DottaandPaperclip
2e52dfa864
## Thinking Path > - Paperclip manages AI agents and their work. > - Slack conversations store that work in tasks and comments. > - A native thread must keep its task when work finishes. > - The server treated all DMs as linear conversations. > - A reply in a completed DM thread therefore started a new task without its earlier comments. > - This pull request uses the native thread identity for task continuity. > - People can continue the same work with its saved context. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description **What happened?** A reply in a Slack DM thread created a new task after the preceding task was Done or Cancelled. It also created a new task when the saved conversation was completed. The new task lacked earlier comments. **Expected behavior** A native Slack thread keeps one task in channels and DMs. Later replies retain earlier user and agent comments. Top-level DMs keep their existing task generation rules. **Steps to reproduce** 1. Start work in a Slack DM thread. 2. Mark its task Done. 3. Reply in the same thread. 4. Before this fix, the reply creates another task. **Paperclip version or commit** Reproduced from master ateb5c24b61c. **Deployment mode** Built from source. Tests use local PostgreSQL and provider fixtures. Related PR: #16151 covers the DM mention exemption. This fix preserves that behavior. GitHub searches found no duplicate fix for completion routing. ## What Changed - Detect Slack native thread roots in the Slack module. - Classify native DM threads as persistent threads for task routing. - Select the resource type from the actual DM destination. Keep DM access checks. - Preserve DM task controls. Select the latest DM task even after completion. Require a delivered control receipt before an explicit new task generation. - Add completion, duplicate, saved-history, separate-root, Idle, and explicit-control regressions. - Document the task boundary. Correct only the inaccurate DM-thread statement in the existing feature recipe. ## Verification - Before the production edit, the new PostgreSQL regression failed in all three threaded-DM completion cases: two conversations existed instead of one. The channel-thread and top-level-DM controls passed. - The initial eight routing cases passed. CI then found five existing slash-control failures. All five reproduced locally. Greptile reported the same regression at 4/5. - The first correction passed all 16 focused PostgreSQL cases. Secondary review then found that slash commands skipped Done, Cancelled, and completed DM tasks. Four new cases failed before the lookup change. Commit23ff4f04fpassed all 20 focused cases, including status, explicit new/close, delivered receipts, and a new task generation. The original same-thread continuity cases still pass. - Command: `pnpm exec vitest run server/src/__tests__/chat-channels.integration.test.ts -t 'preserves Slack thread history across completion|keeps separate Slack DM thread roots|returns two answered Slack turns to Idle|binds Slack DM slash controls|treats D-prefixed Slack status|serializes duplicate Slack admission with an owned provider-reply settlement|suppresses a queued provider reply when destination reach|continues to accept authenticated Slack slash close/new'`. - Map validation and `git diff --check` passed. Map validation proves structure only. - All 107 neighboring Slack adapter, SDK runtime, and receipt tests passed across three files. - The initial complete server typecheck passed with `PAPERCLIP_TYPECHECK_LOW_MEMORY=1 pnpm --filter @paperclipai/server typecheck`, including all three test-tree shards. - Full local recursive typecheck and build stopped because this workspace has no `cargo`. A separate default server typecheck was killed under concurrent memory load; its lower-memory rerun passed. The broad local test run was interrupted to free memory, so no full-local-suite pass is claimed. The complete server typecheck passed again for correction367b6f9b3, including all three test-tree shards. The [full CI pipeline](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/42250458200) passed for exact head367b6f9b3f. This includes typecheck, build, all chat and other test lanes, browser E2E, Runner, and aggregate verify. The first CI run passed broad typecheck, build, E2E, Runner, and other test groups, but its chat failures remain recorded above. - The initial regression launch could not load the unbuilt plugin SDK. It ran after building the required workspace dependencies. A test-only resource assertion was corrected to read persisted DM resources, which the settings list omits. The completed-conversation case preserves an existing review status. - The initial correction test used a follow-up timestamp older than the delivered control. The chronology gate correctly rejected it. A current provider timestamp now verifies the new generation without weakening that gate. - Greptile's map finding was addressed by removing recipe expansions and all agent-access map changes. Both review threads have replies and are resolved. Greptile reviewed exact head367b6f9b3fat [5/5 with zero new findings](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/pull/19486#issuecomment-6689117840). The secondary Paperclip Review rated that head 4/5 and found the completed-task slash lookup error. Commit23ff4f04ffixes this finding. Greptile and Paperclip Review both rate head23ff4f04f6at 5/5. All three review threads are resolved. The [full CI pipeline](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/actions/runs/42255926149) now passes on this exact head. This includes typecheck, build, all test lanes, browser E2E, Runner checks, Canary Dry Run, and aggregate verify. All checks are terminal: 54 success, 1 neutral, and 3 skipped. Snyk also passes. The PR has no merge conflict. - The complete server typecheck passed again on23ff4f04f, including all three test-tree shards. - The new test first asserted the conversation-list state. That API displays terminal tasks as completed before the control is sent. The test now reads stored binding state to check that completion waits for the delivered receipt. - No live Slack send or deployment was performed. ## Risks - Native DM threads now reopen the existing task after Done or Cancelled. Explicit new/close controls still release the binding after their response is delivered. Top-level DMs still start new generations after completion. - Existing split tasks stay separate. Future replies use the latest saved binding. This change does not merge old tasks or copy surrounding DM history into a newly created thread. - No schema, credential, provider scope, or permission changes are required. ## Model Used OpenAI Codex, based on GPT-6, with reasoning, tool use, repository editing, and code execution. The runtime does not expose a more precise serving model ID 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 - [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 <[email protected]>
Apps, Connections, and Integrations
Audience: internal engineers and product contributors working on integrations.
