## Thinking Path > - Paperclip manages AI agents and preserves their work across execution failures. > - Native Runner authentication exchanges a one-use bootstrap ticket for a connection lease. > - The controller must admit the connection and persist that lease before it sends welcome. > - Runnerd waited only two seconds for welcome, even when its connection setup budget allowed more time. > - A slow valid welcome therefore looked like a consumed-ticket failure before provider work could start. > - This pull request uses the existing ten-second connection setup budget for welcome. > - The benefit is reliable startup during bounded controller delays, with the same authentication and replay checks. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description **What happened?** A valid native Runner bootstrap can fail while the controller completes admission. The runner then reports `bootstrap connection failed closed; provide a fresh one-use ticket`. A later recovery attempt can report an indeterminate authority and hide the startup error behind a finalization deadline. **Expected behavior** A valid welcome can arrive within the connection setup budget. An earlier execution or reconnect deadline still ends the wait. A missing or invalid welcome never permits bootstrap-ticket replay. **Steps to reproduce** 1. Run the real Runner WebSocket transport against an authenticated controller. 2. Hold the welcome for three seconds after the client proof arrives. 3. Before this change, authentication fails with `WebSocket authentication message deadline elapsed` and `bootstrap_maybe_consumed: true`. 4. With this change, the runner accepts the bound lease and restores the normal read timeout. **Paperclip version or commit** Reproduced against `a1f77821b9` before the production change. **Agent adapter(s) involved** Native Paperclip Runner. The transport is shared by its provider drivers. Related: #17401 reduces repeated work in warm-recovery admission. This change covers delayed welcome delivery for fresh authentication too. It does not replace that optimization. #17594 addresses a separate lifetime failure after controller outages. ## What Changed - Use the ten-second connection setup budget for the authenticated welcome. - Keep the execution/reconnect deadline as an earlier bound. - Add real WebSocket regressions for a delayed welcome and a shorter lifecycle deadline. - Add a real Runner process test proving a delayed admission starts one provider and keeps it through two turns. - Document the startup contract and its recovery verification scope. ## Verification - Red: the delayed-welcome regression failed against unchanged production code with a message deadline and `bootstrap_maybe_consumed: true`. - Green: all 402 Runner core library tests pass. The suite includes authentication, ticket fencing after a lost welcome, identity rejection, replay, and no repeated provider effects. - Map and module checks pass. - Workspace `pnpm -r typecheck` and `pnpm build` pass. The new process integration test passes (one provider process, one thread, two turns, suspended with an empty outbox). - Live acceptance at this branch's production Runner build passes on macOS arm64 with pinned OpenCode 1.18.34 and `openrouter/deepseek/deepseek-v4.1-flash-1017`: delay admission by three seconds, create a file, suspend, resume the same provider session under a fresh run authority, read the first file, and write a second file. Both useful outputs match exactly; final runner state is suspended. - Preserved setup failures: a non-pinned executable was rejected, and the debug binary exceeded cold provider startup admission. The pinned executable and release binary passed. The first harness also tried to reuse a completed task object; the follow-up used the normal resume path. Exactly two paid model turns ran. - The full local `pnpm test:run` was attempted and stopped after the Mac exhausted PostgreSQL semaphore capacity (`could not create semaphores`); it is not a local full-suite pass. - Current-head CI is green at `df5d5494c9f9f444114aaf12e095a554110d2e14`: all checks passing or non-applicably skipped, zero failures or pending checks. The additional Superagent security scan triggered by ready-for-review also passed. These include all general/serialized test shards, Runner Rust/Vitest, E2E, typecheck, build, and the final verify gate. Greptile reviewed that exact commit at 5/5 with no findings or inline comments. - This proves the actual native Runner/provider path locally. It does not prove rollout or recovery on a hosted Linux/amd64 execution environment. ## Risks - A stalled welcome can take up to eight seconds longer to fail when the configured lifecycle allows it. Shorter execution/reconnect deadlines still take precedence. - Authentication proofs, credential expiry, identity binding, and one-use-ticket fencing remain enforced. - This does not repair provider-side grammar errors or authorize replay of an indeterminate historical run. Recovery of existing work requires the normal stopped-owner and retained-state checks. - No schema or migration change. A new Runner binary must reach the execution host before this change affects remote runs. ## Model Used OpenAI GPT-6 through Codex, with reasoning, repository inspection, code execution, and browser tools. The exact serving submodel identifier and context window were not exposed in this session. ## 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>
Paperclip maps
The maps describe the same capabilities from two perspectives:
- Feature map: what a person can do, where to reach it, and how to verify the user journey. Preserve its Poteto format.
