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## Thinking Path > - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for work > - Onboarding ends by handing a new user to their first agent on a seeded first task > - Today the wizard asks for a mission up front, the UI composes what the agent is told, and the agent starts running before the user says anything > - New users get a cold, ticket-shaped start, and nobody can edit the agent's brief or persona without a code change > - This pull request makes the first task a short chat: a four-step wizard, a chief-of-staff persona, a greeting plus a two-option opening card, server-owned markdown texts, and no run until the user answers > - It also gives question cards one consistent action row (Cancel / Skip / Next), makes agent hires idempotent within a run, and turns the Paperclip Runner flag on by default for self-hosted instances > - The benefit is a first run the user steers, with texts a board operator can edit as markdown ## Linked Issues or Issue Description No public GitHub issue exists for this change. The feature request fields follow. Related PRs and issues: - Refs #11043 — an earlier draft of the first-task onboarding experience. This PR supersedes it. - Refs #11280 — a report about the onboarding first-task route test. This PR extends that test file. ### Subsystem affected Onboarding wizard, the seeded first task and its texts, task-chat question cards, agent hiring, and the instance experimental settings. ### Problem or motivation The onboarding wizard collects a mission through two extra steps and a questionnaire. The UI then composes the first agent's instructions and the first task description from those answers. The first task wakes the agent at once, so the agent runs and posts before the user types a word. Board operators cannot change the greeting, the brief, or the persona without editing TypeScript. Question cards in chat behave differently per adapter, and a single-select pick submits on click. A misread hire response could create a duplicate agent that the creating agent cannot remove. ### Proposed solution Reduce the wizard to four steps and stop the UI from authoring agent texts. Move the greeting, the brief, the chief-of-staff persona, and the opening question into markdown and JSON files that the server loads at runtime. Seed the persona onto the first agent through an explicit hire marker. Do not wake the first task until the user answers the opening card or types. Give every question card the same Cancel / Skip / Next actions. Add an experimental toggle that switches the single-task proposal between one confirmation card and a plan document with a checkbox card. Make agent hires idempotent within a run. ### Alternatives considered - Keep the mission questionnaire and feed it into the brief. Rejected: the agent asks better questions in chat, and the wizard gets shorter. - Keep the first task open-ended with a plain composer. Rejected: a two-option card gives the user a clear first move. - Derive the plan-document behaviour from the user's intent only. Rejected in favour of an explicit experimental toggle so operators can choose. - Key the "pick does not submit" behaviour off the presence of a submit label. Rejected: several adapters set a submit label on single-select cards, and their cards would change behaviour. ### Roadmap alignment `ROADMAP.md` lists no planned core work on onboarding or the first task. This change refines the existing flow and does not duplicate planned work. ## What Changed - Wizard: four steps (Name your organization, Create your first agent, Connect a model, Review). The front door and both mission steps are removed with their state and saved-progress keys. The UI no longer composes the first agent's instructions or the first task description. - Server-owned texts: the greeting, the brief with two proposal variants, the chief-of-staff persona, the opening question, and a README live in `server/src/onboarding-assets/first-task/` and load at runtime. The create route stores the assembled brief and ignores any client description. - Persona seed: an `onboardingFirstAgent` marker on the hire lets the server seed the chief-of-staff persona over the first agent's entry file. Board-authored hires only. The persona tells the agent the hire response shape and to list agents before it acts on an unclear result. - No auto-run: the first task does not queue an assignment wake. The stranded-assignment reconciler leaves it idle until a user comment or an answered card exists. - Opening card: the server seeds an `ask_user_questions` card right after the greeting with two options: "Interview me and propose a plan and an agent team to execute it." and "I have a task in mind" with free text. Answering wakes the agent. - Experimental toggle `enableFirstTaskPlanProposal` (default off): the single-task proposal is one confirmation card, or a plan document plus a checkbox card when on. - Question cards: every `ask_user_questions` card renders Cancel, Skip, and Next (the submit label on the last question). Skip hides on required questions. Picking an option no longer advances or submits by itself. - Wizard guards: the dashboard's agentless offer ignores a cached empty agent list while a refetch is in flight. The hire step adopts an agent that already carries the typed name instead of hiring "Name 2". - Agent hires are idempotent within a run: a retry of the identical request under the same run id returns the existing agent with `200` and `idempotent: true`. The fingerprint covers the whole validated request, so a corrected payload is a new hire. Lookup, create, and activity record run under one lock per company and run, so overlapping retries cannot both create. - The Paperclip Runner experimental flag defaults to on for self-hosted instances. Cloud keeps its declared default: a managed instance whose tenant row and managed overlay omit the flag resolves it to off. - Question cards: a send that finds an earlier required answer missing returns to that question with a message instead of failing silently. - The two onboarding e2e specs follow the new wizard: the front door and growth intake shots are gone, and the planning-mode spec dismisses the opening card before it reads the composer. - Docs: `docs/board-operator/editing-first-task-texts.md` explains how to edit the texts and the toggle. ## Verification Commands, run from the repo root: ``` pnpm -r --filter './packages/*' --filter '!