Files
PaperClipAI/maps/agent-access-map/skills.md
T
DottaandPaperclip 0e15c92073 feat(skills): make managed content independent of web-server disk (#18334)
## Thinking Path

> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work.
> - Agents use installed skills and exact version pins during execution.
> - Managed skills still depended on mutable directories on the web
server.
> - A replacement server could lose acknowledged edits or remove an
unassigned skill whose directory was absent.
> - This pull request makes immutable versions the authority for managed
content and installed repository reads.
> - The server can rebuild delivery files from durable content after
replacement.
> - This establishes skills readiness for ephemeral web servers. General
server draining and workspace recovery remain separate work.

## Linked Issues or Issue Description

**Subsystem affected**

Skills services, shared contracts, database receipts, Skill Studio, and
runtime delivery.

**Problem or motivation**

A fresh web server must discover, read, edit, and deliver protected
installed skills using the same database, object storage, secrets, and
supported application artifacts. It must not need its predecessor's
files or process memory.

**Proposed solution**

Use `managed` ownership with a null source locator. Read installed
content by immutable version. Prepare packages before a short
publication transaction. Persist execution selections before
materialization. Recover exact pinned runtime assets and reject deletion
while active or recovering pins exist.

**Alternatives considered**

Reconstructing a mutable installed directory preserves the old
source-of-truth ambiguity. Permanent dual writes create two competing
authorities. This change uses one managed model after a bounded legacy
conversion.

**Roadmap alignment**

This improves the existing Skills Manager, Studio, version history, and
Cloud execution capabilities. The maintainer supplied the implementation
contract. This does not add a separate skills product or deploy fleet
changes.

Related work: #18082 supplies immutable package storage. #17273
addresses edits outside the API for linked local skills; this PR keeps
that source category separate. #2648 is a closed earlier
ephemeral-filesystem proposal.

## What Changed

- Add managed ownership and focused content publication and execution
materialization modules. Keep the archive format and package storage
tables.
- Publish managed create, save, delete, fork, rename, restore, and
catalog content with version checks. Add durable create receipts.
Preserve file-save receipt responses.
- Return file version identities. Keep Studio drafts after a conflict
and provide an explicit reload action. A delayed reload cannot overwrite
newer typing or navigation.
- Persist exact runtime selections, including empty selections. Rebuild
pinned assets and verify their admitted digests on a replacement server.
- Preserve source access on forks and disconnected copies. Keep the
existing workspace policy category for managed skills.
- Add bounded conversion, eligibility, and independent verification
phases. Load persisted Cloud configuration in the standalone CLI without
seeding or changing it. Reject partial current versions against
installed inventories; recover only complete saved content or the exact
source. Document storage migration blockers and the compatible rollback
floor.
- Add separate-process PostgreSQL/S3 qualification and update domain,
retention, policy, and UI regressions.
- Pass the plugin worker manager into Studio execution, admit restricted
`skill_test` mode through native Runner contracts, and preserve admitted
scope across native and REST tools. Native tests cannot create ordinary
tasks, browse company data, or use external tools.
- Select the exact durable Studio revision even when unassigned or Beta
skills is off. Persist Studio output and audit atomically with native
task completion, preserving the result on replay.

