## Thinking Path > - Paperclip lets people direct agents while their work is active. > - Product E2E checks must prove that saved user input reaches the intended work. > - The existing active chat story depends on a file in a local agent workspace. > - That setup cannot qualify an attached deployment with remote agent execution. > - This change adds one shared active follow-up journey through the normal task UI and API. > - Independent native operation, saved input, final reply, and cleanup checks make the result inspectable across targets. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description **What existing behavior does this improve?** Product E2E coverage for a user follow-up sent while a native agent is working. **Current behavior** The classic chat story holds work open with a local file. The shared deployment-targeted harness has no active follow-up journey. A running heartbeat alone cannot prove that work was active when input arrived. **Proposed behavior** Run one bounded command through the real native provider. Observe its active execution before and after one follow-up is saved. Require one final reply with the late requirement, correct task and agent identity, an empty input queue, and visible readback after reload. Use the same story on managed and attached targets. ## What Changed - Add a shared `followup-while-running` journey with normal task creation and reply submission. - Require a bound native turn and pending shell execution at the input boundary. Retain a closed receipt with source identity and a row hash. - Accept one steered work run or one normal successor (1–2 native runs). Preserve every other journey's declared run contract. - Reuse the saved native final reply observer, run binding checks, usage collection, target lifecycle and private evidence path. - Accept canonical builtin/process execution events independent of provider tool display names; calibrate against real OpenCode, Codex and ACP mappers. Reject Paperclip semantic tool names across native wrappers/prefixes and unnamed or ambiguous builtin calls. - Recognize only the observed legacy PRP v1 builtin/bash/unknown/readOnly=false command shape and fail promptly when owned work finishes before a live boundary can be observed. - Ready the task page/composer before the observed command boundary, use a bounded 90-second command, and preserve active-after-persistence proof. - Add adversarial oracle and retained-result calibration. Register the journey, include its sources in the definition hash, and document its coverage. - Keep six real browser document-readiness checks and verify shared-deadline behavior with a deterministic clock/state test that rejects timeout-reset mutations. ## Verification Exact current head `e72e20ad111bd94728d38606015d1fdac3c92929` passed [full CI run 41142552195](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/41142552195): all 49 workflow jobs reached accepted terminal results, including typecheck, build, every test lane and aggregate verify. All 59 reported checks are terminal: 55 success, three expected skips and one neutral 5/5 Paperclip review. Snyk passed. [Fresh Greptile review](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/18345#issuecomment-6528913235) explicitly names this exact head and gives 5/5. No review threads remain open. The PR is mergeable. These source gates do not establish a live QA pass at this head. Fresh protected QA at this exact source and the separately recorded deployed application/runtime remains required before primary merge and daily admission. Historical live QA staging **PASS** on qualified commit `af9e091b15b5e24b6b2cc1b424523430cc2ab024`: 6/6 checks, all five phases including cleanup, two native work runs, and the configured model/environment check passed. The [sanitized qualification report](https://pages.paperclip.ing/evals-qa-smoke-41122620146-1/) records that exact measurement. Final integration head `e72e20ad111bd94728d38606015d1fdac3c92929` merges exact actual squash `18b1637b6371a6a6adade857e2a73654ee626fef` from [#18254](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/18254) into previous head `e54d64743964b1a19d165537bebbe62c50389a23`. The merge had no conflicts. All 18 files in this PR's change set, the complete 45-file shared journey directory, and six shared native/evidence helpers retain their exact previous-head Git blobs: 59 scoped files in total. The production clarification helper remains blob `800a747284db19b8484650b6759e8bd1f356839d`. Follow-up 1–2 runs, question 1–3 runs, older exact counts, owned native event checks, active-before/after persistence proof, cleanup/accounting and feature mappings remain unchanged. Source integration head `e55d74491f5bcd99c1455e9ace02bd7ad7319fae` integrates exact actual squash `8595efc20bda3ce20a9fbbf34a5d156a6fcf6d57` from [#18385](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/18385). The merge had no conflicts. All 17 files in this PR's change set and six shared native/evidence helpers retain their exact Git blobs from previous head `162e341cda5b627639b486b4019a1675bb018ea2`. This preserves the follow-up and question readiness checks, feature mappings, six closed follow-up check IDs, immutable before/after active-operation proof, follow-up 1–2 runs, question 1–3 runs and older exact counts. Previously reviewed head `e54d64743964b1a19d165537bebbe62c50389a23` adds a separate test-only reliability repair on top of that source integration. It replaces one scheduler-sensitive browser case with a deterministic Vitest clock and locator-state model that calls the actual production helper. The six