- Agent access map: the APIs and agent entry points for those capabilities, their permission boundaries, and access verification.
These are sibling directories under maps/. Each feature file has a same-named
agent access companion. Reuse the product map's sub-feature IDs, so tasks/create
identifies the same capability in both maps. Product behavior remains governed by
the implementation spec; a map cannot grant
authority or redefine a permission denial as success.
Capability identifiers
The feature ID is the recipe filename without .md, such as onboarding.
The full capability ID joins that feature ID and a Sub-features key with /:
the company key in feature-map/onboarding.md is onboarding/company.
Its agent-access-map/onboarding.md companion uses the same local company key.
The feature-map index lists the existing
feature and full capability IDs.
Each child page states Feature ID: `onboarding`. after its introduction or
product-map link. In feature recipes, show the full ID beside the parsed local
key: - `company`: `onboarding/company` — create a company. In access
companions and Storybook verification guidance, keep the existing local heading
and put Capability ID: `onboarding/company`. beneath it. These labels make
the existing identifiers visible without changing keys, anchors, or ID generation.
Use full capability IDs in cross-feature references, Storybook annotations, tests, issues, PRs, and verification evidence. Both segments use lowercase letters, digits, and hyphens. Keep filenames and keys stable when display titles or navigation labels change; renaming either changes the capability ID.
Entry-point IDs describe a surface, such as web-wizard, and are scoped to their
recipe. Reference them with a recipe link, such as
onboarding.md#web-wizard, and record the
capability exercised separately. Navigation section labels are not capability IDs.
See IDs and references for examples.
Access contract
Every business operation needs both an API and a usable agent entry point for an
actor authorized to perform it. A dedicated tool is optional when REST, the CLI,
an assigned MCP client, or native search_api / call_api already provides the
operation. Record which agent surfaces actually have that path; an installed CLI
or optional MCP package cannot be assumed available to every native/remote run.
Track these independently:
| Dimension | Values and meaning |
|---|---|
| API | present, missing, not-applicable, or unreviewed. Use exact methods/paths; distinguish protocols from REST. |
| Agent access | available, partial, missing, restricted, operator-only, not-applicable, or unreviewed. Name the supported surface and actual entry point. |
| Policy | Actor, action/grant, company/resource/ownership scope, responsible-user intersection, run requirements, work modes, and gates relevant to the operation. |
| Evidence | source-only, verified, failed, blocked, or not-run. Source presence and successful board calls are not agent verification. |
| Review depth | baseline records representative operations and known gaps; operation-reviewed enumerates the capability's meaningful operations and their individual access contracts. |
Broad capabilities such as task properties must be split into operations before they count as operation-reviewed: renaming, metadata edits, assignment, dependencies, and lifecycle changes can use different tools and permission rules. An available read path cannot certify a write path. List/get/create/update/delete, execution/control, credential handling, and resolution are separate where their authority or transport differs. Do not duplicate request schemas from OpenAPI.
Exceptions and restrictions
Presentation-only state, static developer fixtures, and pre-start/local operator
work may use not-applicable for a domain API, with a concrete reason and the
existing local path. When a capability combines shared data with presentation,
split the operations: browser recents do not exempt resource lookup from API
coverage. Promoting local state to a shared feature requires revisiting the entry.
A board-only endpoint is restricted for agent identity, not an automatic
exception or a missing API. Cite the enforced policy and record whether the
agent can request the authorized human's action and observe its result. An
unresolved delegation question remains in Gaps. Company access, a job title,
a personal assistant's OAuth grant, or an accepted interaction does not grant
board identity. Keep budget, approval, secret and execution authority intact.
