PaperClipAI/maps/feature-map/instance-operations.md

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Instance operations

An operator can install and run Paperclip, diagnose the instance, configure supported deployment settings, manage its service, and produce a recoverable database backup.

Feature ID: instance-operations.

Implementation: CLI entry point, instance settings, backup command.

Agent access: companion.

Sub-features

• install-update: instance-operations/install-update — inspect install channel/version and apply supported update or rollback operations.
• server-service: instance-operations/server-service — start/stop the intended instance and inspect its service health.
• configuration: instance-operations/configuration — configure database, server binding, storage, secrets, and available experimental settings.
• diagnostics: instance-operations/diagnostics — use doctor/health output to distinguish readiness from a listening port.
• backup: instance-operations/backup — create and inspect backups and verify restore only into a separate disposable target.
• runtime-setup: instance-operations/runtime-setup — install verified Pi/Cursor runtime assets, stage pending Antigravity assets on macOS ARM64, or import a release-matched Linux Pi companion into an owned published installation.

How to get to it (user POV)

operator-cli

Use paperclipai install, run, service, doctor, configure, channels, or update --help for the intended operation.

settings-backup

Use currently visible instance settings for experiments/access and paperclipai db:backup --help for one-off backup. Some legacy general-settings URLs redirect.

runtime-provisioning

On an owned published server installation, use paperclipai runtime setup pi, paperclipai runtime setup cursor, paperclipai runtime setup antigravity, or paperclipai runtime import-remote <companion-directory> --sha256 <trusted-companion-json-digest>. Run as the OS user operating that installation; this is separate from source-checkout dependency installation. Antigravity setup stages a pinned patched macOS ARM64 runtime; it remains unavailable for tasks until native acceptance passes.

Driving it with Playwright and the Paperclip CLI

Preconditions: follow the baseline. Use a disposable data directory/service identity. Do not update, restart, or restore over an unrelated live instance as a documentation test.

operator-cli

Automated: doctor, update command, and service manager cover command contracts.

Manual: Inspect the selected installation/channel and configuration, start the isolated instance, confirm health and browser access, then stop that instance. For update changes, use the dry-run/check path first and verify installed version and rollback state on an owned disposable installation.

Routine HTTP monitoring may use GET /api/liveness (or HEAD). It returns only process startup status and the public build commit without SQL or authentication. It remains reachable during an idle drain. Use /api/health for explicit database readiness, signed bootstrap, and authorized diagnostics; liveness does not establish database health or claim a workspace.

Automated: static UI idle completion covers real aborted file streams, disconnects before file lookup, nested routers, and unfinished parent/fallback writes. Mounted Express applications retain their conservative hold. It does not qualify provider cleanup or a hosted sleep/wake cycle.

Manual: On an otherwise idle disposable instance, close a static UI download served by the admitted application before it finishes. Repeat with a disconnect before headers arrive. Confirm that neither leaves a permanent request hold. An unfinished application write must still prevent sleep after its client leaves.

settings-backup

Cloud startup reads nonsecret application choices from a private, versioned PostgreSQL singleton after a bounded one-time legacy config seed. A fresh process and different home restore the saved choices without consulting a stale .env file. Invalid saved data or an unavailable database prevents startup; saved telemetry opt-out applies before client creation. The database controls and startup-order controls cover these local boundaries. See field ownership. These controls do not qualify a deployed Cloud rollout or durable file storage.

Automated: experimental settings and database backup routes cover their UI/API contracts.

Cloud migration: in one maintenance window, stop legacy file writers and run the configuration/package qualification command. Inspect its database receipt, update a saved preference, then repeat against a second owned application/image root with the first home unavailable. Use an explicit package evidence digest for same-package comparison. Confirm stale qualification and missing legacy files cannot clear blockers. This recipe covers configuration/packages and does not qualify whole-server zero downtime, secret bytes, or volume removal. Local PostgreSQL evidence path includes a real fixture worker; it does not establish a hosted replacement.

Managed adapters: change a visible adapter preference as an instance admin, then use a second application process against the same disposable database to confirm catalog and new-agent selection reflect it. Verify saved agents remain usable. Restart with an operator adapter declaration, confirm its effective list, and reject conflicting toggles. Remove the declaration and confirm saved preferences return. Database tests cover local persistence, concurrent writers, audit rollback, and failure responses; local compatibility tests cover the legacy file. No deployed walkthrough is claimed.