@paperclipai/paperclip-runner' build pnpm --filter ./packages/shared typecheck pnpm --filter ./ui typecheck pnpm --filter ./server exec tsc --noEmit pnpm check:token-gates pnpm --filter ./ui exec vitest run OnboardingWizard onboarding QuestionForm InteractionCard ProtocolCard TaskChatComposer Dashboard feature PAPERCLIP_IN_WORKTREE=false pnpm --filter ./server exec vitest run onboarding-first-task heartbeat-process-recovery agent-hire-idempotency instance-settings agent-skills-routes issue-onboarding onboarding-greeting --testTimeout=90000 ``` Results on this branch: - Typecheck is clean for shared, ui, and server. - Token gates: 4 of 4 clean. - UI: 344 tests pass across 23 files. - Server: all suites pass. The first test in `agent-skills-routes` has its own 10 s cap and needs about 15 s on my laptop for the app cold start. It passes with a longer cap. This PR does not change that cap. Manual steps on a dev instance: 1. Open `/onboarding`. Confirm four steps: Name your organization, Create your first agent, Connect a model, Review. 2. Finish the wizard. Confirm the first task shows the chief-of-staff greeting and the opening card with two options. Confirm no run starts. 3. Pick "Interview me…". Confirm no run starts. Press Continue. Confirm a run starts and an interview card of 3–4 questions arrives. 4. On a fresh organization, pick "I have a task in mind", type a task, and press Continue. Confirm a proposal arrives as one confirmation card. 5. Turn on Settings → Experimental → "First task: propose with a plan document" and repeat step 4. Confirm a plan document and a checkbox card arrive. 6. Visit the dashboard after the hire. Confirm the wizard does not reopen and one agent exists. 7. Open any question card. Confirm Cancel returns the plain composer with the card still pending, Skip advances an optional question, and Next moves to the next question. Design reference with flow diagrams, chat mock-ups, and live captures: https://pages.paperclip.ing/first-task-flow/proposed/ ## Risks - `pnpm dev` now builds the runner daemon because the Paperclip Runner flag is on by default. Developers without a Rust toolchain must set `PAPERCLIP_RUNNER_BINARY` or turn the flag off. Self-hosted instances that never set the flag now let qualified agents use the runner. - The wizard drops the mission steps and their saved-progress keys. A user who is mid-wizard on an older build restarts at step 1 after an upgrade. Existing organizations are not touched. - The first task no longer runs on its own. A user who neither answers the card nor types sees no agent activity. This is intended. - The persona seed applies only to hires that carry the marker from the wizard. API hires are unchanged. - Hire idempotency is scoped to one run id and to the exact request. Retries across runs, or with a changed payload, still create a second agent. The lock is per server process, which matches how an instance serves its API. - Single-select question cards no longer submit on pick. Users of adapters that relied on that behaviour now press Next. - No database migrations. > For core feature work, check [`ROADMAP.md`](ROADMAP.md) first and discuss it in `#dev` before opening the PR. Feature PRs that overlap with planned core work may need to be redirected — check the roadmap first. See `CONTRIBUTING.md`. ## Model Used - Claude (Anthropic) through Claude Code. `claude-fable-5-1` with extended thinking, tool use, and code execution wrote most commits. `claude-opus-4-8` wrote the toggle, texts, wizard, and idempotency commits, as the `Co-Authored-By` trailers show. ## 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> Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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title, summary
| title | summary |
|---|---|
| Editing the First-Task Texts | Change the welcome, instructions, and proposal style for new organizations |
The text for a new organization's first task lives in server/src/onboarding-assets/first-task/. It is plain Markdown, so maintainers can change it without editing TypeScript.
Files and placeholders
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
greeting.md |
The welcome the user sees. |
brief.md |
The first-task instructions. Contains {{proposalStep}}. |
proposal-confirmation.md |
The single-card proposal used when the plan toggle is off. |
proposal-plan.md |
The plan document and checkbox-card proposal used when the toggle is on. |
opening-question.json |
The opening card: its prompt and two options. |
chief-of-staff/AGENTS.md |
The first agent's chief-of-staff persona. |
README.md |
A maintainer reference for the files, placeholders, toggle, and update behavior. |
The templates support {{agentName}}, {{organizationName}}, and {{proposalStep}}. Paperclip fills them when it creates the organization, first agent, and first task.
How the first-task flow works
The server posts the greeting and an opening card with two options. Nothing runs until the user answers the card or writes a message.
- Interview me: the agent asks 3–4 questions in one card, then proposes a plan and a team.
- I have a task in mind: the typed text is the task. When it is clear enough, the agent proposes right away. Otherwise it asks 2–3 clarifying questions first.
- A plain message instead of an answer counts as a task.
The agent may create hires or tasks only after the user accepts a confirmation or checkbox card.
Apply an edit
Edit the Markdown with GitHub's web editor or locally, open a pull request, and merge it. A local instance loads the change after its next server restart; Cloud tenants receive it with the next release.
Only new organizations receive updated text. An existing first task keeps its stored description, and an existing first agent keeps its instruction file. You can edit the task description on the task and the agent's copy in the app under Instructions.
Choose the proposal form
Open Settings > Experimental and find First task: propose with a plan document. Its setting key is enableFirstTaskPlanProposal, and it is off by default.
- Off: the chief of staff answers a single-task request with one confirmation card.
- On: the chief of staff writes a short plan document and adds a checkbox card.
Paperclip reads this setting once, when it creates an organization's first task. Changing it later does not alter an existing first task.