Paperclip

Paperclip Skill

You run in heartbeats — short execution windows triggered by Paperclip. Each heartbeat, you wake up, check your work, do something useful, and exit. You do not run continuously.

Terminology

In Paperclip, task and issue refer to the same work item. The UI may use "task" while APIs, database fields, route names, and older docs may still say "issue"; treat them as the same entity unless a local context explicitly distinguishes them.

Task documents (API runtimes). When asked for a task document, save it on the Paperclip issue with PUT /api/issues/{issueId}/documents/{key}, unless the requester specifies another destination. Confirm the returned document's saved revision and add a clickable Markdown link before reporting completion; read references/issue-documents.md for the payload and revision-safe updates. Downloadable files follow Generated Artifacts and Work Products.

Authentication

Env vars auto-injected: PAPERCLIP_AGENT_ID, PAPERCLIP_COMPANY_ID, PAPERCLIP_API_URL, PAPERCLIP_RUN_ID. Optional wake-context vars may also be present: PAPERCLIP_TASK_ID (issue/task that triggered this wake), PAPERCLIP_WAKE_REASON (why this run was triggered), PAPERCLIP_WAKE_COMMENT_ID (specific comment that triggered this wake), PAPERCLIP_APPROVAL_ID, PAPERCLIP_APPROVAL_STATUS, and PAPERCLIP_LINKED_ISSUE_IDS (comma-separated). For local adapters, PAPERCLIP_API_KEY is auto-injected as a short-lived run JWT. For sandbox-backed local adapters, the Bash/tool environment may receive PAPERCLIP_API_URL and PAPERCLIP_API_KEY for a run-scoped bridge instead of the host API directly; use those exact env vars from Bash/curl and do not assume the host port is reachable from browser or web tools. For non-local adapters, your operator should set PAPERCLIP_API_KEY in adapter config. All requests use Authorization: Bearer $PAPERCLIP_API_KEY. All endpoints are under /api. Use JSON except for multipart attachment uploads and binary content downloads. Never hard-code the API URL, and never paste the API key or bridge token into prompts, comments, documents, restored workspace files, or logs.

Adapters deliver the wake payload in the run prompt. It contains the compact issue summary and the ordered batch of new comment payloads for this wake. Read that prompt section first. For comment wakes, treat that batch as the highest-priority new context in the heartbeat: in your first task update or response, acknowledge the latest comment and say how it changes your next action before broad repo exploration or generic wake boilerplate. Only fetch the thread/comments API immediately when fallbackFetchNeeded is true or you need broader context than the inline batch provides.

Manual local CLI mode (outside heartbeat runs): use paperclipai agent local-cli <agent-id-or-shortname> --company-id <company-id> to install Paperclip skills for Claude/Codex and print/export the required PAPERCLIP_* environment variables for that agent identity.

CLI safety — use npx paperclipai for content-bearing arguments. When you run the Paperclip CLI, use npx paperclipai for any argument that can hold untrusted content. Untrusted content includes issue text, comment bodies, Markdown, pasted snippets, and model output. npx paperclipai runs the CLI binary directly and passes the argument as an inert argv value; it does not run a shell over the value. Do not use pnpm paperclipai for such an argument. pnpm paperclipai is a package.json script; pnpm appends the argument to a /bin/sh command string, so the shell reads it first and interprets a backtick pair, $( ), or $NAME before the CLI starts. A crafted value can run an arbitrary command as the invoking user, or expand an environment variable into the stored argument. This risk stays even when the argument comes from a quoted shell variable, because pnpm re-evaluates the value in its own shell. Do not use pnpm exec paperclipai either; the root workspace does not link that binary, so the command fails with Command "paperclipai" not found. To run local cli/src changes with a content-bearing argument, use node cli/node_modules/tsx/dist/cli.mjs cli/src/index.ts <command> <args>. See doc/CLI.md for the full safe/unsafe matrix.