other real Chromium checks remain byte-for-byte unchanged and pass **6/6**. Focused unit suites pass **51/51**, including the deterministic deadline case. This is six browser checks plus focused unit coverage, not seven browser checks. The model makes the panel ready at 100 ms, the supplied answer ready at 600 ms, and full valid content ready at 1,300 ms. It requires rejection at the shared 1,000 ms deadline and records immutable rejection state before simulating a 10-second scheduler stall. Both restarted-timeout mutations fail: resetting all waits wrongly resolves at 1,300 ms; resetting matcher timeouts while keeping the final real deadline guard rejects only at 1,300 ms with valid content present. The genuine helper rejects at 1,000 ms with the answer still incomplete. The production helper is unchanged, Git blob `800a747284db19b8484650b6759e8bd1f356839d`. That two-file test-only patch changed no journey, application, run, accounting, model or runtime behavior. Its six-browser/51-unit results are prior-head evidence; the complete patch is unchanged in the new integration. The final source also retains the actual merged question-primary squash `d9354bbfc35ef74333e90e596ce21dc8e59149b9` from [#18346](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/18346). Later commits `409117451da260a03fc28a3107c7808ecbe68f8f` and `ea3e7b1d1bed562351fcf4722c7175001b987b59` bound question document readiness to one campaign deadline and test that waits cannot restart it. Commit `162e341cda5b627639b486b4019a1675bb018ea2` adds question/follow-up report feature mappings and coverage. These files are unchanged by the final merge. The imported upstream source has real application changes: [#18334](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/18334) makes managed skill content durable and extends native skill-test contracts; [#18350](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/18350) requires managed Cloud shared storage and bootstrap prerequisites. #18385 updates TestOps job metadata and repairs their combined maintenance fixture. The new merge additionally imports [#18383](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/18383) at `81ecaf0654fe79a2a2dbda6588f033e39ee610e4`, which bounds failed lifecycle verification; [#18357](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/18357) at `45a3a92e6dc52d20923b9aa34a22fee2ec5443f9`, which persists sandbox-creation ownership and updates cleanup/adapter/plugin contracts; and #18254 at `18b1637b6371a6a6adade857e2a73654ee626fef`, which accepts a valid late Antigravity authorization URL while native authentication drains. This PR's diff against exact upstream `18b1637b6371a6a6adade857e2a73654ee626fef` contains only journey tests, report coverage and documentation. Harness source and deployed application/runtime identity are separate inputs. This source integration does not deploy the imported application changes or claim the QA target runs this application revision. This final SHA has not been measured by the historical run above: **fresh QA at this exact final head is required before primary merge**, followed by normal TestOps verification/admission. Fresh exact-head CI and review have passed as recorded above. The live measurement must record the actual separately deployed QA application/runtime identity. Seven whole-file blobs remain identical to the qualified SHA. All paths are relative to `tests/runner-e2e/`: | Journey/helper | Unchanged Git blob | | --- | --- | | `product-journeys/active-followup-evidence.ts` | `83a5d9fab52abb9849a40e83eca6b6a9c29bf587` | | `product-journeys/active-followup.test.ts` | `728160c610c18292d2cf06d4a87d25a8719f1734` | | `native-task-reply.ts` | `59d11f1a178dad9db3da8fa2342ff93643cb9922` | | `native-event-envelope.ts` | `305b0b456c59c511ee328e529ad574c0583075a0` | | `run-observations.ts` | `08c8ad184a821a7cd536926b3d7e3d1156a1e3da` | | `user-actions.ts` | `e9611348dc41e17899367dab2e3b36d3d1be9480` | | `stop-redirect-flow.ts` | `4580bd605a425bc72511e02d988492acbec8d60e` | The follow-up preservation comparison against historical `af9` has three explicit exceptions; no whole-file identity is claimed for them. The separately documented question readiness and report additions above also require final-source verification: 1. `product-journeys/agent-flows.ts` adds `question-answer-resume` to the `AgentJourney` type exclusion, alongside follow-up. Its remaining contents and runtime helper bodies are byte-for-byte unchanged. Qualified blob `a0afaa968c1d854476159fef21de7b6dd50a4a98`; final blob `0cc797c0ae594e7769338e63a80c4f67e29e4a54`. 2. The common run-count helper is centralized in `success-contract.ts` and re-exported by the catalog. It accepts follow-up **1–2**, clarification **1–3**, and each older paid journey's exact count. The follow-up catalog entry, maximum of two runs, six required checks, native dispatch, collection and retained-run contract remain byte-for-byte unchanged. The helper's text differs; its preserved count semantics are verified explicitly. 