DottaandPaperclip
d66acb7ac1
## Thinking Path > - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for work. > - Chat connectors give each agent a customer-owned bot and task-backed conversations. > - Manual Slack setup requires app creation and copying durable credentials. > - Operators need a shorter setup that an assisting agent can use safely. > - This pull request creates the app through Slack's Manifest API and installs it through OAuth. > - Durable registration state supports recovery without creating another app. > - A four-screen wizard, automatic avatar upload, and OAuth account linking reduce setup work. > - Connector settings and per-turn tool guidance support daily use after installation. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description **Subsystem affected** Native Slack bot setup, company secret storage, chat connector management, and agent tool guidance. **Problem or motivation** New Slack bots require manual app creation and copying a signing secret and bot token. Interrupted setup can create duplicate apps. The setup and management screens contain unnecessary controls. Agents also need guidance for native questions, files, thread replies, and governed Slack actions. **Proposed solution** Use a temporary app-configuration access token to create a customer-owned app. Save durable secrets in the vault. Bind OAuth to the initiating actor, company, endpoint, registration revision, scopes, and configured origins. Preserve manual and existing-app recovery. Link the installing user's account, send a welcome DM, and advance from saved server evidence. Keep request-URL recovery instructions available if automatic connection detection waits. **Alternatives considered** The Slack CLI adds installation requirements. Socket Mode changes transport. A shared Paperclip-owned app changes app ownership. These alternatives are outside this change. **Roadmap alignment** This extends existing chat connectors and secrets capabilities. Related public work: #14037 and #13954 cover Slack MCP prerequisites and user OAuth. No duplicate bot-registration PR was found. ## What Changed - Share one reviewed manifest builder between automatic registration and manual setup. - Add replay-safe migration 0318 and company-bound registration state with vault references and uncertain-creation recovery. - Add registration, installation, callback, and resume APIs with short-lived, single-use OAuth state. - Save installation credentials before downstream checks and preserve bot identity constraints. - Reduce automatic setup to four screens. Keep advanced app details, manual recovery, and existing-app setup. - Upload the agent avatar with the Paperclip dark background. Link the OAuth installer's account and send setup DMs. - Show agent and connector-owner avatars. Simplify settings, access, and conversation screens. - Discover joined Slack channels and enable them by default. Start a task from a bare mention and admit same-thread follow-ups. - Refresh Slack tool guidance each turn. Add native-form, file, approval, and delivery regressions plus manual model probe definitions and sanitized acceptance records. - Update deployment/database docs, OpenAPI, redaction, removal cleanup, production Storybook stories, and provider browser tests. - Merge current master and move the registration migration after its latest migration without rewriting published commits. The completed Slack success view intentionally has a single centered **Done** action and no **Save & exit**, as explicitly requested by the product owner. `DESIGN.md` records this exception; unfinished setup steps retain the aligned wizard footer. ## Verification - Passed after the master merge: repository typecheck, full build, Storybook build, design-token gates, module-boundary gates, and migration generation. - Passed: all 352 focused Slack deterministic tests and all 14 affected provider browser tests. Browser tests use controlled provider fixtures and a separate throwaway instance. - Passed on current head `c5d01e0e2`: the complete GitHub test matrix (general server, chat, all workspaces, serialized server, and Runner), all eight browser shards, typecheck/release registry, build, canary dry run, security checks, and policy gates. There are 52 passing checks and no pending or failing checks. - Greptile completed on the exact current head with 5/5 and no actionable findings or open review threads. - Local repair verification passed 93 focused tests, including same-app reinstall after revocation and rejection of consent started before revocation, the AgentMail browser journey, and repository typecheck. Local build and Storybook build also passed. The redundant local full-suite rerun was stopped after the complete current-head CI matrix passed. - Real Slack setup and agent replies were exercised in the authorized isolated test drive during the setup iteration. - The ten additional model probes were attempted with legacy `codex_local`, `gpt-5.6-sol`: five passed, two failed, and three were partly verified. Native runtime is not qualified. See `server/src/services/connectors/slack/evals/2026-10-08-acceptance.md` for evidence and limits. - Passing model probes cover native forms, downloaded file bytes, bare mentions with thread replies, explicit posts/reactions, and saved approval denial. - The controlled uncertain-write probe found wrong delivery-check IDs. The canvas fallback attempt used an invented tool name. Search pagination/native search, a private-source denied-tool receipt, and distinct board/webhook origins remain unqualified. Reviewer path: enable Chat connectors, start Slack chat setup, select an agent, enter an app-configuration access token, and approve Slack installation. Send a message to the bot and confirm that setup advances to success. Inspect settings and allowed channels. See `doc/connections/SLACK-AUTOMATIC-SETUP.md` for deployment and recovery. ## Risks - Slack app creation has no provider idempotency guarantee. A timeout after dispatch stays uncertain until the operator checks Slack. - OAuth needs a stable public HTTPS board origin. Webhook ingress may use a separate configured HTTPS origin. Workspace policy can delay installation. - Migration 0318 can replay safely on instances that applied the earlier development migration. - OAuth installation now links the installer to the initiating Paperclip user. Identity checks and company access rules still apply. - Joined channels now enable bot responses by default. Linked-user authorization and per-action approval rules still apply. - Model behavior has the documented delivery-check and canvas fallback failures. A passing CI run does not establish that every model probe passed. - Removing the connection does not delete the customer's Slack app. No new first-party telemetry is added. ## Model Used OpenAI Codex, GPT-6 family, with reasoning, repository tools, code execution, and browser verification. The runtime does not expose a more specific authoring model ID or context-window size. The live bot probes used OpenAI `gpt-5.6-sol` through `codex_local` in legacy mode. ## 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>
Apps, Connections, and Integrations
Audience: internal engineers and product contributors working on integrations.