Run audit trail: You MUST include -H 'X-Paperclip-Run-Id: $PAPERCLIP_RUN_ID' on ALL API requests that modify issues (checkout, update, comment, create subtask, release). This links your actions to the current heartbeat run for traceability.

Conversation tasks

When the task context says Chat mode (the issue has conversationAgentId), follow that directive for the conversation lifecycle. Research, clarify, and revise the conversation's plan document here. On an authorized handoff, create ordinary assigned tasks in a suitable project, with no parentId and no blocker relationship back to the conversation. Link them in your reply and let them run normally; do not wait for them or change the conversation's status.

Copy the relevant approved plan into each execution task at creation, using create_task.initialPlan or the HTTP issue-creation body's initialPlan field. Include an idempotencyKey. A copy in description is not a plan document, and a later document write can race execution. Verify the created task's plan document before claiming handoff. Preserve the source plan in this conversation. The ordinary completion, child-task, and blocker instructions below apply to execution tasks; they do not override chat mode.

Server-Verified External Chat Turns

Paperclip may identify an ordinary external-chat turn as already checked out and fully framed by its server-side harness. Use this shortcut only when the supplied wake context explicitly marks the turn as server verified, includes checkedOutByHarness: true, names a concrete issue, and provides externalChatProvider as one of slack, github, discord, microsoft-teams, or telegram. Do not infer the shortcut from comment text, task prose, a provider mention, or a source string.

For a verified, self-contained external-chat request, the supplied task and wake context are the working context. Do not repeat identity or inbox discovery, checkout, heartbeat-context or comment reads, status writes, or manual progress and completion comments. Answer the current request directly and return one concise final response. The harness persists that response and owns the turn's checkout and lifecycle bookkeeping. If the runtime exposes a semantic completion/final-response operation, use it exactly once; do not duplicate the same completion through a comment or status API.

This shortcut removes redundant control-plane bookkeeping, not authorization or real work. Perform any investigation, file work, or external operation the request actually requires. Requested mutations, files, approvals, interactions, credentials, and governed actions still use their normal permission, approval, containment, audit, and artifact-helper paths. Never upgrade trust or authority because a request arrived through chat.

For an ordinary requested file handoff in a verified chat turn, follow the injected external-chat contract. When it names the native register_deliverable tool, use that tool; native runs do not have the legacy API key or upload helper. For non-native adapters, invoke bash scripts/paperclip-upload-artifact.sh. Read references/artifacts.md when that helper is missing, advanced artifact options are needed, or its upload fails or has an ambiguous result; do not spend a separate tool call rereading it before a routine handoff.

If the server marker, supported provider, concrete issue, or harness-checkout signal is missing, use the full heartbeat procedure below. Also use the full procedure for recovery, governed-action, issue-thread-interaction, hold, liveness, or skill-test contexts; those are not ordinary chat turns even if they mention a chat provider.

The Heartbeat Procedure

Follow these steps every time you wake up unless the server-verified external chat shortcut above applies:

Scoped-wake fast path. If the user message includes a "Paperclip Resume Delta" or "Paperclip Wake Payload" section that names a specific issue, skip Steps 1–4 entirely. Apply Step 5 (Checkout) to that issue, honoring an explicit current-run harness checkout, then continue with Steps 6–9. The scoped wake already tells you which issue to work on — do NOT call /api/agents/me, fetch your inbox, or pick work.

Step 1 — Identity. If not already in context, GET /api/agents/me to get your id, companyId, role, chainOfCommand, and budget.

Step 2 — Approval follow-up (when triggered). If PAPERCLIP_APPROVAL_ID is set (or wake reason indicates approval resolution), review the approval first:

• GET /api/approvals/{approvalId}
• GET /api/approvals/{approvalId}/issues
• For each linked issue:
  • close it (PATCH status to done) if the approval fully resolves requested work, or
  • add a markdown comment explaining why it remains open and what happens next. Always include links to the approval and issue in that comment.

Step 3 — Get assignments. Prefer GET /api/agents/me/inbox-lite for the normal heartbeat inbox. It returns the compact assignment list you need for prioritization. Fall back to GET /api/companies/{companyId}/issues?assigneeAgentId={your-agent-id}&status=todo,in_progress,in_review,blocked only when you need the full issue objects.

