PaperClipAI/AGENTS.md

AGENTS.md

Guidance for human and AI contributors working in this repository.

This codebase is yours: what it's for and how it's built are your call, and you'll keep building on it. The invariants and rules below record what has been decided so far. If you think one of them is wrong, say so and propose the change; do not work around it.

1. Purpose

Paperclip is a control plane for AI-agent companies. The code and its tests are the source of truth for current behavior. The focused docs under doc/ are background. They can be out of date, so do not treat them as requirements when they disagree with the code or with the task.

2. Read This First

Read the doc that matches your change before you start:

Your change touches	Read
Product behavior or scope	doc/GOAL.md, doc/PRODUCT.md
Setup, commands, testing, worktrees	doc/DEVELOPING.md
Schema, migrations, DB clients	doc/DATABASE.md
An Apps catalog connection	doc/connections/CONNECTOR-PLAYBOOK.md (the canonical connection authoring runbook)
Anything under ui/	DESIGN.md

Scoped repository rules

rules/*.mdc holds the architecture rules that reviewers apply to a pull request. Each file starts with a short header: description is a one-sentence summary of the rule, globs lists the files it covers, and alwaysApply: true means it covers the whole repository.

You do not need to read the rule bodies before every change. List the headers to see which rules exist and what each one asks for:

grep -E '^(description|globs|alwaysApply):' rules/*.mdc

Write the change so that it satisfies the descriptions of the rules that cover your files. Read the full body of a rule only in these cases:

• You are making a design decision in the area the rule covers, such as adding a module, a background worker, or persisted state.
• The description does not tell you whether your change complies.
• A reviewer cites the rule.

These rules supplement this file and any applicable nested AGENTS.md instructions. See rules/README.md for rule authoring and Greptile setup.

3. Repo Map

• server/: Express REST API and orchestration services
• ui/: React + Vite board UI
• packages/db/: Drizzle schema, migrations, DB clients
• packages/shared/: shared types, constants, validators, API path constants
• packages/adapters/: agent adapter implementations (Claude, Codex, Cursor, etc.)
• packages/adapter-utils/: shared adapter utilities
• packages/plugins/: plugin system packages
• packages/skills-catalog/: app-shipped skills catalog (@paperclipai/skills-catalog)
• packages/teams-catalog/: app-shipped teams catalog (@paperclipai/teams-catalog)
• cli/: paperclipai CLI package (published bin, agent-facing commands)
• skills/: Paperclip runtime/operational skills (not part of the app catalog)
• doc/: operational and product docs
• doc/plans/: dated repo plan docs, named YYYY-MM-DD-slug.md. A plan for a Paperclip issue goes in the issue's plan document instead.
• rules/: scoped repository rules (see section 2)

4. Dev Setup

node scripts/agent-preflight.mjs   # prepare a new or updated worktree
pnpm dev                           # API and UI at http://localhost:3100

Leave DATABASE_URL unset to use the embedded database. See "Agent worktree preflight", "Start Dev", "Quick Health Checks", and "Database in Dev" in doc/DEVELOPING.md.

5. Core Engineering Rules

1. Keep changes company-scoped. Every domain entity should be scoped to a company and company boundaries must be enforced in routes/services. The few instance-wide exceptions are listed in rules/company-scope-exceptions.mdc. Do not add another without adding it to that list.

2. Keep contracts synchronized. If you change schema/API behavior, update all impacted layers:

   • packages/db schema and exports
   • packages/shared types/constants/validators
   • server routes/services
   • ui API clients and pages

3. Preserve control-plane invariants.

   • Single-assignee task model
   • Atomic issue checkout semantics
   • Approval gates for governed actions
   • Budget hard-stop auto-pause behavior
   • Activity logging for mutating actions

4. Keep behavior with its owning module. Provider protocols, payload parsing, and feature-specific sequencing belong to the module that owns them. Shared code uses narrow, normalized contracts. Explain any substantive change outside the owning module. See rules/module-boundaries.mdc.

6. Database Changes

Follow "Schema change workflow" in doc/DATABASE.md: edit the schema, run pnpm db:generate, then typecheck.