Start here when adding a provider: Connection authoring runbook. It is the canonical agent tutorial from provider research and protocol classification through manifest generation, branding, secrets, deterministic tests, real-account proof, and PR submission.
Chat and email channels: conversation-channel contract, question inventory and quality bar, and per-provider question coverage index.
Runtime authentication: AI Connections.
Long-term memory: Experimental memory connectors.
Provider notes: Google Workspace, Gmail, Asana, Sentry, PostHog, Braintrust, Neon, Superagent, Gauge, Ditto, 1Password, Unikraft, AgentMail, Telem.AI, iMessage Photon, Enterpret, Supabase, and Vercel. Optional credential custody: Vercel Connect.
Post-read action: classify a new integration request, pick the right Paperclip layer to change, and avoid creating a parallel connection framework.
Decision Record
Board decisions from PAP-13211 make the Apps v2 substrate on the PAP-10341 branch canonical:
- D1: Apps v2 is the substrate. The active model is
tool_applications,tool_connections, catalog entries, profiles, policy rules, action requests, gateway sessions, audit events, and runtime slots. Connections v1 is retired as an implementation path. - D2: one credential authority per connection, brokered projections. The
default is the Paperclip instance vault: durable third-party credentials live
in
company_secretsas secret refs. A reviewed remote MCP method may instead opt in to Vercel Connect, in which case Vercel is the durable credential authority and Paperclip stores only the connector reference and redacted grant metadata. A connection must never mix those two sources. Adapter config, plugin config, harness credential files, and run environments may receive only brokered or projected credentials. - D3: the vocabulary and three-door IA are product law. The default product doors are Apps, Connections, and Review. Protocol and operator-depth concepts live behind Developer or Advanced surfaces.
- D4: unification lands on PAP-10341. Pages, CircleBack-style harness MCP OAuth, provider gallery work, and plugin-provided integrations converge on this branch instead of spawning new integration substrates.
- D5: inbound stays thin. External clients that call Paperclip use scoped Paperclip tokens and existing profiles/rules. They do not get a separate permission model.
Canonical Object Model
Use connection as the unifying noun. A connection is four things:
- A stored credential reference.
- A capability catalog.
- A governance layer.
- An audit trail.
Everything else is an axis on that object:
| Axis | Values | It answers |
|---|---|---|
| Direction | outbound, inbound | Who is the client? |
| Transport | MCP, native REST/OpenAPI, OAuth app install, webhook | How do bytes move? |
| Auth mode | OAuth, API key/PAT, app installation, none | What does the secret represent? |
| Credential owner | company, user, run | Whose identity acts? |
| Packaging | catalog entry, plugin, skill | How does it ship? |
MCP is a transport, not a product category. "Install the Discord app", "connect Google Drive", and "add an MCP endpoint" all produce governed connections with different transport/auth values.
Layer Stack
When you are unsure where a change belongs, place it on the narrowest layer that solves the problem:
| Layer | Owns | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Surface | user-facing Apps, Connections, Review, Developer/Advanced screens | gallery cards, setup wizard, review queue |
| Governance | profiles, bindings, allow/ask-first/block rules, quarantine, audit | read-only profile, ask-first write policy |
| Capability | action catalogs, schemas, risk classes, changed-tool review | search_issues, create_comment, schema hash |
| Credential | company_secrets, OAuth broker, credential resolver, token broker |
Slack bot token ref, Google OAuth refresh token ref |
| Identity | actor attribution and token exchange | board user, agent run, first-party service identity |
| Transport | how the external system is reached | remote HTTP MCP, local stdio, REST/OpenAPI, webhook |
The agent should not hold a durable provider credential. It should hold a Paperclip run/session token; the server or broker resolves the connection, checks governance, invokes the provider, and writes audit.