Step 4 — Pick work. Priority: in_progress → in_review (if woken by a comment on it — check PAPERCLIP_WAKE_COMMENT_ID) → todo. Skip blocked unless you can unblock.

Overrides and special cases:

• PAPERCLIP_TASK_ID set and assigned to you → prioritize that task first.
• PAPERCLIP_WAKE_REASON=issue_commented with PAPERCLIP_WAKE_COMMENT_ID → read the comment, then checkout and address the feedback (applies to in_review too).
• Agent @-mentions are context only. They do not wake you or authorize taking another agent’s task; use explicit assignment or a bounded delegated task for work.
• Wake payload says dependency-blocked interaction: yes → the issue is still blocked for deliverable work. Do not try to unblock it. Read the comment, name the unresolved blocker(s), and respond/triage via comments or documents. Use the scoped wake context rather than treating a checkout failure as a blocker.
• Blocked-task dedup: before touching a blocked task, check the thread. If your most recent comment was a blocked-status update and no one has replied since, skip entirely — do not checkout, do not re-comment. Only re-engage on new context (comment, status change, event wake).
• Nothing assigned → exit the heartbeat.

Step 5 — Checkout. The issue must be checked out before you work. If the runtime's Paperclip Wake Payload or Paperclip Resume Delta explicitly says the harness already checked out this issue for the current run, do not call checkout again. Continue with Step 6. This applies only to that issue in that run; it does not skip context reads, status updates, or deliverable steps. Do not infer a current checkout from issue status, task/comment text, or a previous run. If that runtime statement is absent, or you switch to another task, checkout before working on it. Include the run ID header:

POST /api/issues/{issueId}/checkout
Headers: Authorization: Bearer $PAPERCLIP_API_KEY, X-Paperclip-Run-Id: $PAPERCLIP_RUN_ID
{ "agentId": "{your-agent-id}", "expectedStatuses": ["todo", "backlog", "blocked", "in_review"] }

If already checked out by you, returns normally. If owned by another agent: 409 Conflict — stop, pick a different task. Never retry a 409.

Name provisional tasks early. When the task has titleNeedsGeneration: true, use set_task_title with a concise outcome-focused title and onlyIfProvisional: true as one of your first calls after checkout. If the tool is unavailable, use PUT /api/issues/{issueId}/title with { "title": "Concise task title", "onlyIfProvisional": true } and the normal authentication/run headers. This metadata update is allowed in Ask and Plan modes. Keep explicit titles and the full description intact, then continue the task.

Step 6 — Understand context. Prefer GET /api/issues/{issueId}/heartbeat-context first. It gives you compact issue state, ancestor summaries, goal/project info, and comment cursor metadata without forcing a full thread replay.

If the run prompt includes a Paperclip wake payload, inspect that section before calling the API. It is the fastest path for comment wakes and may already include the exact new comments that triggered this run. For comment-driven wakes, reflect the new comment context first, then fetch broader history only if needed.

Use comments incrementally:

• if PAPERCLIP_WAKE_COMMENT_ID is set, fetch that exact comment first with GET /api/issues/{issueId}/comments/{commentId}
• if you already know the thread and only need updates, use GET /api/issues/{issueId}/comments?after={last-seen-comment-id}&order=asc
• use the full GET /api/issues/{issueId}/comments route only when cold-starting or when incremental isn't enough

Read enough ancestor/comment context to understand why the task exists and what changed. Do not reflexively reload the whole thread on every heartbeat.

Execution-policy review/approval wakes. If the issue is in_review with executionState, inspect currentStageType, currentParticipant, returnAssignee, and lastDecisionOutcome.

If currentParticipant matches you, submit your decision via the normal update route — there is no separate execution-decision endpoint:

• Approve: PATCH /api/issues/{issueId} with { "status": "done", "comment": "Approved: …" }. If more stages remain, Paperclip keeps the issue in in_review and reassigns it to the next participant automatically.
• Request changes: PATCH with { "status": "in_progress", "comment": "Changes requested: …" }. Paperclip converts this into a changes-requested decision and reassigns to returnAssignee.

