## Thinking Path > - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for work. > - The runner package already provides the production protocol and execution spine. > - Contributors still need stable SDK surfaces, deterministic test tools, and local inspection tools. > - Those surfaces share generated contracts and must change as one package boundary. > - This pull request adds the package-local SDK, labs, examples, and drift checks. > - The benefit is a reviewable developer platform that does not change application execution selection. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description **Subsystem affected** `packages/paperclip-runner` — runner SDK, conformance tools, and developer tooling. **Problem or motivation** The production runner spine is present, but package consumers cannot build deterministic integrations, inspect sessions, or verify provider-neutral behavior through supported surfaces. **Proposed solution** Add browser, React, standalone, live-session, scenario, conformance, and evaluation surfaces. Add generated contract inventories and package-local verification scripts. Keep production application routing unchanged. **Alternatives considered** We considered splitting each generated catalog, SDK surface, and demo into separate pull requests. Those changes share exports, fixtures, and drift gates. Splitting them would create intermediate package states that do not build. **Roadmap alignment** No overlapping item appears in `ROADMAP.md`. This work extends the runner package that is already on `master`. ## What Changed - Add browser, React, standalone, live-session, and issue-thread SDK surfaces. - Add deterministic mock control-plane, scenario, conformance, replay, and evaluation tools. - Add bounded Codex, OpenCode, and ACPX development transports and fixtures. - Keep deferred managed-provider execution fail-closed. Persisted compatibility data remains readable. - Add generated capability inventories with their source files and drift checks. - Add examples, package documentation, browser checks, and clean-consumer checks. - Preserve the reviewed protocol bounds, replay compatibility aliases, process environment isolation, and semantic redaction limits. - Update the ACPX package patch that the existing workspace patch registry already tracks. - Do not change `pnpm-lock.yaml`, repository workflows, server runtime selection, or the application UI. ## Verification GitHub Actions is the verification authority for this pull request. The repository CI, package TypeScript and Rust checks, package tests, generated-output drift checks, browser checks, security scans, and Greptile review must pass on the exact head. Local test suites were not run because this series uses parallel GitHub Actions for verification. ## Risks This is a large greenfield package change. The main risks are public export drift, generated-output drift, and optional React consumer compatibility. Package boundary checks, clean-consumer checks, and browser tests cover those risks. Production adapter selection and server execution are outside this pull request. ## Stack 1. **This PR:** runner SDK and developer tooling. 2. [Codex production server integration](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/12616). 3. [Provider-neutral task-thread UI](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/12617). ## Model Used OpenAI Codex, GPT-5, high-reasoning mode, with tool use and code execution. ## 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 described the issue in-PR following the feature request template - [x] I have not referenced internal/instance-local Paperclip issues or links - [x] My branch name describes the change and contains no internal Paperclip ticket id - [ ] 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 risks above - [ ] All Paperclip CI gates are green - [ ] Greptile is 5/5 with no open P2s, recommendations, or follow-ups - [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before requesting merge
Paperclip Native Runner
This package is the standalone development boundary for Paperclip's native
runner protocol, process supervision, durable transport, provider drivers, and
normalized session backends. Rust owns the production runner under runner/;
TypeScript provides the control-plane reference, browser SDK, scenario tools,
and conformance oracle.
The package includes one coherent set of capabilities: PRP v1 validation and replay, a supervised local runner with a scripted fake harness, durable WebSocket delivery and recovery, a skillless Codex app-server driver, live session and issue-thread surfaces, a public browser/React SDK, a standalone adapter demo, and a deterministic mock control plane. None of these surfaces imports or starts Paperclip's server, UI, CLI, or production database.
Public package surfaces
@paperclipai/paperclip-runner— production contracts, clients/backends, PRP validation/replay, canonical catalog/dispatcher, and compatibility check.@paperclipai/paperclip-runner/testing— deterministic mocks plus PRP and semantic conformance kits. Tests and external conformance consumers import this explicitly.
The package root has no mock or scenario exports, and the workspace has no separate eval-package importer. Provider-backed eval campaigns remain deferred. See ADR 0001.
The two conformance surfaces intentionally prove different contracts. The
existing runControlPlanePortConformance suite checks narrow PRP run/event
persistence. CAPABILITY_HIGH_RISK_SEMANTIC_VECTORS and
runSemanticConformanceKit compare normalized tool authorization, state,
effects, audit, retries, conflicts, redaction, continuation, and terminal
decisions. The production adapter stays App-owned and invokes Paperclip's real
route/service authorities; it does not copy those rules into this package.
Quick start
The package also builds paperclip-runner-acpx-sidecar. This bounded v2
stdin/stdout bridge admits the qualified Codex ACPX profile only. It validates
the exact model, session identity, tool catalog, structured input, and terminal
settlement at the process boundary. Runnerd and the server do not select this
sidecar in this slice. Other ACPX agents remain unavailable.