Manual: Change a harmless experimental setting, reload, and confirm the affected route honors it. Back up a disposable instance, inspect the reported file and metadata, and restore using the documented procedure into a second isolated target. Verify a known record after restoration.

Cloud staging: On a managed *.staging.paperclip.app instance, verify experiments are visible, Cloud-enabled controls are locked on, and other experiments are editable by a Cloud stack Admin or instance admin with changes surviving reload. With an old stored false value and a Cloud true value, verify the effective setting is true and an API attempt to disable it returns 403 without saving. Repeat the enabled-feature check on production and managed stacks without a hostname. As a stack Admin, verify a harmless experiment saves while general instance settings and task-drain operations remain denied. Demote that user to Member and verify the next experimental write is denied. Production keeps its hidden controls and managed feature values. Staging retains other Cloud restrictions. Settings policy tests, route tests, and health tests exercise simulated Cloud identities and persistence; they do not establish a deployed staging walkthrough.

runtime-provisioning

Automated: Runtime commands, setup, remote Pi companion, and Pi package provisioning cover parsing, fixtures, package identity, and integrity. They do not qualify every published installation or live provider.

Manual: Use a disposable published installation and its exact runtime release. Run setup for the intended host runtime, inspect verified version/path, and repeat to confirm the existing installation is reused. Test a corrupt, linked, or foreign installation and verify rejection preserves unrelated files. Import a matching Linux x64 Pi companion with an independently trusted manifest digest; repeat for verified_existing, then alter manifest, inventory, source/profile identity, or target files and verify failure without replacing unrelated state. Inspect cleanup/cancellation. Finally use the selected adapter/account to run a bounded task separately: installed bytes do not prove model execution.

Sources: Runtime CLI, instance-config bypass, Pi provisioning, Cursor provisioning, and companion importer.

Antigravity: provisioning, closure/integrity regressions, and pending admission tests. Exercise public-layout setup and verify both native files and cleanup; separately verify that configuration/API/driver/sidecar reject the pending provider. These checks do not establish authenticated task execution.

Gotchas

• Runtime setup operates on a published installation and verifies package assets. It is not a substitute for an account connection, environment qualification, or a useful task run.

• Source-checkout update/check commands report manual update guidance; they do not qualify a managed installation. Rollback restores retained CLI payloads, not database migrations. Service status applies to its selected service identity, not automatically to an owned foreground dev server.

• A successful backup write does not prove restoration works.

• Settings visibility and mutability differ for cloud-managed and self-hosted instances.

• Keep the three data paths distinct: first-party Telemetry, operator-configured OpenTelemetry, and local run logs.

Storybook verification

backup

Capability ID: instance-operations/backup.

Scope: ui Storybook: Mount shipped InstanceGeneralSettings in CompanySettings with daily/weekly/monthly retention presets, selected values, saving/error/loading and cloud-hidden controls. Backup creation and restore remain separate CLI/operator checks. Production: PATCH /api/instance/settings/general must enforce instance settings authority and managed hidden fields, persist retention and survive reload. Separately inspect a real backup and restore a known record into a second disposable target; a successful write does not prove restoration. Sources: Source: InstanceGeneralSettings.tsx, CompanySettings.tsx, instance-settings.ts, db-backup.ts. Tests: InstanceGeneralSettings.test.tsx, instance-settings-routes.test.ts, instance-settings-managed-overlay.test.ts, instance-database-backups-routes.test.ts

install-update

Capability ID: instance-operations/install-update.

Scope: cli Storybook: No authored story required for install, channel selection, update or rollback command execution. Production: Use an owned managed installation: check/dry-run, installed version, retained payload rollback and failure. Source-checkout guidance is a separate case; rollback does not undo database migrations. Sources: Source: index.ts, install.ts, update.ts. Tests: install-command.test.ts, update-command.test.ts

diagnostics

Capability ID: instance-operations/diagnostics.

Scope: cli Storybook: No authored story required for doctor/health command results. Production: Run doctor against an owned data directory; check readiness and nonzero failures. Instance operators can inspect GET /api/instance/task-drain?upgradeReadiness=1 before a compatible app replacement. Verify that unknown or unsupported executions prevent readiness and that the read does not hold admission; separately prove same-run continuity through an actual upgrade. A listening port alone does not prove readiness; repair requires observing the repaired result. Sources: Source: doctor.ts. Tests: doctor.test.ts