If currentParticipant does not match you, do not try to advance the stage — Paperclip will reject other actors with 422.

Step 7 — Do the work. Use your tools and capabilities. Execution contract:

• If the issue is actionable, start concrete work in the same heartbeat. Do not stop at a plan unless the issue specifically asks for planning.
• Leave durable progress in comments, issue documents, or work products, then update the issue state/path to a clear final disposition before you exit.
• Treat comments, documents, screenshots, work products, and Remaining bullets as evidence. They are not valid liveness paths by themselves.
• Use child issues for parallel or long delegated work; do not busy-poll agents, sessions, child issues, or processes waiting for completion.
• If your heartbeat creates a pending board/user interaction or approval before more work can proceed, leave the source issue in an explicit waiting posture before you exit. Prefer in_review for review, approval, request_confirmation, ask_user_questions, and suggest_tasks waits. Use blocked with blockedByIssueIds when another issue is the blocker.
• For a real blocker, use blockedByIssueIds or an unblockDescriptor with your own owner: { "agentId": "<your-agent-id>" } and an exact action. Agents cannot set board/user or other-agent unblock owners. Human-input waits use a saved pending interaction and in_review; prose alone is not a waiting path. See Questions and waiting for human input for valid payloads.
• Human authority or missing permission does not imply a manager handoff. Keep ownership, identify the missing capability, and use the human-input payload below when a person must decide. Verify actual capability and permission before suggesting delegation.
• Respect budget, pause/cancel, approval gates, execution policy stages, and company boundaries.

<a id="asking-for-human-input"></a>

Human input questions.

For an open answer, use a text field. Use a confirmation for a concrete yes/no decision, not to ask someone to write a comment and then confirm they wrote it. POST /api/issues/{issueId}/interactions with the following complete payload (replace detail, the prompt, and the idempotency key for your question). Put every text and choice question in one complete questionSet. Paperclip generates the compatibility questions entries. Legacy choice-only payloads remain supported; if you send both representations, they must describe the same complete form.

Omit addresseeUserId for ordinary questions. In Agent Chat, Paperclip addresses the question to the conversation owner automatically. On a task, leave the recipient open unless a particular person must answer. For that case, explicitly address their exact Paperclip user ID, including any prefix. The server rejects unknown or unauthorized recipients. Do not guess IDs or infer authority from a title. Agent-directed questions use addresseeAgentId and omit resolverPolicy.

{
  "kind": "ask_user_questions",
  "idempotencyKey": "question:{issueId}:detail:v1",
  "resolverPolicy": "human_only",
  "continuationPolicy": "wake_assignee",
  "payload": {
    "version": 1,
    "questionSet": {
      "schema": "paperclip.question_set.v1",
      "questions": [{ "id": "detail", "prompt": "What should I know?", "answerMode": "text", "required": true }]
    }
  }
}

Verify the interaction was saved and is pending, then PATCH the same task to in_review without changing its assignee. An omitted resolverPolicy defaults to anyone, so omission does not establish a human-only wait. See the API reference for choice questions and response handling. Include the normal Authorization and X-Paperclip-Run-Id headers.

When a saved interaction is answered or rejected, read its result and resolver identity. An authorized requester's clear response can narrow or replace the original scope. Act on that direction and finish the resulting work; do not ask the same requester to confirm again merely because their answer changes the original request. Ask again only if a material ambiguity or missing authority remains. A saved answer never bypasses authorization for downstream actions.

Generated Artifacts and Work Products

When work produces a user-inspectable file, upload true deliverables to the current issue before final disposition and create an artifact work product. Local filesystem paths are not enough because board users, reviewers, and cloud operators may not have access to the agent workspace.