3. `product-journeys/active-followup-flow.ts` changes exactly one composer readiness assertion from Playwright's implicit five-second default to an explicit 30-second timeout, matching `submitTaskReply` for attached targets. Prompts, actions, native evidence, before/after persistence proof and grading otherwise compare byte-for-byte unchanged. Qualified blob `64392329198a1a4d9828e32834d4507e175216e6`; final blob `2746b5ba89e2af26b4097ba7897913186786ac5d`. This correction is why a fresh final-head QA run is required. - **310 focused tests passed at current final head `e72e20ad111bd94728d38606015d1fdac3c92929`**: 286 journey/evidence/catalog/report/shared-deadline tests in 14 files and 24 native authentication/real-child stream-order tests in two files. Both invocations used Node24 and one Vitest worker. The earlier `e55` integration also passed 365 focused tests, including 40 Cloud configuration and 40 TestOps metadata cases; those results remain prior-source evidence. - **157 explicit count assertions passed again at the current final head**, including both interactive ranges, older exact counts, invalid/fractional/non-number values and catalog/contract export identity. The maximum bounds and six closed follow-up check IDs also matched. - Maps and diff checks passed. The official QA runtime-import preflight passed on Node24 at the current final head without network access. It uses a dummy adapter and no credentials. It does not prove target connectivity, sign-in, model readiness or deployed application/runtime identity. Those require the normal protected QA run. No model/provider work or optional Runner release was dispatched. - Current local runtime dependencies use ignored isolated workspace-source views. No shared dependencies or compilers were changed. A previous local typecheck attempt hit stale reused Runner declarations. No full repository typecheck, test run or build was repeated locally; the successful exact-head full CI run above now supplies these gates. - CI on previous head `162e341cda5b627639b486b4019a1675bb018ea2` failed the Cloud/local maintenance fixture in [server shard 9](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/41133716802/job/124331643100), plus dependent verify. The actual tested merge combined that head with master `198218bf554877fe3b7a83742eefb3b8f12392c6`. A Cloud child selected local-disk storage and hit the new shared-storage policy. This was a deterministic upstream fixture mismatch; no unchanged failed-job retry was used. - The actual #18385 repair configures a valid Cloud child, verifies local bytes independently, checks the expected provider mismatch and retains exact stored-config readback. Its own final head `b76d5dd40d7711f1b5f6b6316b1114c0aae02d57` passed 59 checks, including [server shard 9](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/41133876636/job/124331450635). That prior result supports the repair; it does not replace this final head's fresh CI. Separate repair candidate #18392 and its source/evidence are retained as superseded history. - A local attempt to run the database fixture could not start PostgreSQL because the host exhausted macOS semaphores. A first setup attempt also failed package resolution before test execution. Skipped database cases and these setup failures are not passes. No kernel settings, shared processes or databases were changed. - The complete previous-head CI run [41138618869](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/41138618869) finished with one underlying failure: [Runner Vitest shard 1](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/41138618869/job/124347859445) expected native Antigravity login success but observed failure at `antigravity-auth.test.ts:101`. The lane had one failed test, 1,994 passing tests and eight skipped tests. Aggregate verify failed only because of this lane. All other 57 checks were accepted, including build, typecheck, all server/browser suites, Runner shard 2, Snyk and exact-head 5/5 reviews. No unchanged retry was requested. - The independently reviewed #18254 repair removes an invalid cross-pipe ordering assumption: a valid URL on stderr can arrive after the authenticate response on stdout during drain. Its real-child regression forces both orders. The current final source imports that actual squash; the 24 focused authentication cases pass here. Fresh full CI and exact-head review have now passed for this source, as recorded above. The earlier failed result is not relabeled. - The original live compatibility failure is retained: an older PRP v1 pack labeled builtin `bash` as operation `unknown`, causing the observer to miss the command and never send the follow-up. Its exact shape was reproduced red before repair. Generic unknown operations, semantic tools, wrappers, read-only work and foreign provenance remain rejected. The historical qualified pass used the repaired oracle; no failed result was relabeled. - Earlier CI on `6fad965d69` hit an unchanged heartbeat test's three-second adapter-call wait; its original failure and one narrow rerun remain recorded. The qualified SHA subsequently passed CI. An earlier report-catalog subprocess failure is retained. The final focused Node24 run now includes that suite and passes after the documented report feature mappings. ## Risks The fixture asks the native agent to run one bounded `sleep 90` command. The observer must see actual active native execution; a fast or noncompliant turn fails rather than passing from elapsed time. A completed result requires one or two bounded native work runs, source attribution, configured model/environment, and collection. Unknown provider prices stay unknown. This change does not alter production execution or grant new access. ## Model Used OpenAI Codex, GPT-6 family, with reasoning and code execution. The host does not expose an exact underlying model version or context-window size. ## Checklist - [x] I have included a thinking path that traces from project context to this change - [x] I have specified the model used (with available 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; existing follow-up execution fixes do not provide this deployment-targeted test - [x] I have described the issue in-PR following the enhancement template - [x] I have not referenced internal/instance-local Paperclip issues or links - [x] My branch name describes the change and contains no internal ticket or instance-derived details - [x] I have run the new focused tests locally and they pass - [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable - [x] I have updated relevant documentation - [x] I have considered and documented risks - [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 merge --------- Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
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Product journeys across deployments