The Rust core includes a bounded client for this sidecar protocol. It enforces request identity, event order, frame and queue limits, timeouts, redacted diagnostics, and process-group cleanup. This transport remains package-local. It does not change runnerd provider selection in this slice.
Before a later provider adapter consumes a valid sidecar event, the Rust core also requires its optional or mandatory run and turn scope to match the active execution. Process and diagnostic events can remain global. All operational, tool, input, permission, and terminal events require the exact active binding.
A package-local payload boundary decodes events only after that scope check. It validates control identities, terminal status, question sets, and the admitted runtime event types and bounded fields. It redacts diagnostic and retained event values again before they can enter provider state.
Validated ACPX runtime events normalize into the same provider-neutral activity families as the direct Codex transport. Reasoning contents stay private. Tool targets are resolved within the workspace under the provider host's path semantics and receive a versioned sidecar boundary marker before becoming bounded, display-only PRP safe paths. Raw or unmarked provider locations fail closed. URI-scheme and Windows drive-shaped values require a separate sidecar attestation backed by an existing in-workspace entry or, for a not-yet-created edit target, an existing in-workspace parent. This preserves real POSIX colon filenames without treating arbitrary URI text as a path. Windows separators are canonicalized, and consumers must not reinterpret the display value as file-access authority. Operational semantic-result and terminal events remain reserved for the stateful adapter rather than being duplicated.
The package-local ACPX provider reducer preserves that order while it tracks one active turn, bounded assistant text, semantic results, and pending tool or input correlations. Terminal events flush the final assistant message first and clear unresolved turn-scoped requests. This reducer still does not select ACPX in runnerd.
The package-local session bootstrap starts the bounded sidecar transport, verifies the Codex-only capability handshake and effective model, opens one identity-bound session, and confirms its run attachment. Any failed bootstrap terminates the process; session shutdown preserves persistent provider state. The session can then start one immutable-workspace turn, request interruption, and reduce polled events through the scope-first state boundary. A mismatched command acknowledgement or invalid event terminates the session fail closed. Polled semantic calls pass through the run-scoped authorized tool bridge before they can be returned to a caller. Before a follow-up turn releases settled tool receipts, runner-core suspends and reaps the idle sidecar/provider generation, then resumes the same verified persistent identity in a fresh generation. This prevents a late session-lifetime MCP callback from inheriting the next turn's event authority.
The Rust question-response validator checks the versioned response envelope against the exact persisted question IDs, answer modes, options, required answers, custom-answer policy, and text constraints before provider delivery. Tool results and structured question responses then use two-phase resolution: validate retained identity and schema, require the exact sidecar acknowledgement, and only then clear pending local state. Codex permission requests violate its pinned sidecar policy and terminate the session fail closed. Safe suspension is available only with no active turn or pending request. The sidecar must return the exact persistent session identity before runnerd terminates the local process. Already validated ACPX reducer events project into provider-neutral durable events only with an exact run, session, turn, and item binding. Raw sidecar envelopes and permission requests are not admitted at this boundary. A safely suspended session can be recorded as a bounded private checkpoint. The checkpoint binds the exact provider identity, run, catalog revision, and catalog digest and is replaced atomically before a later recovery attempt. Recovery releases the stored identity only after those bindings match the prospective session configuration exactly.
Run the complete contract gate with:
pnpm install --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner --lockfile=false --offline --ignore-scripts --dev
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner verify
The verification command requires a stable Rust toolchain with cargo on
PATH, in addition to Node.js 24.11+ and pnpm 9+.
Minimal Debian/Ubuntu hosts without root access can extract the required Playwright browser libraries into a user-owned cache and run the same acceptance sequence with:
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner verify:rootless
The tracer's final line is stable:
{"schemaVersion":"paperclip.runner.conformance.output.v1","runIdentity":{"runId":"run_conformance_0001","sessionId":"session_conformance_0001"},"result":{"status":"succeeded","summary":"Standalone Conformance fixture accepted."}}
Run only the tracer with:
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner trace:conformance
Replay the Replay happy path, run a Local session, or open the browser devtool:
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner replay:fixture
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner trace:local-runner -- --scenario happy-path
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner trace:codex
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner demo:live-console -- --host 127.0.0.1 --port 4174
# Live console: chat with a live session in the browser.
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner console:live-console
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner browser:dev --host 127.0.0.1 --port 4179
# SDK: open the public-SDK reference console and mini consumer.
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner console:sdk
# Standalone: run the standalone legacy/native/kill-switch tracer and page.
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner trace:standalone
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner trace:standalone -- --feature-flag enabled
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner trace:standalone -- --feature-flag enabled --kill-switch enabled
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner demo:standalone
Live console provider-backed routes are loopback-only and reject wildcard/LAN
binds. Browser mutations require same-origin Fetch Metadata, matching Origin,
and JSON content; see the protocol-server tutorial for direct curl examples.