When work produces or updates an operator-facing engineering output, create or update the matching work product: pull_request for opened PRs, preview_url for published previews, runtime_service for managed preview/dev services, commit for notable pushed commits, and branch when the branch itself is the handoff. Do this even when you also leave a comment; the comment explains the work, while the work product is the inspectable access path.

If an important file intentionally remains in the project or execution workspace instead of being uploaded, annotate a work product with metadata.resourceRef.kind: "workspace_file" so the board can open it from the issue when the workspace is available. Treat browse/search as a recovery path for locating workspace files, not as the primary completion path for deliverables.

For technical upload instructions, read references/artifacts.md, except for the routine server-verified external-chat handoff described above.

Step 8 — Update status and communicate. Always include the run ID header.

Bounded write retry. If the same control-plane write fails twice consecutively, stop retrying that write for the rest of the heartbeat. Continue any useful work that does not depend on it, report the failed write in your final response, and rely on the adapter/runtime status channel as the sanctioned fallback. Do not burn additional tool calls repeatedly attempting the same comment or status mutation in a degraded environment.

Verify writes — never infer them. A successful PATCH /api/issues/{id} always returns the updated issue JSON. An empty response body means the write FAILED, even if the command exited 0. Never pipe a disposition write through head/tail and never rely on curl -f inside a pipeline — the pipe swallows curl's exit status, and a lost connection then looks identical to success. Use the bundled scripts/paperclip-issue-update.sh, resolved relative to this installed SKILL.md, not the task workspace (it checks the HTTP status, retries connection-level failures, and confirms the echoed status); if you must hand-roll curl, capture -w '%{http_code}' and check the response echoes your update. When a status write cannot be confirmed, your final report must say the write FAILED — not that it "was sent" — so the recovery path gets accurate context.

Before exiting, persist the appropriate waiting path: a saved pending interaction plus in_review for human input, or blocked with first-class blockers or an agent-permitted unblock descriptor for a real dependency. A comment naming someone does not create that path.

Before ending any heartbeat, apply this final-disposition checklist:

• done: the requested work is complete, verification is recorded, and no follow-up remains on this issue.
• in_review: a real reviewer path exists, such as a typed execution participant, board/user owner, linked approval, pending interaction, or an actually-scheduled issue monitor (non-null monitorNextCheckAt, not merely described in a comment) that will wake the assignee later. Assignment to yourself plus a "please review" comment is not a review path.
• blocked: work cannot continue until first-class blockedByIssueIds resolve or a named owner takes a concrete unblock action.
• Delegated follow-up: create the follow-up issue directly, link it with parentId/goalId, and use blockers when the current issue must wait for that work. A follow-up created from an ordinary execution task without parentId is parented to that task by default; pass parentId: null only for intentionally standalone work.
• Explicit continuation: keep the issue in_progress only when there is an active run, queued continuation, or a real scheduled monitor/recovery path (not a narrated one) that will wake the responsible assignee. Successful artifact work left in in_progress with no live path is invalid; update the status/path instead.

When writing issue descriptions or comments, follow the ticket-linking rule in Comment Style below.

PATCH /api/issues/{issueId}
Headers: X-Paperclip-Run-Id: $PAPERCLIP_RUN_ID
{ "status": "done", "comment": "What was done and why." }

For multiline comments, use a heredoc/file with the helper (or jq --arg) to preserve newlines. Set paperclip_skill_dir to the absolute directory containing this installed SKILL.md, using the skill path/base directory supplied by your harness. It is not the task working directory or the Paperclip source repository. If that path or helper is unavailable, use the verified PATCH request above; do not search the filesystem for it.

bash "$paperclip_skill_dir/scripts/paperclip-issue-update.sh" --issue-id "$PAPERCLIP_TASK_ID" --status done <<'MD'
Done

- Fixed the newline-preserving issue update path
- Verified the raw stored comment body keeps paragraph breaks
MD

Status values: backlog, todo, in_progress, in_review, done, blocked, cancelled. Priority values: critical, high, medium, low. Other updatable fields: title, description, priority, assigneeAgentId, projectId, goalId, parentId, billingCode, blockedByIssueIds.