product-journeys is an explicit Product E2E selection. Deployment is separate
from the local / daytona execution environment. Existing selectors, execution
IDs, and the --all matrix keep their historical meaning. These are scripted
browser journeys with API setup and independent assertions; they are not strict
browser-only “use as a user” discovery.
| Concept | Owner |
|---|---|
| Journey | User actions, prerequisites, assertions, feature-map associations |
| Target provider | Authentication, deployed identity, configuration, acquisition, cleanup |
| Setup recipe | Resolve requested company/user/task capabilities through the fixture registry |
| Campaign | Explicit journey order, target, model profile, limits, lifetime |
Shared code is in product-journeys/. Cloud fleet operations, email-code login,
private state, and trusted CI live in the private paperclip-cloud repository.
The TargetProvider version-1 interface is defined in product-journeys/types.ts.
Journeys receive a ready browser, company-scoped API, IDs, and capabilities. They
never start a server or depend on a tenant filesystem.
Selections
| Journey | Required starting state | Observed outcome |
|---|---|---|
task-create |
Company and signed-in board user | Create a task through the shared production composer, assign it to yourself, reopen and reload it, verify the saved prompt and no agent work |
project-task-context |
Company, signed-in board user, task-write capability; no model runs | Create a project and a self-assigned task with the project selected through the production dialogs. Reopen the project, open its task, reload both, and verify exact saved company, project, prompt, assignment, standard work mode and zero runs |
ask-question |
Company, configured agent capability, positive model allowance and exactly one permitted work run | Reuse the existing cross-model Ask question prompt; require one successful run with matching company/task/agent/model/environment, one saved exact answer, and visible readback after reload |
question-answer-resume |
Native agent; up to three work runs | Reuse the classic two-question story: answer a choice and a free-text question through the browser, verify each native continuation, then read the exact saved answers in an agent-authored task document after reload |
task-properties |
Company, signed-in board user, task-write capability, prepared run-owned backlog task | Open its properties, assign it to the signed-in user, reload, check both UI and saved assignment; verify no agent run |
task-search-filter |
Company, signed-in board user, task-write capability; zero model runs | Search three owned target/control tasks through the task list, require exact matching identities, filter Backlog to exclude the completed control, reload and return from the exact saved task with search/filter context intact |
plan-revise-accept |
Native agent; three work runs | Reuse the classic Plan story: canonical draft, browser revision request, new revision-bound confirmation, approval and exact saved final response |
build-revise |
Native agent; two work runs; qualified Docker artifact oracle | Browser-download both ZIP versions, independently exercise source/CLI behavior, verify different hashes and preserve the original download |
protected-actions |
Native agent; four work runs; authenticated reachable review-service fixture | Approve one action and decline another on separate owned tasks; verify zero calls before either decision, one after approval, zero after decline and a truthful saved explanation |
create-skill-studio |
Native agent with skill-write permission; one work run | Create a uniquely named company skill, open its activity card, edit in Studio, reload and verify task-card readback |
stop-redirect |
Native agent; three work runs; qualified Docker oracle | Download a verified checkpoint, Stop an active revision, require native cancellation acknowledgement, submit a new direction once and verify completion without original-run activity |
followup-while-running |
Native agent; a maximum of two work runs | Save a follow-up while an independently observed native shell command is still active, then require one attributed final reply with the late requirement after reload; in-turn steering and one normal successor are accepted |
cloud-onboarding |
Signed-in admitted Cloud account; fresh workspace; qualified bounded provider route | Create workspace in the portal, connect API key and native Codex agent in the wizard, complete a task, download and independently check its artifact |
The question-resumption journey uses the same natural-language scenario, browser
answer helper and behavioral grader as the classic question-resume suite. Native
provider questions can stay in one run; durable native questions create one exactly bound
continuation each. Creation must have an applied semantic receipt or a completed native
API mutation receipt with the original card, exact scope, form and idempotency key.
