-input field is not optional.
- Question and answer identifiers are stable across the provider boundary.
- Peers negotiate the highest mutually supported protocol version. Existing v1 runners remain compatible but cannot receive v2-only session-goal commands.
The unknown-optional-fields.json fixture must be accepted. The
unsupported-required-version.json fixture must be rejected.
Session goals (v2)
PRP v2 adds a provider-neutral durable session-goal lifecycle. Every v2
capability snapshot includes sessionGoals, even when its availability is
unsupported or policy_disabled. Paperclip sends controls only when the
negotiated capability advertises the corresponding action.
Commands:
session.goal.getsession.goal.setfor objective, status, and optional token budget changessession.goal.clear
Events:
session.capabilities.updatedsession.goal.snapshotsession.goal.updatedsession.goal.cleared
Goal state is separate from Paperclip's company/business goal hierarchy. The
snapshot distinguishes the durable status from workingNow, because an active
goal can be idle between autonomous turns. A runner emits the full capability
and authoritative snapshot after every session open or resume. Missing v1
capability is unsupported; clients do not infer support from an adapter name.
Harness credential updates
auth.credentials.updated is a P0 runner event available in the v1, v2, and v3 event
schemas. Its payload uses paperclip.auth.credentials.updated.v1 and contains
only provider, bindingId, revision, and detection. No tokens, account
identifiers, credential paths, or credential fingerprints are permitted.
An updated consumer opts in with observeCredentials: true in run.prepare,
before session.open. The bundled runner transport opts in for fresh sessions;
set its observeCredentials option to false to disable observation for a
fresh session. Older hosts that omit the field receive no new event. Consumers
must update their schemas before opting in: an event-enum addition is not an
unknown optional property. Existing runner binaries ignore the optional flag
and do not provide observation; absence of an event does not establish support.
The current Unix runner observes native Codex's managed CODEX_HOME/auth.json
and the Codex/Grok ACPX session homes. It uses a non-recursive directory watch
plus a one-second polling fallback, so atomic file replacement is handled.
Grok's initial inline subscription credential is the baseline, allowing a
refresh during launcher startup to be detected. A first valid credential file
without a prior baseline establishes the baseline without claiming a refresh.
Account identity changes also emit updates, even when token values stay the
same, and establish the baseline for later refreshes on the new account.
Hosts must evaluate the current credential through their private credential
channel and account checks; the event does not authorize an account switch.
Metadata-only changes, partial writes, and deletion do not emit updates.
Unsupported harnesses and refreshes retained only in memory need
their own observer or native-hook integration; adding this event does not make
them observable.
bindingId: "harness-auth" identifies the selected harness authentication
within the envelope's normalized session. Revisions increase for that binding
and survive runner restarts and warm run attachments. The baseline fingerprint
and pending event are persisted together in a private runner state file. Source
retries retain the same event identity until the durable PRP outbox accepts it.
Hosts should commit an idempotent reaction or durable work item through
onCommittedEvent before returning and advancing the cumulative ACK.
The bundled transport exposes onCredentialsUpdated(event) for this commit.
It awaits the callback before ACK, including during warm idle, attachment, and
provider cleanup. Callback failures leave delivery unacknowledged for retry;
callbacks must therefore deduplicate by the original source event identity.
When configured, credential updates bypass the turn notification queue.
Paperclip commits them directly to the run log in a separate credential source
namespace, preserving the original PRP envelope and avoiding collisions with
the driver's normalized event sequence. A turn-only notification consumer
cannot reliably handle idle or cleanup updates; use this callback instead.
detection: "credential_store" reports an observed credential change, not proof
that an OAuth refresh succeeded. Multiple changes between observations can be
coalesced; this is not an audit of every refresh exchange. The schema also
allows native_hook for integrations with an explicit signal. Observation
continues during warm idle and checks at turn terminal and close boundaries,
including Grok's private refresh handoff after live-store cleanup. Retained
runner observations enter the durable outbox before a suspend or shutdown
command completes, without draining the provider backlog. A final check after
provider cleanup also enters the outbox and waits for the host ACK. The runner
retains its terminal recovery fence if that delivery fails.
The event authorizes no credential access or write on its own. A host that needs rotated token values must use a separately authorized handoff with its existing account-identity and freshness safeguards. The default Paperclip credential copy-back behavior remains in place.
Scope
The first provider descriptor and adapter fixture cover Codex only. The schemas for provider-neutral events and semantic receipts do not enable those actions. Discovery and authorization are separate contracts.
The conformance manifest records every source file and its SHA-256 digest. Run
pnpm generate:protocol-manifest from this package after a source change. CI
runs the same generator with --check to reject drift. This check also compiles
the JSON Schemas and validates every replay, question, and cross-language
conformance fixture against its declared schema.
The files in fixtures/replay/golden/ are deterministic reducer oracles. Each
accepted replay fixture has a complete session snapshot and a compact parity
summary. pnpm generate:replay-goldens updates them after an intentional
reducer change; package build and CI fail when they drift.
The files in fixtures/local-runner/scripts/ drive the package-local fake
harness. They cover successful, failed, interrupted, interactive, duplicate
terminal, process-cleanup, and oversized-frame behavior without starting a
production adapter.