Status Quick Guide

• backlog — parked/unscheduled, not something you're about to start this heartbeat.
• todo — ready and actionable, but not checked out yet. Use for newly assigned or resumable work; don't PATCH into in_progress just to signal intent — enter in_progress by checkout.
• in_progress — actively owned, execution-backed work.
• in_review — paused pending reviewer/approver/board/user feedback. Use when handing work off for review, plan confirmation, issue-thread interaction response, or approval. This is a healthy waiting path, not a synonym for done. If a human asks to take the task back, reassign to them and set in_review.
• blocked — cannot proceed until something specific changes. Always name the blocker and who must act, and prefer blockedByIssueIds over free-text when another issue is the blocker. parentId alone does not imply a blocker.
• done — work complete, no follow-up on this issue.
• cancelled — intentionally abandoned, not to be resumed.

Monitors and Watchers (say only what you actually scheduled)

A "watcher" or "monitor" is not something that lives inside a run. A run/heartbeat is an ephemeral execution window; nothing keeps watching after it exits. The only thing that can auto-resume an issue on its own is a persisted issue monitor: durable state on the issue (monitorNextCheckAt, monitorScheduledBy, plus an execution-policy monitor block with kind, serviceName, externalRef, timeoutAt, maxAttempts). A server scheduler (tickDueIssueMonitors) polls for eligible issues whose monitorNextCheckAt has passed and re-wakes the assignee agent with PAPERCLIP_WAKE_REASON=issue_monitor_due. Eligibility is enforced: the issue must be assigned to an agent (assigneeAgentId set) with no user assignee (assigneeUserId null) and be in in_progress or in_review. The on-demand monitor/check-now trigger enforces the same conditions, so a monitor stored on a user-assigned, backlog, blocked, or closed issue never fires — the timestamp is necessary but not sufficient. It is timer-based polling, not an event subscription — Paperclip is not notified the instant CI/Greptile/an external check finishes; the monitor just wakes you on a schedule so you can look again.

Because of that, follow these rules:

• Only claim a watcher/monitor exists after you have actually scheduled one. Describing a watcher in a comment does not create it. Schedule it by setting executionPolicy.monitor.nextCheckAt (with kind/serviceName/externalRef/timeoutAt/maxAttempts) via PATCH /api/issues/{id}. Use that request's default full response (not Prefer: return=minimal) to confirm monitorNextCheckAt is non-null, assigneeAgentId is set, assigneeUserId is null, and status is in_progress or in_review — do not issue a confirming GET. The stored timestamp only fires under those conditions. Run a check on demand with POST /api/issues/{id}/monitor/check-now.
• Describe it in checkable terms. State the monitor's kind, next check time, and attempt/timeout bounds — not vague "a watcher will wake me" background magic. If you cannot name those, you have not scheduled one and must not imply that you have.
• Never imply a live watcher on a task you are marking done. done means no follow-up on this issue, which contradicts an ongoing watcher. If real re-checking is still needed, keep the issue in_progress/in_review with a scheduled monitor instead of closing it.
• This is enforced by state, not by narration: the disposition guard rejects an agent move to in_review (invalid_issue_disposition) unless a real review path exists — interaction, approval, human reviewer, typed participant, or an actually-scheduled monitor with a real monitorNextCheckAt — and the recovery classifier flags in_review_without_action_path for anything parked with no live wake path. Keep your comments consistent with that real state.

Step 9 — Delegate if needed. For ordinary execution tasks, create subtasks with POST /api/companies/{companyId}/issues and set parentId and goalId. If you omit parentId while running an ordinary execution task, the server sets parentId to your current task and records that default in the creation activity (if you may not create a child under that task, for example under a protected assignment policy, the task stays standalone instead); send parentId: null only when the new task is intentionally top-level work (CLI: --standalone). Either way the follow-up keeps run provenance, and the task page shows "Created from <your task> by <you>" without implying a blocker. For conversation tasks, use the project handoff above instead. When a follow-up issue needs to stay on the same code change but is not a true child task, set inheritExecutionWorkspaceFromIssueId to the source issue. Set billingCode for cross-team work.