An API receipt must retain its creation identity unchanged after the answer. A form or
run count alone is never provenance. A target declares a three-run maximum and positive model allowance,
and a passing receipt must contain one to three attributed native runs. Other journeys
retain their exact run-count requirements. Both real board answers, no premature
output, the sole document's agent/company/task ownership and its reloaded revision
are independently checked. The private provider owns authentication, setup, accounting
and cleanup. Local calibration is not deployed-target qualification.
The shared Studio helper waits for the original saved file body before typing. An editor control can mount before the file query completes; editing that empty draft can otherwise lose the original content when the file arrives.
The project/task journey records durable project and task ownership before each creation and immediately saves the response IDs. Its project must retain its planned state. Independent project-filtered task reads must contain the exact new task. The final task view must show the same project after reload. Browser readback uses the main project heading and visible task content rather than a duplicate sidebar label. It binds navigation to the saved project URL key and task identifier. Closed failure codes identify project-list, project-open, task-open and property-readback failures without retaining Playwright page text. A Cloud provider must clean only these owned resources, settle owned tasks before archiving the project, and preserve their history. Catalog registration does not admit this candidate to a saved daily plan; a real deployment pass is required.
The search/filter journey creates only campaign-owned, board-assigned tasks through
the public API. The target and completed control share a unique search marker;
a second Backlog control has a different marker. Search and status selection use
the production controls. The oracle compares the complete visible task identity
set at each step, verifies the exact saved company, owner, title, description and
status, and checks all three tasks have no native runs. It reopens the target after
reload and browser Back, and leaves the target visible for the harness screenshot.
The combined Tasks shell reapplies its named view's status preset on mount, so
the journey first proves the checkbox filter, then selects the normal Backlog
view and enters the same search again before checking reload/Back persistence.
Coordinator and legacy task lists keep their supported saved-filter behavior.
The status selector stays inside the Status group. Legacy status glyphs contribute
their label to the checkbox's accessible name, producing BacklogBacklog; the
refreshed panel supplies the explicit Backlog name. A credential-free browser
regression covers both forms and a separate assignee called Backlog.
Unexpected browser/API errors retain only a closed task_search_<stage>_failed
code. Stage names come from the journey source; raw exception text, URLs, form
values, and response bodies are not added to reporting. Existing owned evidence
failures keep their specific codes and the screenshot privacy guard stays in place.
It does not depend on row order or an otherwise empty company. The browser reads
the visible links together. Per-row indexed locators can disappear
while a search replaces the old collection; a detached snapshot is retried within
the existing poll deadline. Duplicates, unknown destinations, and extra controls
remain evidence failures. This does not add a journey retry or extend its timeout.
The selection stays manual until a separate target owner records a fresh pass and admits it to a daily
plan; adding the shared journey does not qualify any deployed target.
Supported acquisitions are managed self-hosted (local), registered existing
Cloud (local or daytona when present), and new Cloud. New Cloud must start
with onboarding. Its context can then satisfy the identical task-properties
journey without another setup. A recipe reports startingState: recipe;
reusing successful onboarding reports onboarding. Preconfigured state is never
counted as onboarding coverage.
The scripted onboarding request supplies a self-contained child brief. The
parent must first save its proposal through the existing native confirmation
tool and check the saved card receipt. The browser records the human decision;
the parent must not record its own approval or treat the opening scope as acceptance.