Start here when adding a provider: Connection authoring runbook. It is the canonical agent tutorial from provider research and protocol classification through manifest generation, branding, secrets, deterministic tests, real-account proof, and PR submission.
Runtime authentication: AI Connections.
Long-term memory: Experimental memory connectors.
Provider notes: Google Workspace, Gmail, Asana, PostHog, Neon, Superagent, AgentMail, Telem.AI, iMessage Photon, and Enterpret. Optional credential custody: Vercel Connect.
Post-read action: classify a new integration request, pick the right Paperclip layer to change, and avoid creating a parallel connection framework.
Decision Record
Board decisions from PAP-13211 make the Apps v2 substrate on the PAP-10341 branch canonical:
- D1: Apps v2 is the substrate. The active model is
tool_applications,tool_connections, catalog entries, profiles, policy rules, action requests, gateway sessions, audit events, and runtime slots. Connections v1 is retired as an implementation path. - D2: one credential authority per connection, brokered projections. The
default is the Paperclip instance vault: durable third-party credentials live
in
company_secretsas secret refs. A reviewed remote MCP method may instead opt in to Vercel Connect, in which case Vercel is the durable credential authority and Paperclip stores only the connector reference and redacted grant metadata. A connection must never mix those two sources. Adapter config, plugin config, harness credential files, and run environments may receive only brokered or projected credentials. - D3: the vocabulary and three-door IA are product law. The default product doors are Apps, Connections, and Review. Protocol and operator-depth concepts live behind Developer or Advanced surfaces.
- D4: unification lands on PAP-10341. Pages, CircleBack-style harness MCP OAuth, provider gallery work, and plugin-provided integrations converge on this branch instead of spawning new integration substrates.
- D5: inbound stays thin. External clients that call Paperclip use scoped Paperclip tokens and existing profiles/rules. They do not get a separate permission model.
Canonical Object Model
Use connection as the unifying noun. A connection is four things:
- A stored credential reference.
- A capability catalog.
- A governance layer.
- An audit trail.
Everything else is an axis on that object:
| Axis | Values | It answers |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | outbound, inbound | Who is the client? |
| Transport | MCP, native REST/OpenAPI, OAuth app install, webhook | How do bytes move? |
| Auth mode | OAuth, API key/PAT, app installation, none | What does the secret represent? |
| Credential owner | company, user, run | Whose identity acts? |
| Packaging | catalog entry, plugin, skill | How does it ship? |
MCP is a transport, not a product category. "Install the Discord app", "connect Google Drive", and "add an MCP endpoint" all produce governed connections with different transport/auth values.
Layer Stack
When you are unsure where a change belongs, place it on the narrowest layer that solves the problem:
| Layer | Owns | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | user-facing Apps, Connections, Review, Developer/Advanced screens | gallery cards, setup wizard, review queue |
| Governance | profiles, bindings, allow/ask-first/block rules, quarantine, audit | read-only profile, ask-first write policy |
| Capability | action catalogs, schemas, risk classes, changed-tool review | search_issues, create_comment, schema hash |
| Credential | company_secrets, OAuth broker, credential resolver, token broker |
Slack bot token ref, Google OAuth refresh token ref |
| Identity | actor attribution and token exchange | board user, agent run, first-party service identity |
| Transport | how the external system is reached | remote HTTP MCP, local stdio, REST/OpenAPI, webhook |
The agent should not hold a durable provider credential. It should hold a Paperclip run/session token; the server or broker resolves the connection, checks governance, invokes the provider, and writes audit.
