DottaandClaude Opus 5.5
958f9aa9f3
## Thinking Path > - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for work. > - Agents split work into tasks. A task can have a parent task. > - Today agents can nest tasks to any depth: parent, child, grandchild, and deeper. > - Deep agent-made trees are hard to follow, and an agent that works on a child task makes grandchildren by default. > - This pull request limits agent-created trees to two levels: a top-level task and its children. > - A request for a grandchild does not fail. The server puts the new task beside the requester and tells the agent. > - Board users keep full control. They can still nest to any depth. Existing deep trees stay valid. > - The pull request also records which task created each new task, so the audit trail stays complete when the parent changes. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description No public issue exists. This is the feature description. Related: #16853 (budgets that include descendant work) also reasons about task trees; this change does not alter its traversal. **Subsystem affected** Issues (tasks): create, child create and move in the issue service and routes. Agent tools, chat suggestions and creation provenance use these paths. **Problem or motivation** Agents create subtasks as deep as they want. An agent that runs on a child task gets that child as the default parent, so its follow-ups become grandchildren. The trees become deep and hard to read. The parent link is also the only record of which task created a follow-up, so that record is lost when the parent changes. **Proposed solution** Limit agent-created trees to a parent and its children. When an agent asks for a grandchild, put the new task under the requester's parent and return `parentAdjusted`. Do not reject the request. Keep board users unrestricted. Record the originating task in a new server-set `origin_issue_id` column. Keep `origin_run_id` as the originating run. **Alternatives considered** Reject grandchild requests with an error. We did not do this, because agents then fail mid-task. Add a database constraint. We did not do this, because existing deep trees must stay valid and nesting can return later. ## What Changed - Add `MAX_AGENT_TASK_HIERARCHY_DEPTH` (2) and the `IssueParentAdjustment` type in `packages/shared`. - Add `resolveNewTaskParent` and `planIssueParentChange` in `server/src/services/issues.ts`. `create`, `createChild` and `update` use the agent limit by default (`parentDepthPolicy: "flatten"`). - The issue create, `/children` and PATCH routes pass `allow_nested` for board users. For agents, the routes check authorization against the parent that the server actually writes. - The requester keeps its behavior when the server moves a task beside it: `blockParentUntilDone` blocks the requester, and the new task inherits the requester's workspace and privacy. - The server never moves a task above a low-trust boundary root that contains the requester. - These subsystems keep any depth, because they find their work by parent: watchdog reviews, monitor recovery, email-channel placement, and routines that a person configured. - An agent move of a task that has children skips only the parent change and returns `reason: "has_children"`. - Add `issues.origin_issue_id` (nullable, `on delete set null`, indexed) in migration `0434`. Only the server sets it. The `createdFrom` detail field, the `createdFromIssueId` filter and task-creation provenance read it first. - Chat prompts now let a chat agent create one task, a task with children, or separate tasks. The conversation is never a parent. - The runner `create_task` tool accepts an optional `parentTaskId`. A chat agent can create a top-level task and then put subtasks under it. The run must be able to read and change the parent. A conversation is never a parent. The depth limit still applies. Project tools map the field to `parentId` through the issue route. The protocol manifest, semantic contracts and eval fixture are regenerated. - Watchdog runs that have an active watchdog keep their requested parent on all create paths, because their access is limited to the watched subtree. - Fix a bug that the test drive found: the chat (MCP) `create_task` ignored the requested `status`, so a `backlog` task became `todo` and started to run. It now uses the same rule as the native tool. - Update `skills/paperclip`, `doc/SPEC-implementation.md`, and add the plan `doc/plans/2026-11-05-two-level-task-hierarchy.md`. ## Verification - `cd server && npx vitest run src/__tests__/agent-task-hierarchy-depth.test.ts src/__tests__/agent-task-hierarchy-depth-routes.test.ts`: 19 new tests for service and route behavior, all pass. - Related suites (64 files: issues service, thread interactions, privacy, watchdogs, provenance, runner tool authority, decisions, routines, project tools): 1208 tests pass. Two tests changed because of the intended behavior and pass now. Two `email-channels.integration` tests fail locally because the test cannot find a bundled skill file from this worktree path. This change does not touch that code. - `packages/db`: migration safety, snapshot drift and journal tests pass. - Typecheck passes for `server`, `packages/shared`, `packages/db`, `cli` and `ui` (local `ui` errors come only from generated Storybook catalog files that are absent). - Local test drive on an isolated instance with real Claude agents: 29 of 29 use cases pass, including an agent on a child task (follow-ups placed beside it, with the notice) and a chat that creates a top-level task with three subtasks. - I did not run the full `pnpm test:run` or `pnpm build` locally. CI runs them. ## Risks - Behavior change for agents: some follow-ups that were grandchildren are now siblings. The parent of the requester is woken when all its children finish, which now includes these tasks. - The runner `create_task` input contract adds one optional field, so the protocol manifest and the pack contract change. The tool output does not change: it shows the actual `parentId`, and the activity log records `parentAdjusted`. - Migration `0434` adds a nullable column, a foreign key and an index. It does not backfill rows. - `IssueCreationSource.run` is now nullable. ## Model Used - Claude Opus 5.5 (`claude-opus-5-5`) in Claude Code, with tool use (shell, file edits, local test runs). ## 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 - [ ] All Paperclip CI gates are green - [ ] Greptile is 5/5 with no open P2s, recommendations, or follow-ups - [ ] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before requesting merge 🤖 Generated with [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) --------- Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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.
runtime.activity.recorded is a P1 Runner event in v1, v2 and v3 with exactly
{ namespace, activityKey }. Both opaque identifiers contain 1–160 Unicode code
points and exclude C0 controls and DEL. namespace groups a producer's activity
types; activityKey names an activity within that group. Consumers use the pair
to select a response to activity in the run. The authenticated outer envelope
provides run and session identity, source sequence and emission time. Core resolves
the run's company, task and agent through its existing authorized run binding;
callers cannot supply those identities in the payload. Recording activity does
not independently verify the reported action or grant access to any resource.
The event uses the ordinary durable outbox, acknowledgement and replay contract.
Local clients capture an opaque context with paperclip-runnerd notification-context
before an operation and invoke record-activity CONTEXT NAMESPACE ACTIVITY_KEY
after success. Runner publishes its matching absolute executable as host-owned
PAPERCLIP_RUNTIME_NOTIFICATION_HELPER and the stable endpoint descriptor path
as PAPERCLIP_RUNTIME_NOTIFICATION_CONTEXT. Configured task environment cannot
override either value. Context is invalidated on warm attachment and process
recovery, so a caller cannot attribute a later completion to a different run.