Identity vs. connections
Signing a user in and connecting a resource are different planes with different owners, different token profiles, and different homes. Do not merge them. This section is the public, connections-side statement of the identity model so connector implementers inherit the rule without depending on private identity-service documentation or re-deriving it.
| Plane | Question | Lives where | Token profile |
|---|---|---|---|
| P1. Sign-in methods | Who are you? | paperclip-id (id.paperclip.ing → Account) |
Minimal-scope provider tokens (openid email profile), used once to authenticate, encrypted at rest, never exported |
| P2. Connections (Apps) | What may your agents touch? | Paperclip App instances (tool_connections), acquired via the connect broker for hosted + self-hosted |
Rich-scope, long-lived resource tokens in the instance's encrypted vault; per-agent grants; risk-tier policy defaults |
| P3. Login with Paperclip | Who may authenticate against us? | paperclip-id OIDC provider + DB-backed client registry |
Our ES256 ID/access tokens issued by us to registered RPs (instances, the broker, future third parties) |
Everything in doc/connections/ — the First-30 matrix,
the connection authoring runbook, and the connect-broker work —
lives on plane P2. It never acquires, stores, or brokers a P1 sign-in token.
The standing rule (D7)
Adopted as a standing rule (decision D7) with the identity-model plan. State it verbatim in any P2 design so the app-store work cannot drift into merging the planes:
Sign-in tokens are never reused as resource tokens; id.paperclip.ing never stores resource tokens; no connections hub on the ID service.
P2 tokens flow broker → instance vault as pass-through only; the id.paperclip.ing Account page therefore must not grow a "Connections" hub. The reasons to hold the planes apart (from the plan §3):
- Scope discipline. Sign-in wants the narrowest grant; connections want deliberately broad ones. One button that does both is how you grant repo access just to log in.
- Blast radius. id.paperclip.ing holding every customer's Vercel/Slack/GitHub resource tokens would make it the single juiciest target in the fleet; the broker is intentionally pass-through.
- Self-hosted symmetry. Instances own their vaults, so self-hosters don't depend on our uptime to use their own connections.
- Legibility. Sign-in and connections answer different user questions, and every product we benchmarked (Vercel, Railway, GitHub, Google) keeps them on separate pages with separate names.
The explicit Vercel Connect exception does not change D7 or merge P1 and P2.
The operator chooses Vercel as the P2 credential authority for an individual
connection. id.paperclip.ing is not involved, and neither sign-in tokens nor
provider tokens pass through it. The deployment's Vercel access token or
workload OIDC identity is bootstrap authority for that external vault, not a
provider resource credential.
Naming alignment
Use the surface-correct name for each plane; they intentionally differ:
| Surface | Plane | Name to use |
|---|---|---|
| Paperclip App instances | P2 | "Connections" |
| id.paperclip.ing Account | P1 | "Ways to sign in" |
| id.paperclip.ing admin | P3 | "OIDC clients" (until the app store productizes it) |
Packaging Rule
Default to a catalog entry when an integration can be described as metadata: manifest, auth config, action catalog, resource filters, and policy defaults.
Use a plugin only when the integration needs product code such as custom UI pages, its own tables, workers, migrations, routines, or specialized ingestion. A plugin may bundle catalog entries, but it must not bypass the connection, profile, policy, credential, and audit model.
Use a skill for agent instructions. Skills may use connections; they must not own durable tokens.
Canonical Docs
- Glossary defines product and internal terms.
- Identity vs. connections is the public statement of the P1/P2/P3 boundary and the D7 standing rule for connections work.
- Security threat model harvests the keeper from PAP-2359 and maps it onto Apps v2.
- First-30 matrix harvests the keeper from PAP-2432 and is the source matrix for connector playbook work.
- Connecting any remote MCP server is the baseline: how an operator connects a standards-compliant remote MCP endpoint with no Paperclip code change, and how sign-in resolves a client.
- Connection authoring runbook is the one end-to-end, agent-executable guide for adding a vendor as a catalog entry on Apps v2: research, connection-type selection, OAuth/API-key/generated-URL setup, encrypted credential handling, branding, implementation, browser and live-provider testing, verification, and PR submission.
- Vercel Connect operator guide documents the optional external credential source, deployment flags, runtime resolution, recovery, and smoke requirements.
- MCP access governance remains the operator runbook for the current gateway, profile, policy, approval, runtime, and audit APIs.
Migration Notes
Connections v1 contributed useful policy, UX, and rollout thinking, but its
implementation branch is no longer the target. When you see old tickets or code
using connections, connection_grants, or a provider-directory mental model,
translate the intent into Apps v2:
| Connections v1 intent | Apps v2 home |
|---|---|
| Provider directory | Apps gallery / tool_applications |
| Configured provider instance | Connection / tool_connections |
| Grant allowlist | Profiles, profile bindings, policies |
| Resource filters | Policy/profile conditions plus provider config |
| Tool broker | Tool gateway and runtime supervisor |
| Connection UX tail | Apps, Connections, Review, Developer/Advanced IA |
Do not add new work to the retired v1 branch. If an old ticket still describes a valid product gap, retarget it to an active Apps v2 issue or close it as superseded with a link to the replacement.
For Slack chat bot creation, installation, recovery, and live qualification, see Automatic Slack app setup.