Identity vs. connections
Signing a user in and connecting a resource are different planes with different owners, different token profiles, and different homes. Do not merge them. This section is the public, connections-side statement of the identity model so connector implementers inherit the rule without depending on private identity-service documentation or re-deriving it.
| Plane | Question | Lives where | Token profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1. Sign-in methods | Who are you? | paperclip-id (id.paperclip.ing → Account) |
Minimal-scope provider tokens (openid email profile), used once to authenticate, encrypted at rest, never exported |
| P2. Connections (Apps) | What may your agents touch? | Paperclip App instances (tool_connections), acquired via the connect broker for hosted + self-hosted |
Rich-scope, long-lived resource tokens in the instance's encrypted vault; per-agent grants; risk-tier policy defaults |
| P3. Login with Paperclip | Who may authenticate against us? | paperclip-id OIDC provider + DB-backed client registry |
Our ES256 ID/access tokens issued by us to registered RPs (instances, the broker, future third parties) |
Everything in doc/connections/ — the First-30 matrix,
the connection authoring runbook, and the connect-broker work —
lives on plane P2. It never acquires, stores, or brokers a P1 sign-in token.
The standing rule (D7)
Adopted as a standing rule (decision D7) with the identity-model plan. State it verbatim in any P2 design so the app-store work cannot drift into merging the planes:
Sign-in tokens are never reused as resource tokens; id.paperclip.ing never stores resource tokens; no connections hub on the ID service.
P2 tokens flow broker → instance vault as pass-through only; the id.paperclip.ing Account page therefore must not grow a "Connections" hub. The reasons to hold the planes apart (from the plan §3):
- Scope discipline. Sign-in wants the narrowest grant; connections want deliberately broad ones. One button that does both is how you grant repo access just to log in.
- Blast radius. id.paperclip.ing holding every customer's Vercel/Slack/GitHub resource tokens would make it the single juiciest target in the fleet; the broker is intentionally pass-through.
- Self-hosted symmetry. Instances own their vaults, so self-hosters don't depend on our uptime to use their own connections.
- Legibility. Sign-in and connections answer different user questions, and every product we benchmarked (Vercel, Railway, GitHub, Google) keeps them on separate pages with separate names.
The explicit Vercel Connect exception does not change D7 or merge P1 and P2.
The operator chooses Vercel as the P2 credential authority for an individual
connection. id.paperclip.ing is not involved, and neither sign-in tokens nor
provider tokens pass through it. The deployment's Vercel access token or
workload OIDC identity is bootstrap authority for that external vault, not a
provider resource credential.
Naming alignment
Use the surface-correct name for each plane; they intentionally differ:
| Surface | Plane | Name to use |
|---|---|---|
| Paperclip App instances | P2 | "Connections" |
| id.paperclip.ing Account | P1 | "Ways to sign in" |
| id.paperclip.ing admin | P3 | "OIDC clients" (until the app store productizes it) |
Packaging Rule
Default to a catalog entry when an integration can be described as metadata: manifest, auth config, action catalog, resource filters, and policy defaults.
Use a plugin only when the integration needs product code such as custom UI pages, its own tables, workers, migrations, routines, or specialized ingestion. A plugin may bundle catalog entries, but it must not bypass the connection, profile, policy, credential, and audit model.
Use a skill for agent instructions. Skills may use connections; they must not own durable tokens.
Canonical Docs
- Glossary defines product and internal terms.
- Identity vs. connections is the public statement of the P1/P2/P3 boundary and the D7 standing rule for connections work.
- Security threat model harvests the keeper from PAP-2359 and maps it onto Apps v2.
- First-30 matrix harvests the keeper from PAP-2432 and is the source matrix for connector playbook work.
- Connecting any remote MCP server is the baseline: how an operator connects a standards-compliant remote MCP endpoint with no Paperclip code change, and how sign-in resolves a client.
- Connection authoring runbook is the one end-to-end, agent-executable guide for adding a vendor as a catalog entry on Apps v2: research, connection-type selection, OAuth/API-key/generated-URL setup, encrypted credential handling, branding, implementation, browser and live-provider testing, verification, and PR submission.
- Vercel Connect operator guide documents the optional external credential source, deployment flags, runtime resolution, recovery, and smoke requirements.
- MCP access governance remains the operator runbook for the current gateway, profile, policy, approval, runtime, and audit APIs.
Migration Notes
Connections v1 contributed useful policy, UX, and rollout thinking, but its
implementation branch is no longer the target. When you see old tickets or code
using connections, connection_grants, or a provider-directory mental model,
translate the intent into Apps v2:
| Connections v1 intent | Apps v2 home |
|---|---|
| Provider directory | Apps gallery / tool_applications |
| Configured provider instance | Connection / tool_connections |
| Grant allowlist | Profiles, profile bindings, policies |
| Resource filters | Policy/profile conditions plus provider config |
| Tool broker | Tool gateway and runtime supervisor |
| Connection UX tail | Apps, Connections, Review, Developer/Advanced IA |
Do not add new work to the retired v1 branch. If an old ticket still describes a valid product gap, retarget it to an active Apps v2 issue or close it as superseded with a link to the replacement.
For Slack chat bot creation, installation, recovery, and live qualification, see Automatic Slack app setup.