## Verification

- Final revision `13e8af480b88ba6fea5737bac4bd81104d604792` passed full
CI: all 49 workflow jobs completed successfully ([run
41127396098](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/41127396098)).
This includes typecheck, test suites, Runner checks, browser checks and
build. Greptile review 15 is 5/5 on that same revision, with zero
unresolved threads. The PR is ready for review.
- Local workspace typecheck and build passed after integrating master.
Focused checks passed: 33 execution/completion cases, 52 Runner HTTP
cases, 16 managed-content cases, 17 Studio cases, the new real-process
CLI regression, map checks and UI token gates. The CLI regression proves
inspection does not seed missing Cloud configuration. Server typecheck
passed after that fix.
- The independent-process PostgreSQL/S3 matrix passed through normal
HTTP skill routes. It covers A → B → C replacement, lost commit
responses, upload crashes, concurrent saves, binary contents and
executable delivery. Metadata listing and warm selected delivery retain
zero object downloads. Local timing measurements are recorded; they do
not establish hosted latency.
- Hosted A → B → C passed on the owned disposable test tenant with
external Postgres, S3 and a real remote Paperclip Computer. Predecessor
temporary homes were absent. C read and executed B's acknowledged
managed save. New runs used repository v1 while v2 was installed. Hashes
matched an independently checked exact upstream commit.
- Compatible image rollback to `6518b323` passed. Studio retained the
unassigned fork's C save. A fresh remote run executed the newer managed
content and historical repository pin. The actual shell event confirmed
expected hashes, stdout, exit 0 and mode 0555.
- Runtime candidate `9200e3fcb4` deployed successfully ([Cloud run
41124147876](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip-cloud/actions/runs/41124147876)).
The final Studio test delivered only the unassigned fork's exact v3,
executed its script and persisted a successful output snapshot.
Independent command-event inspection confirmed all three hashes, stdout,
exit 0 and mode 0555. All 14 installations were version-backed.
Independent verification checked all 25 versions: 23 remote objects, two
bundled database snapshots, zero blockers.
- The deployed image is `9200e3fcb4`. Later master integration, the
client-only delayed-reload draft guard and the CLI bootstrap have
separate automated proof. The CLI bootstrap was also exercised against
the tenant's stored configuration and storage through the same read-only
services. This PR does not claim that the deployed image is the final PR
revision.
- Live Studio checks exposed worker wiring, admission, access scope,
exact selection and completion-publication gaps. They are fixed. Failed
attempts remain in the evidence. The full local suite exceeded 80
minutes under host contention and was stopped. Later combined/isolated
local attempts also timed out; they are not counted as passes. Full CI
covers the integrated suites. Earlier CI found an obsolete restart-scope
fixture, which was corrected and passed all 52 HTTP cases.
- Reproduction and migration:
[`doc/skill-ephemeral-web-servers.md`](doc/skill-ephemeral-web-servers.md).
Source revisions, deployments, versions, run IDs, hashes and failure
history:
[`doc/plans/2026-10-30-ephemeral-web-skills.md`](doc/plans/2026-10-30-ephemeral-web-skills.md).

## Risks

- Legacy conversion requires stopped admission and retired
filesystem-authoritative writers. Pre-conversion binaries are not
supported rollback targets afterward.
- Cloud readiness requires remote object storage. Local provider
receipts and provider mismatches remain blockers until objects are
copied and verified.
- Linked local sources retain filesystem semantics and are outside the
cloud guarantee.
- Cold reads still fetch the existing archive format. Warm runtime
preparation retains the verified-cache path.
- Bundled reconciliation preserves an installed head. Existing release
snapshots remain selectable. An older server must not replace a newer
head with its shipped files.
- No production volumes, fleet defaults, or general deployment
coordination change in this PR.

## Model Used

OpenAI Codex, GPT-6 family, with reasoning, repository tools, code
execution, and browser use. The exact backend model ID and
context-window size are not exposed in this session. No subagents were
used.

## 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>
2026-10-30 16:18:27 -05:00

14 KiB

Skill discovery, authoring, and policy — agent access

Product map: Skill discovery, authoring, and policy.

Feature ID: skills.

Review date: 2026-10-12. Source commit: 58e16dbddfc9c8d0cf60867f9d9847f0feda055b. Native REST transport reconciled in this change; see the shared transport contract.

This is a source-reviewed baseline of representative operations and known gaps. Each capability needs operation-level review before its entire scope can be qualified. No live agent execution is claimed. Follow the map contract for format, permission checks, evidence and maintenance.

Cold Git package recovery rechecks the original source's current setup identity, company membership, policy and repository grant. It never borrows another company's credentials or substitutes a moving branch for the saved commit. A missing/revoked source fails with a reconnect error and persisted retry backoff. Warm access still uses the ordinary skill/project permission check.

External package storage changes persistence, not agent authority. Runtime selection still checks current company/project access before consulting immutable package caches; no storage key is exposed as an agent capability. Public selected rows are constrained to access_source_id IS NULL at their final read. Warm package and native asset caches hold file metadata, never authorization decisions. The concurrency regression covers separate actors and revoked project access; the package regression covers company isolation and warm-cache behavior. This does not claim live agent qualification.

Managed ownership remains in the existing workspace policy category. Immutable content references do not grant authority: publication rechecks policy and source access, and delivery/recovery rechecks the company's skill visibility. File reads and mutations return versionId; content requests may supply expectedVersionId and receive 409 on a stale base. Existing idempotent agent receipt shapes remain. Detached assignments do not release active/recovering execution pins. These are source-reviewed contracts; the independent-process board fixture is not agent credential or hosted Runner qualification.

discovery

Capability ID: skills/discovery.

Review: baseline.