It must copy the full marked brief verbatim into create_task.description,
including tool names, parameters, and the encoded input. It orders the child's
work: create the files, publish connection-proof.json with that exact filename
and workspace-relative content reference, save its Paperclip task document with
the returned file link, then report completion. A Markdown workspace note does
not replace the task document. It explains the native completion contract:
include actual verification, omit the optional schema, and use receipt-derived
deliverable references in evidence and file artifacts. Local input paths are verification
details. Correcting rejected tool arguments stays within the same attempt;
it does not retry the journey. The model still computes the result, publishes
the file, saves the document, and completes the tasks. Independent download,
math, provenance, document, and parent-link checks remain authoritative.
Historical failed attempts retain their original fixture and outcome.
The parent's final reply must use Markdown links to the saved child results,
including the attachment's real content or download path. Naming a file or
document key in inline code does not satisfy the existing parent-link check.
Save this credential-free local target config outside the repository:
{
"version": 1,
"id": "local-qa",
"mode": "managed-self-hosted",
"journeys": ["task-properties"],
"executionEnvironment": "local",
"baseline": { "features": {}, "connections": [] },
"limits": { "durationMs": 600000, "modelBudgetCents": 0, "maxRuns": 0 }
}
pnpm test:e2e:runner -- --suite product-journeys --list
pnpm test:e2e:runner -- --target-config /private/target.json --preview
pnpm test:e2e:runner -- --target-config /private/target.json --output /private/new-campaign
Preview resolves selections and declared changes without loading the private
provider, reading credentials, signing in, provisioning, or making model calls.
Its output includes required state, features/connections, lifetime, and limits.
Output directories must be new; an attempt is never overwritten. Browser-only
results use null provider/model and runtime none, including failures before
the journey starts. No artificial model run is introduced for reporting.
New execution IDs have the form
product-journeys.<target>.<profile-or-browser>.<environment>.<journey>; the
report reader continues to accept historical four-part execution IDs.
Cloud config supplies adapterModule and the private provider's reference-only
adapterConfig. Use the private CLI and runbook to configure those fields.
Paid onboarding requires positive modelBudgetCents and maxRuns, a duration
of at most one hour, and a qualified operations adapter. The initial private
Cloud adapter admits at most 30 minutes and $10. Select runner-codex-mini
explicitly for its gpt-5.4-mini pilot; existing profile defaults remain unchanged. There are no automatic
story retries. One campaign may create at most one disposable workspace.
Workspace contention can defer a child before provider execution. The journey keeps that run and follows only its unique, scoped durable replacement when the server proves that no provider work started. A scheduled replacement remains pending and consumes the run limit. It cannot satisfy completion; the child must still finish through native execution and pass the independent artifact checks.
A failed native run can remain pending when the authenticated run projection identifies agent-owned automatic recovery on that same run. Its native phase must remain retryable, with matching nonempty cause strings, a bounded attempt and retry schedule, and no successor. Cause strings are diagnostic values, not a positive retry policy. Known permanent, permission-declined, and exhausted causes are also rejected defensively. The wait stays within the original campaign deadline. An overdue retry can still be reconnecting; it does not extend the deadline or authorize a new story attempt. Ordinary failures, terminal or board-owned recovery, and exhausted attempts still fail. The producing turn must settle before proposal acceptance, and the recovered child must actually succeed before the existing document, artifact, download, and parent-link checks can pass.
An approved child that commits a board-owned current-track blocker fails with
onboarding_child_task_blocked once all owned work has settled. The latest child
run must prove the blocked decision at the child's current status version.
Parent dependency waits, pending recovery, and stale child decisions keep waiting
within the original deadline. This failure does not satisfy any delivery check.
The semantic control-plane port
writes prpReportedWorkDisposition. Native finalization
commits the blocked decision and statusVersionAfter into the run's resultJson.
The attached ask-question recipe requires a prepared native general agent and
an explicit execution environment. Legacy execution is unsupported until its
saved model/provider identity can be verified. A registered
agent avoids a new setup probe; a disposable QA agent uses the existing native
fixture defaults and its setup remains separately unpriced. A restricted review
bot is not a general-work fixture.
The private provider supplies its exact execution identity through the agent
capability and collects normalized run usage. The existing Cloud provider still
owns authentication, conditional leases, fixture ownership, and cleanup.
