Files
PaperClipAI/server
DottaandPaperclip db11d899cf fix(native): recover remote sessions while preserving warm runs (#16451)
## Thinking Path

> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work.
> - Native agents keep remote processes and conversation history across
warm turns.
> - A completed turn can leave handoff authority only in controller
memory.
> - Losing that controller can block a follow-up even while its sandbox
survives.
> - This pull request verifies durable ownership and reconnects the
exact prior process before handing it to the next run.
> - Healthy follow-ups stay warm. Recovery preserves saved work without
replaying a completed turn.

## Linked Issues or Issue Description

**What happened?**

A remote warm turn can finish without suspended backup authority. A
replacement controller rejects that prior owner even when its exact
process and completed checkpoint remain. A single unavailable identity
probe can also stop an otherwise valid reattachment.

**Expected behavior**

Keep healthy follow-ups warm. Recover a completed session after proving
that its controller stopped and that the successor holds current
authority. Reuse compatible processes; otherwise save and resume the
conversation. Retry unavailable identity reads within one shared
deadline.

**Steps to reproduce**

Use `doc/testing-native-remote-continuity.md`. Its Linux cases execute
real turns through PostgreSQL, TLS ingress, and the Rust runner. They
kill a separate controller process, recover old checkpoint metadata, and
change process configuration. The provider is deterministic.

Related: #16432 and #16441 fix live warm-owner handoffs. #16341 adds
recovery diagnostics. #14695 covers provider process retention.

## What Changed

- Preserve warm process reuse between healthy remote turns.
- Verify a committed prior result, stopped controller, matching
checkpoint and sandbox, and current task/coordinator ownership before
recovering an orphaned warm session.
- Reconnect through the prior run route, then use the existing
authenticated run attachment to change authority.
- Persist a process-configuration digest. Close and save recovered
sessions when old or changed configuration cannot support reuse.
- Retry unavailable state, marker, and process reads within one
30-second deadline. Keep signals and definitive identity failures
single-attempt.
- Record closed recovery diagnostics, including unreadable or malformed
saved state.
- Retire the recovery-only ownership check after verified attachment, so
later warm turns use their current authority.
- Add real-process Linux regressions and refusal controls.
- Expose the existing source-only file-recovery form for retained native
holds, with the same board authority, evidence, and exact stop-receipt
requirements as legacy holds. Recording recovered files does not change
task status or replay a run.

## Verification

- `pnpm -r typecheck` passed; the server check was repeated for the
third-turn fix.
- `pnpm build` passed after the final UI change. The UI typecheck, token
gates, and map checks also pass.
- Four Linux continuity cases passed: warm reuse, controller loss,
legacy checkpoint metadata, and changed configuration. Each creates one
conversation and starts exactly three turns, including a healthy
follow-up after recovery. The fixture uses expired prior leases; the
third turn keeps the runner and provider processes.
- Greptile caught the retained recovery gate; the third-turn regression
now covers it. An initial test omitted the heartbeat’s saved input and
left a test process after failure; the fixture was corrected and its
disposable container reset before the passing run.
- The current focused executor/restart group passes all 749 tests,
including the original failure classifications.
- Native file-recovery and UI tests pass (52 tests), including blocked
tasks and both native and legacy holds.
- After merging current master and retaining its equivalent CI
expression check, the CI policy tests pass (15 tests) and all four
three-turn Linux continuity cases pass again on
`dec418ae55ff21b4fb067132613658cce445f181`.
- `pnpm test:run` completed its general server group with 20,572 passes,
103 skips, and three failures: the skill-audit child process and two
HTTP test timeouts. The same three suites then passed in isolation (89
tests) without code changes. That local command stopped before later
groups; the complete final-head CI, including general, serialized,
Runner, build, and browser gates, is green.
- Greptile reviewed the combined head
`dec418ae55ff21b4fb067132613658cce445f181` at 5/5 with no actionable
findings; both earlier findings are resolved. All final-head CI gates
and the security scan passed. Staging deployment and retained-incident
disposition remain deployment acceptance work.

## Risks

- Recovery requires exact durable evidence. Live conflicting
controllers, replacement sandboxes, Stop/pause, and uncertain effects
must remain blocked.
- After controller loss, tool-contract or process-configuration changes
can restart the provider. Normal healthy follow-ups retain their
processes.
- The new idle-recovery path has Linux fake-provider evidence. Live
Codex/OpenCode and retained quarantined-state recovery still need
staging qualification.
- No database schema, telemetry, or runner protocol changes.

## Model Used

OpenAI GPT-6 through Codex, with reasoning, repository inspection, code
execution, and browser tools. The session does not expose a more
specific 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 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 (targeted checks and
isolated reruns; full-run limitation recorded above)
- [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 on
`dec418ae55ff21b4fb067132613658cce445f181`
- [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>
2026-10-15 13:26:09 -05:00
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