API: present — representative operation IDs:

  • GET /api/companies/{companyId}/skills.
  • POST /api/companies/{companyId}/skills/import.

Agent access: available — REST / native call_api / CLI skills and sources. Queue and HTTP/2 sandbox callbacks also admit company skill detail and file reads; file paths travel in the existing path query parameter. Skill mutations stay subject to the existing bridge restrictions.

Policy: Company skill policy by action/resource plus platform invariants; test execution additionally requires task-assignment authority.

Evidence: source-only — implementation at the reviewed commit above.

Verification: not-run — exercise a listed permitted operation with actual agent credentials/run context; inspect its result and applicable persistence/attribution. Assert the relevant denied actor, owner, company or mode from Policy. Review the remaining operations before qualifying the whole capability.

Gaps: Installation/import is governed by company skill policy, not inferred from an agent's role name.

authoring

Capability ID: skills/authoring.

Review: baseline.

API: present — representative operation IDs:

  • POST /api/companies/{companyId}/skills.
  • PATCH /api/companies/{companyId}/skills/{skillId}/files.

Agent access: available — Native create_skill/update_skill for single-file operations; REST for other files/metadata.

Policy: Company skill policy by action/resource plus platform invariants; test execution additionally requires task-assignment authority.

Evidence: source-only — implementation at the reviewed commit above.

Verification: not-run — exercise a listed permitted operation with actual agent credentials/run context; inspect its result and applicable persistence/attribution. Assert the relevant denied actor, owner, company or mode from Policy. Review the remaining operations before qualifying the whole capability.

Gaps: Writable/fork policy and expected version apply. Native helpers intentionally support a narrower shape than full API.

versions

Version lists and current/test-run version summaries contain file names and kinds. Use GET /api/companies/{companyId}/skills/{skillId}/versions/{versionId} for the selected version's file contents. Authorization remains company/skill scoped; support inspection reads only stored bytes for the requested version and does not recover Git.

Capability ID: skills/versions.

Review: baseline.

API: present — representative operation IDs:

  • GET /api/companies/{companyId}/skills/{skillId}/versions.

Agent access: available — REST / native call_api / CLI skills.

Policy: Company skill policy by action/resource plus platform invariants; test execution additionally requires task-assignment authority.

Evidence: source-only — implementation at the reviewed commit above.

Verification: not-run — exercise a listed permitted operation with actual agent credentials/run context; inspect its result and applicable persistence/attribution. Assert the relevant denied actor, owner, company or mode from Policy. Review the remaining operations before qualifying the whole capability.

Gaps: Revision metadata has an API; pinned execution skill versions and installed latest are distinct.

Runtime disk-cache expiration does not delete version records or change access. Normal execution rematerializes saved bytes after existing skill authorization; cleanup is an internal company-scoped maintenance operation, with no new agent endpoint. Verify pinned restoration and active-run protection with server/src/__tests__/skill-version-cache.test.ts and the assembled heartbeat runtime-skill tests; live acceptance remains separate.

Native runs with an empty effective or saved selection do not read skill files or wait for the company cache lock. Explicit references still require the existing skill authorization. Selected skills and legacy operational skills retain cache exclusion and immutable version pinning. This changes no agent endpoint or grant; the configuration tests cover the held-lock boundary with real PostgreSQL.

Concurrent preparations share only in-flight inventory reconciliation. After that work, each actor's visible skill rows are read again under the company cache lock. Snapshot delivery and durable run pins complete before the lock is released. No permission result is shared or kept between requests. The concurrency tests cover separate actors and project-access revocation; this adds no agent API.

policy

Capability ID: skills/policy.

Review: baseline.

API: present — representative operation IDs:

  • PUT /api/companies/{companyId}/skill-policy.
  • POST /api/agents/{id}/skills/sync.

Agent access: partial — REST / native call_api under users:manage_permissions or target configuration policy.

Policy: Company skill policy by action/resource plus platform invariants; test execution additionally requires task-assignment authority.

Evidence: source-only — implementation at the reviewed commit above.

Verification: not-run — exercise a listed permitted operation with actual agent credentials/run context; inspect its result and applicable persistence/attribution. Assert the relevant denied actor, owner, company or mode from Policy. Review the remaining operations before qualifying the whole capability.

Gaps: Policy administration has an explicit agent grant branch; assigning agent skills also checks the target's config authority.