The Plan, Stop and protected-action decline checks reload the owned task and bind its exact, unique visible reply to the final successful native run. A settled native turn can render its saved reply before the comments projection exists; that path also requires exactly one matching final assistant message in the complete durable event stream, with the same company, agent, run and validated PRP source. If the run has a projected selected completion comment, only that attributed comment can satisfy the check. A pending or suppressed comment can use the same proven native reply path. A finish summary by itself, an earlier turn, a progress bubble, or a cancelled run cannot satisfy it. Private receipts record the run, thread anchor and observed text; classic protocol comment matchers stay strict. Markdown replies compare complete text, GFM checkbox states and exact link destinations after parsing through the UI-owned projection of its existing Markdown renderer and GFM/issue-reference plugins. The observer receives the same visible-company prefix list used by the UI, so bare issue keys and URLs match their rendered links. Whitespace and inline formatting can change during rendering. A document or issue chip can replace a link label, but must retain its destination. Ordinary links retain their source label. Destination resolution uses the existing production company-route helper and the current task URL for fragments. Receipts retain both source Markdown and observed content. Unsupported structures such as images, raw HTML, tables and fenced code fail closed. Exact marker checks remain exact, and decline checks inspect both visible explanations and source text for unread service data. The decline oracle accepts this explicit native receipt without inventing an issue comment. The final run must start after the saved decline, and the usual truthful explanation, zero service calls and no unread marker checks still apply. A model allowance is an accounting threshold; reused direct-provider routes do not acquire the onboarding gateway's request-level cash guarantee. The question observer allows one run and waits at most four minutes. Cleanup stops only run-owned question work; shared agent configuration stays outside ownership. When the QA adapter explicitly selects terminal-history retention, it terminates its disposable agent, makes owned tasks terminal, verifies no active runs, retains the records for decision-history integrity, and releases both QA leases. This is reported as retained data, rather than confirmed deletion.
Active follow-up
The followup-while-running story uses the same ordinary task composer and saved
reply observer on managed self-hosted and attached Cloud targets. The initial
request includes one bounded sleep 90 command. It supplies no changed launch
day or final marker. The observer requires a valid running native turn and a
pending named builtin command or process execution before sending the follow-up.
Paperclip semantic tools, including completion/block/progress calls, cannot
satisfy this boundary even if a provider labels them builtin execute or wraps
their names with a native prefix. Unnamed or ambiguous builtin calls fail closed.
The observed older PRP v1 builtin bash shape is also supported when its
operation is unknown and readOnly is explicitly false; other unknown
operations cannot satisfy the boundary. If all owned work settles before an
active boundary is observed, the journey fails immediately rather than polling
until the campaign deadline.
The same command must remain active after exactly one user message is saved.
The task page and composer are ready before observing the boundary, so navigation is outside the
submission window. The longer bounded command leaves room for remote persistence.
Merely observing a running heartbeat or waiting for a fixed interval cannot satisfy the boundary.
The late message changes the launch day and supplies a unique final marker. The independent oracle requires the expected reply from one bound native run, one or two successful work runs in total, an empty saved-message queue, Done, and visible readback after reload. A provider can steer the original turn or queue one normal successor; retries, duplicate replies and unrelated work fail. Source/model/environment checks and full usage collection remain required. Only the closed boundary receipt and attributed final reply are retained in the private story directory. No local workspace path or provider-side fixture hook is required. The registered source and unit calibration do not qualify a live Cloud target; admission to scheduled testing requires its own fresh pass.
Evidence and lifecycle
Results use the existing campaign/result schemas and dashboard. Each result retains campaign/attempt IDs, source revision, definition hash, deployed tenant commit, Cloud release, runtime identity, configuration hash, setup provenance, checks, and authentication/setup/journey/collection/cleanup outcomes. A failed prerequisite remains failed at that boundary; every dependent selection receives a blocked result. Unsupported target capabilities are distinct from failures. Deployment/configuration drift during a journey fails its result.
New onboarding attempts retain a bounded productJourney.artifact receipt in
the existing private normalized-results.json, before disposable cleanup. It
includes the exact downloaded connection-proof.json bytes as base64, attachment
and originating-run IDs, byte count and SHA-256, plus the harness-generated input
and independent expected result. Reinspection can decode the original bytes,
recompute their checksum, and recompute the expected nonce, count, sum, and input
checksum after the workspace is deleted. Only this exact four-field synthetic
fixture is admitted, with a 4 KiB download limit and a closed receipt schema;
arbitrary agent output is excluded. Capture follows attribution and independent
download verification. The receipt survives later document, link, reload, or
trace failures without turning those failed journey steps into passes.