Package-owned commands
| Command | Purpose |
|---|---|
build |
Compile the TypeScript public surface, Rust workspace, and browser devtool. |
typecheck |
Check TypeScript, Rust, generated schema sources, and browser types. |
test |
Run Rust/TypeScript fixture, supervisor, fake-driver, live/replay, and boundary tests. |
check:forbidden-imports |
Reject TypeScript imports and Cargo path dependencies that cross into Paperclip core. |
check:tracked-imports |
Reject tracked imports and package.json entry points that only resolve against untracked files, so a clean checkout of any commit builds. |
check:numbered-milestones |
Reject numbered construction-milestone names in tracked package paths and source. |
check:package-boundaries |
Enforce the acyclic runtime/testing dependency and manifest boundary. |
check:clean-consumers |
Pack the runner and install its root and testing exports in a clean consumer. |
check:conformance-parity |
Require byte-for-byte equivalent Rust and TypeScript tracer output. |
check:replay-goldens |
Require all reducer snapshots and cross-language summaries to match checked goldens. |
check:replay-parity |
Run TypeScript and Rust against the same Replay fixture summaries. |
check:browser-tokens |
Reject component-local visual literals and require the standalone token layer. |
docs:validate |
Validate local documentation links. |
trace:conformance |
Run the Rust mock-core tracer, print the stable result, and exit. |
trace:conformance:typescript |
Run the TypeScript reference tracer directly. |
replay:fixture |
Validate and reduce a fixture to a final snapshot. |
trace:local-runner |
Run one native local session through the Rust runner and fake harness. |
trace:codex |
Run the mock core with a real, local skillless Codex app-server session. |
demo:live-console |
Start the package-local HTTP/SSE server with server-only Codex authentication. |
console:live-console |
Start the standalone browser devtool with the Live console on 127.0.0.1:4180. |
console:sdk |
Start the public-SDK reference console and mini consumer on 127.0.0.1:4181. |
test:sdk |
Run targeted browser-client, reducer-projection, and React component contract tests. |
test:browser:sdk |
Exercise both consumers with the fake driver, keyboard/a11y checks, reconnect/replay, measurements, and screenshots. |
record:sdk:codex |
Run both public consumers against a safe real Codex session and capture live screenshots. |
check:capability-contract |
Verify the generated capability, legacy MCP, and eval traceability contract. |
check:semantic-contracts |
Verify the provider-neutral semantic tool contract is current. |
trace:live-runner |
Run the real runnerd/Codex semantic loop against the mock control plane. |
demo:scenarios |
Start the Capability scenario explorer over the mock control plane on 127.0.0.1:4183. |
console:issue-thread |
Start the Paperclip-style issue thread on 127.0.0.1:4184. |
test:scenarios |
Run the scenario index, run-artifact, parity, explorer component, and route tests. |
test:browser:scenarios |
Exercise both the scenario explorer and issue-thread browser contracts. |
browser:dev |
Start the standalone live/replay browser devtool. |
test:browser |
Exercise static replay and live scenarios, then capture temporary screenshots under ignored test output. |
verify |
Run the complete deterministic Conformance through SDK acceptance sequence. |
verify:rootless |
Extract Debian/Ubuntu browser libraries without root, then run verify. |
Navigate
- Architecture and dependency boundary
- ADR 0001: runner and testing package boundaries
- Tutorial index
- Conformance hand-run tutorial
- Replay hand-run tutorial
- Local runner hand-run tutorial
- Local protocol reference
- Durable transport reference
- Codex skillless Codex tutorial
- Codex skillless Codex driver reference
- Live console protocol/server tutorial
- Live console protocol/server reference
- Live console tutorial
- Live console reference
- SDK console tutorial
- SDK browser SDK reference
- SDK component decision record
- Capability semantic catalog and authorization
- Capability live runnerd/Codex loop
- Capability issue-thread UI
- PRP compatibility/versioning policy
- Adding a harness and permission-mode requirements
- PRP v1 expressiveness audit
- Cumulative end-to-end tutorial
Codex adds the package-local real-model reference driver, Live console adds the package-local browser console, and SDK extracts a reusable public SDK plus two standalone consumers. Runtime production Paperclip integration remains deferred; the App-owned production conformance adapter is test-only.
The SDK reference console opens in direct chat mode. Enter a normal prompt,
then open the protocol inspector to review events and reducer state. Expand a
Terminal row and its nested Debug details disclosure to inspect every
canonical event retained for that command. The header marker 🖇️ v0.1.2
identifies the current console iteration.