The configuration-gated GET /api/agents/{id}/skills reads repository cache locations without materializing versions or validating their support files. Assignment mutations and run preparation retain their existing authorization. The database-backed cache tests cover latest/pinned reads and full validation during execution; they do not prove live agent access. Both skill-list and skill-sync responses preserve stored version pins rather than returning a resolved runtime version as a pin. Latest remains unpinned across an assignment round trip.

testing

Capability ID: skills/testing.

Review: baseline.

API: present — representative operation IDs:

  • POST /api/companies/{companyId}/skills/{skillId}/test-runs.

Agent access: available — Permitted agent REST / native call_api creation, control and history; no dedicated CLI test command found.

Policy: Company skill policy by action/resource plus platform invariants; test execution additionally requires task-assignment authority.

Evidence: source-only — implementation at the reviewed commit above.

Verification: not-run — exercise a listed permitted operation with actual agent credentials/run context; inspect its result and applicable persistence/attribution. Assert the relevant denied actor, owner, company or mode from Policy. Review the remaining operations before qualifying the whole capability.

Gaps: No dedicated native orchestration binding; generic REST calls retain skills.test policy, task-assignment authorization, responsible-user intersection and admitted skill-test JWT scope.

Studio's skill_test work mode is admitted through native Runner selection and preserved in execution input. The admitted task-bound scope restricts REST and native authorization, including after task-mode edits and recovery. Native tools allow only the harness task and admitted skills. Task creation, company browsing, connectors and assigned MCP tools are unavailable; native mutation receipts recheck the scope before replay or effects. Preparation reads the pinned version from the durable test row, replaces ordinary assignments, and enforces current skill access. Required environment skills retain their owner policy; a shadowed test pin fails explicitly. Recovery preserves the admitted selection. Preconfigured Runner homes reject managed Studio delivery. The execution configuration regression covers unassigned historical pins, Beta skills disabled, revoked access, recovery, unchanged agent assignments, and assembled heartbeat dispatch.

Project-source API additions: GET /api/companies/{companyId}/skill-sources/project-repositories, POST /api/companies/{companyId}/skill-sources/adopt-project with workspaceId, and PATCH /api/companies/{companyId}/skill-sources/{sourceId}/settings with expected revision and update/connection preferences. trackingRef accepts a branch or explicit ref; "HEAD" keeps default-branch tracking. GET /api/companies/{companyId}/skill-sources/{sourceId}/branches returns a bounded branch list and the default branch, with optional connectionId for connection repair. It requires source access and skills.edit, and reads only through the caller's authorized GitHub grant. Saving validates the requested ref before changing an independent source; active project bindings must be edited through their project configuration. Responses identify branch, connection, or retry repair and distinguish queued imports from imports under an active worker lease. Native API discovery uses the OpenAPI registration.

Project-derived read/use permission follows current project authorization, with access through either originating project. File/version reads, source metadata, mutations, editable copies, tests and runtime delivery retain that boundary. Unattended refresh uses the revalidated setup identity and connection, not the requesting agent's token. These additions need actual permitted/denied agent-run acceptance; service tests alone are not live credential proof.

Direct GitHub source imports share the project setup-identity boundary. API-key agents may import permitted public content, but their responsible-user field does not authorize unattended credential use. They need human connection repair for automatic refresh. Authenticated agent runs derive the setup person from the persisted active run. Legacy agent activity without a matching run cannot recover a refresh person. Route and database tests cover these distinctions; this addition makes no new live-provider acceptance claim.

Initial project imports check skills.import before provider reads; denied jobs do not retry automatically. Deferred jobs remain durable behind per-project and company admission limits. Scheduled refresh compares immutable tree identity and uses a persistent work allowance; manual refresh still requires its existing policy/access checks. These limits grant no content or execution access.

Repository import, preview, and refresh share the bounded dependency-package fallback. Missing-reference warnings do not deny an otherwise authorized import. Recovered files come only from the same immutable, authorized Git tree and pass the existing content audit; no host paths or additional credentials are consulted. Source tests cover transitive files, limits, retained versions, and legacy dependency-error recovery.

Agent repository setup preserves the active run's selected GitHub connection/grant IDs. Missing selections require human repair; the worker never searches the responsible person's other grants for an agent-created source.

Initial automatic imports reserve company work credits before provider reads. Failures retain the reservation; completed jobs cannot replenish the queue's work allowance. Jobs remain durable and resume as company credits refill.

Plugin runtime synchronization uses the agent's current skill access and immutable version resolver. A change to an installed skill invalidates its referencing agents. Private-source access changes also request reconciliation. This is a host-to-plugin hook, not a new agent-facing endpoint. See contract and database coverage.