Historical attempts without it remain readable and do not gain retained-artifact
proof retroactively. Descendant stories reuse context without copying the receipt.
Collection must finish within the campaign deadline. Cleanup and evidence publication then share a separate ten-minute grace period, with the last thirty seconds reserved for a twenty-second stop-only fallback and ten-second browser close. These are cleanup bounds and do not admit further story or model work. Provider lifecycle hooks receive a deadline and cancellation signal; they must bound in-flight requests and fence late resource mutations or lease writes when the signal aborts. A timed-out release cannot authorize evidence finalization or lease release. Its manifest stays available for cleanup recovery.
Every would-be successful result is checked against the retained-result success contract before successful cleanup. Missing assertions or paid accounting proof turn the campaign into a failure while preserving valid cost receipts, so an invalid success cannot trigger disposable-stack deletion.
The shared Plan story additionally retains draft and revised task screenshots privately. Other screenshots capture the post-journey task. Failed task/search screens are retained only after tenant setup; authentication pages are excluded. Browser state, login codes, raw errors, credentials, request headers, and auth screenshots are excluded. All Cloud evidence is private; the public history publisher rejects these bundles. The private provider uses conditional S3 identity/stack leases and intent/receipt ownership manifests. An expired lease permits cleanup recovery, not reuse.
Managed self-hosted instances are removed after every attempt. Existing Cloud stacks retain the QA account and declared baseline while removing verified run-owned fixtures. Successful disposable stacks are deleted. Failed disposable stacks are stopped and retained for up to 24 hours. The deployment provider declares earlier cleanup eligibility to leave time for its sweeper. Interrupted cleanup remains visible and retains exclusive stack ownership. QA identity and inbox never belong to disposable ownership.
Eval operations integration and qualification
The private adapter carries the same campaign/attempt identity through bounded
request admission, setup/agent phase transitions, run observation, cost receipts,
trace IDs, and feedback collection. A normalized operations receipt belongs
only to the onboarding attempt; descendants do not repeat shared setup charges.
Unknown cost remains unknown. Raw feedback, traces, and ledgers stay private.
Invocation evidence distinguishes native event inspection from a proven
provider_not_started workspace deferral. Both require complete event reads.
Pending replacements and contradictory execution evidence remain partial.
The sibling Operationalize eval runs implementation currently admits local cells and binds its gateway to loopback. That is not Cloud reachability or budget qualification. A Cloud adapter must prove the selected runtime's route, effective credential binding, budget admission, and exact campaign deadline before any paid provider action. The normal wizard first saves a custom-gateway connection and selects its model without inference. Qualification checks this exact saved route from the actual runtime before the normal Connect probe. Missing qualification blocks onboarding; it must never fall back to an unmetered direct provider request.
As of 2026-10-22, the same task-properties story has passed in real browsers on managed self-hosted and a registered testing Cloud stack, including cleanup and zero model calls. Normal QA email-code authentication and account admission have also passed against testing. Cloud onboarding selectors and lifecycle contracts have offline tests; fresh onboarding, dependent reuse, and disposable cleanup remain unqualified. Provider and trace secret references are configured. The separate onboarding gateway product change, trusted CI selection, and real runtime gateway admission remain live qualification prerequisites. Testing and staging use separate registries and credentials; only the declared testing control plane is admitted. Defining a story or passing structural checks is not evidence that its Cloud journey passed.
Reuse and daily QA promotion
The classic matrix and deployment-targeted stories share Plan revision actions, artifact download/oracle code, Skill Studio editing and protected-action decisions. Their target adapters own login, agent/connection provisioning, environment identity, and cleanup. The managed local recipe currently provides browser-only capabilities; paid stories fail as unsupported until a native agent fixture is supplied. This does not turn a classic local pass into a QA Cloud pass.
Paid deployment campaigns declare the exact sum of expected work runs (Ask 1, Plan 3, artifact revision 2, protected actions 4, Skill Studio 1, Stop/redirect 3). Each observer reads only its owned tasks and checks native company, agent, model and execution-environment identity. Setup is separately unpriced. Skills and service connections are uniquely owned; customer credentials and company-wide configuration are never copied into a journey.
The private QA adapter keeps candidate cases available for manual qualification. A candidate's presence in this source catalog is not qualification. It enters the saved daily TestOps plan only after an inspected real QA Cloud pass including usage, artifact/decision evidence and cleanup. The daily driver runs that saved plan against the registered QA tenant; it does not substitute a local instance.