Check actual route/service authorization and production tool admission. OpenAPI actor labels and scenario/evaluation tool declarations are supporting metadata; record disagreements rather than using them as proof of access. Native API fallback restrictions, tool field/scope limits, and rollout settings are part of the agent path, even when a legacy agent can call the REST endpoint directly.
Companion file format
Each agent-access-map/<area>.md has an H1, a relative link to its product file,
and its feature ID, followed by one H2 backticked local key per product
sub-feature. Each capability starts with its full capability ID and contains
these fields:
- Review:
baselineoroperation-reviewed. - API: presence state and exact operation IDs, or a reasoned exception.
- Agent access: availability state and concrete entry points by surface.
- Policy: relevant permission and runtime boundaries, with source references.
- Evidence: evidence state, reviewed commit and sources or executed proof.
- Verification: allowed/denied assertions and observable result; record what has actually run separately from the proposed recipe.
- Gaps: missing APIs/paths, discovery drift, unreviewed operations or policy
decisions; use
noneonly for the enumerated scope that was reviewed.
For an operation-reviewed capability, use H3 backticked operation IDs and repeat
API, Agent access, Policy, Evidence, Verification and Gaps for each operation.
Use small operation names such as create, update, read, or run-now.
The enclosing capability has Review: operation-reviewed only after its
meaningful operations have been enumerated. The following excerpt shows one
operation; include the others before using that review label:
## `definition`
Review: `operation-reviewed`.
### `create`
API: `present` — POST /api/companies/{companyId}/routines.
Agent access: `available` — agent REST, CLI routine create and native call_api
under the enabled rollout and active-run/mode gates.
Policy: same company; assigneeAgentId must be the calling agent; cite the
routine authorization and native API policy sources.
Evidence: `source-only` — reviewed commit and source links; no live proof.
Verification: `not-run` — create an owned routine; reject assignment to another
agent; inspect saved configuration, attribution and retry behavior.
Gaps: verify ownership and responsible-user resolution with a permitted agent
context; source presence alone does not qualify this operation.
Keeping the maps synchronized
When a change adds/removes a capability or changes its behavior, API, permission, tool binding, CLI support, or work mode, update the affected companion and product recipe as appropriate in the same change. Preserve IDs across renames where the capability is unchanged; update the affected cross-links together. Indexes discover recipes automatically. An API-only change may update the companion without rewriting unchanged user instructions.
maintain-verification-skill owns reconciliation of both maps. It follows changed source and authorization, checks real agent reachability, and records product gaps without implementing them during a maintenance pass. The creation skill uses this structure. verify-paperclip consumes the relevant recipes and reports evidence/drift; map editing belongs to maintenance.
Run the structural check after map changes:
node scripts/check-maps.mjs
It checks paired areas/IDs, navigation metadata, required fields, and local references. It does not certify endpoint authorization, production bindings, operation completeness, or live behavior. Source audits must check those against the existing API and tool contracts; avoid a second schema catalog or runtime.
For live access proof, use Paperclip's existing API/runner/MCP fixtures or an owned
isolated instance. Use the actual agent identity, target and work mode. Assert the
allowed result and relevant denial (another company/private resource, wrong
owner, missing grant, invalid run, restricted mode or resolver). Mutations also
need persisted state/attribution and retry behavior. Capture evidence using the
existing artifact workflow; keep executed run results
separate from generated maps/generated/coverage.json, which lists page references.
Local authorship and generated indexes
Change only the recipes, access contracts and stories whose behavior or intent
changed. Feature recipes own navigation metadata; stories own small
parameters.paperclip annotations. Keep the feature-map README's readable ID
index aligned with those sources; it does not register entries for generation.
Do not refresh counts in shared READMEs, inventories, fingerprints or review
journals.
node scripts/storybook-catalog.mjs validates and generates aggregate navigation,
Storybook data, verification routes and the page inventory. All outputs live in
ignored maps/generated/, ui/storybook/generated/, and the ignored Storybook
preview.tsx wrapper. Start/build and UI typechecking generate their own inputs.
A clean merged checkout therefore assembles both branches' changes automatically.
Git provides history and diffs. PRs, issues and CI artifacts retain review/run evidence for the named revision. Capability associations do not create whole-file review dependencies. Keep durable scenario limits in the affected recipe or story.