7. Verification Before Hand-off

Run the smallest check that proves the change. The default local and agent path is:

pnpm verify

This selects affected Vitest files with the same conservative dependency policy as CI. It includes committed, staged, unstaged, and untracked changes against the merge base with local origin/master (or master), and it reuses passing checks whose inputs are unchanged. Use --base <ref> for another base, --explain to inspect the selection, and --no-cache for fresh execution. See "Incremental local verification" in doc/DEVELOPING.md for how reuse and invalidation work.

Follow these rules:

• Exit 2 means the change needs broader verification. Run focused checks and let required CI supply that coverage, or explicitly use pnpm verify --full for the full local Vitest suite. Do not automatically follow exit 2 with a full local run.
• Do not default to repo-wide checks. Do not run repo-wide typecheck, build, or test on every heartbeat when a narrower check is enough to prove the change. Use the broad checks below only when they resolve an actual remaining gap, such as a local platform fault or explicit full-suite qualification.
• Browser suites stay opt-in. Run pnpm test:e2e and pnpm test:release-smoke only when your change touches them or when you are explicitly verifying CI/release flows.
• CI covers the final revision. For a PR-ready handoff, run the relevant local checks and require the applicable CI typecheck, build, and test checks to pass for the final tested revision. Record their scope, revision, environment, and result links. Fresh CI can supply broad coverage; do not duplicate a full local run merely to prepare a PR, resume a chat, or repeat unchanged passing verification. A selected local pass does not replace required CI, release qualification, browser acceptance, or a local/platform-specific regression.
• Evidence expires. After edits or a rebase, rerun affected checks and invalidate evidence whose inputs or required coverage changed. Failed or interrupted attempts are never passes.
• Report gaps. If anything cannot be run, explicitly report what was not run and why.
• Attach deliverables. When you work a Paperclip issue and produce a file for the user to inspect, attach it as the paperclip skill and doc/AGENT-ARTIFACTS.md describe. A local filesystem path is not enough.

Broad local checks:

pnpm -r typecheck
pnpm test:run
pnpm build

pnpm test and pnpm test:run run the full suite. If memory is limited, use node scripts/typecheck-low-memory.mjs instead of pnpm -r typecheck. See doc/DEVELOPING.md.

Maps and Storybook

The feature map and the sibling agent access map are optional references for user entry points, agent entry points, permission boundaries, verification recipes, and coverage gaps. They record coverage scope, not proof that a live journey passed. Routine fixes, polish, refactors, and test changes do not require map updates. When you do edit a map, follow the feature-map scope rule and the map contract, then run node scripts/check-maps.mjs.

After story or recipe changes, update the affected source annotations or recipe and run node scripts/storybook-catalog.mjs. Indexes are generated and ignored; never commit them. See the Storybook feature catalog for the full workflow. Structural checks are not production acceptance.

8. API and Auth

Every route under server/src/routes/ that reads or writes company data checks company access and actor permissions, logs mutations to the activity log, and returns consistent HTTP errors. See rules/api-route-expectations.mdc.

9. UI Expectations

• Keep routes and nav aligned with available API surface
• Use company selection context for company-scoped pages
• Surface failures clearly; do not silently ignore API errors
• Follow DESIGN.md for every UI design decision, including the token-only rule and form footers.

10. Fixing a Bug

When you are asked to fix a bug, attempt to use test-driven development and prove the fix red-green:

1. Reproduce the error yourself.
2. Write a test that fails because of the bug.
3. Write the fix.
4. Run the test and confirm that it passes.
5. Verify that the fix worked: repeat the reproduction from step 1 and confirm that the error is gone.

11. Pull Requests

Fill in every section of .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md, however you create the pull request. Do not write an ad-hoc body. See "PR Requirements" in CONTRIBUTING.md for the details and thinking-path examples.

12. Definition of Done

A change is done when all are true:

1. Behavior matches what the task asked for and preserves the invariants in section 5
2. Relevant local verification and required CI typecheck, test, and build checks pass for the final revision, with any acceptance or platform-specific gaps resolved (section 7)
3. Contracts are synced across db/shared/server/ui
4. Docs updated when behavior or commands change
5. PR description follows the PR template with all sections filled in (including Model Used)