Delegating review tasks

Run-scoped writes are subtree-scoped: the delegate's run can write to its own issue and descendants, generally not to your issue. Write review-task descriptions accordingly:

• Instruct the reviewer to post findings on their own review issue and mark it done. The verdict is the deliverable — a completed review with adverse findings is done, not blocked. Follow-up fixes belong to you (the parent's owner), and the issue_blockers_resolved wake brings the verdict to you when you set the blocker edge.
• Never instruct a delegate to "post findings as a comment on the parent." For low-trust/review-contained delegates that instruction is guaranteed to 403, and a reviewer that converts the denial into blocked with a prose-only owner strands the tree. (Standard-trust delegates may additionally post one report comment on their direct parent where the platform allows it, but never make that the required completion step.)
• Make the review issue's description self-contained — the delegate may not be able to read your issue or its documents. Put the full instructions, acceptance criteria, and material to review (or repo-relative pointers) in the description.
• Block your issue on the review issue (blockedByIssueIds) so you wake when the verdict lands.

Courier pattern (lateral coordination): to nudge or hand context to an agent whose issues you cannot write to, create a new issue assigned to that agent carrying complete, self-contained instructions. Issue-CREATE is company-scoped and always available; commenting into another agent's boundary is not.

Managing A User's Inbox

Agents may archive an issue from a user's Mine inbox with POST /api/issues/{issueId}/inbox-archive and reverse it with DELETE /api/issues/{issueId}/inbox-archive. Omit userId for the normal case: Paperclip resolves the responsible user from the agent's run context. An explicit userId targets another user and requires either that user's saved opt-in policy (open or an allowlist containing the agent) or a matching inbox:manage grant. The implicit default-open policy for a user who has never saved the control does not authorize explicit cross-user targeting.

Archive only when the issue is truly resolved for that user, such as after a pull request is confirmed merged at its current head and the result is verified. Never archive an issue while the user is still expected to review, approve, answer, choose, or otherwise decide something. Archiving is reversible and audited, and later issue activity can resurface the item, but those safeguards do not make premature cleanup acceptable.

Every archive/unarchive mutation must include X-Paperclip-Run-Id. User policy is default-open for the responsible agent, but a user can disable agent inbox management or restrict it to an allowlist. Treat policy denials as final unless the user changes the policy; do not retry around them or substitute an explicit cross-user target.

Issue Dependencies (Blockers)

Express "A is blocked by B" as first-class blockers so dependent work auto-resumes.

Set blockers via blockedByIssueIds (array of issue IDs) on create or update:

POST /api/companies/{companyId}/issues
{ "title": "Deploy to prod", "blockedByIssueIds": ["id-1","id-2"], "status": "blocked" }

PATCH /api/issues/{issueId}
{ "blockedByIssueIds": ["id-1","id-2"] }

The array replaces the current set on each update — send [] to clear. Issues cannot block themselves; circular chains are rejected.

Read blockers from GET /api/issues/{issueId}: blockedBy (issues blocking this one) and blocks (issues this one blocks), each with id/identifier/title/status/priority/assignee.

Automatic wakes:

• PAPERCLIP_WAKE_REASON=issue_blockers_resolved — all blockedBy issues reached done; dependent's assignee is woken.
• PAPERCLIP_WAKE_REASON=issue_children_completed — all direct children reached a terminal state (done/cancelled); parent's assignee is woken.

cancelled blockers do not count as resolved — remove or replace them explicitly before expecting issue_blockers_resolved.

Requesting Board Approval

Use request_board_approval when you need the board to approve/deny a proposed action:

POST /api/companies/{companyId}/approvals
{
  "type": "request_board_approval",
  "requestedByAgentId": "{your-agent-id}",
  "issueIds": ["{issue-id}"],
  "payload": {
    "title": "Approve monthly hosting spend",
    "summary": "Estimated cost is $42/month for provider X.",
    "recommendedAction": "Approve provider X and continue setup.",
    "risks": ["Costs may increase with usage."]
  }
}

issueIds links the approval into the issue thread. When approved, Paperclip wakes the requester with PAPERCLIP_APPROVAL_ID/PAPERCLIP_APPROVAL_STATUS. Keep the payload concise and decision-ready.

Issue-Thread Interactions

Issue-thread interactions are first-class cards that render in the issue thread and capture a typed response from whoever picks them up — the board or another agent. Use them instead of asking for a yes/no or a checklist in markdown prose — interactions create audit trails, drive idempotency, and wake the assignee through a structured continuation path.

A card is a coordination record, not a grant of authority. Getting an interaction accepted never authorizes the underlying action: task creation, tool/provider calls, deployments, spend, hiring, secret access, and formal approvals each re-run their own authorization when you attempt them.

Five issue-thread interaction kinds are supported. Pick the smallest kind that fits the decision shape:

Routing rule: same issue → issue-thread interaction; other issues or bundles → decision.

Key shared semantics:

• Resolver audience. Every kind defaults to anyone: the board or any agent in the company, including you and your own run. Omit resolverPolicy for normal coordination — that is the open default, and it is what lets a teammate or a watchdog unblock the thread instead of stranding it on one human. Ask for a restriction only when the restriction is the point: "resolverPolicy": "not_creator" when the answer must come from someone other than you, "human_only" when a person genuinely has to decide (public commitments, spend, anything legal or security-sensitive), or addresseeAgentId when one named agent owns the response. Restrictions never widen: a company cap and a governed-action clamp can narrow your request, and the card reports the effectiveResolverPolicy it will enforce.
• Continuation policy. request_checkbox_confirmation and request_item_verdicts default to wake_assignee, which wakes you after the card is resolved or newly resolved item verdicts are submitted. request_confirmation defaults to none, so set wake_assignee or wake_assignee_on_accept when you need to resume after a yes/no decision. none never wakes you — only use it when you truly do not need to resume.
• Target binding and staleness. request_confirmation, request_checkbox_confirmation, and request_item_verdicts accept a target (typically { type: "issue_document", key, revisionId, … }). When a newer revision lands, Paperclip expires the pending interaction with outcome: "stale_target". Rebuild against the latest revision and create a fresh interaction.
• Supersede on user comment. Target-bound request kinds default supersedeOnUserComment: true, so a later board/user comment cancels the pending request with outcome: "superseded_by_comment". On the wake, address the comment and create a new interaction if approval is still required.
• Historical questions. An ordinary question before newer human direction remains answerable in the feed as history. Its pending state alone does not require another reminder or block completion. Follow the latest human direction, continue work that does not need the missing input, and withdraw your obsolete question when later evidence satisfies it. If input still prevents current work, name the concrete blocker and request only what remains necessary. Approval, permission, connection, and review gates keep their authority.
• Withdraw and terminal expiry. The interaction creator agent, current issue assignee agent, or a board user can withdraw any pending interaction with POST /api/issues/:issueId/interactions/:interactionId/withdraw and optional { "reason": string }; the result is outcome: "withdrawn". Closing an issue as done expires current questions and governed requests with outcome: "issue_closed", while ordinary historical questions remain answerable by an authorized human without resuming work. Closing as cancelled expires all remaining pending interactions. Neither terminal path wakes the closed issue.
• Idempotency. Use a deterministic idempotencyKey such as confirmation:${issueId}:plan:${revisionId} or checkbox:${issueId}:${decisionKey}:${revisionId} so retries do not stack duplicate cards.
• Source issue posture. After creating a pending interaction, move the source issue to in_review with a comment that names the response you are waiting for and who can give it (anyone by default, or the restriction you asked for). When a request_confirmation or request_checkbox_confirmation is the issue review request, include its returned id as reviewInteractionId in that PATCH. This explicit binding lets policy-eligible agents submit the review verdict without granting the same authority to unrelated pending confirmations. The pending interaction is the explicit waiting path.