Merge pull request #2071 from paperclipai/pap-979-cli-onboarding

cli: preserve config when onboarding existing installs
This commit is contained in:
Dotta 2026-03-30 07:45:19 -05:00 committed by GitHub
commit 29da357c5b
No known key found for this signature in database
GPG key ID: B5690EEEBB952194
7 changed files with 479 additions and 3 deletions

View file

@ -177,6 +177,8 @@ Open source. Self-hosted. No Paperclip account required.
npx paperclipai onboard --yes
```
If you already have Paperclip configured, rerunning `onboard` keeps the existing config in place. Use `paperclipai configure` to edit settings.
Or manually:
```bash

292
cli/README.md Normal file
View file

@ -0,0 +1,292 @@
<p align="center">
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip/master/doc/assets/header.png" alt="Paperclip — runs your business" width="720" />
</p>
<p align="center">
<a href="#quickstart"><strong>Quickstart</strong></a> &middot;
<a href="https://paperclip.ing/docs"><strong>Docs</strong></a> &middot;
<a href="https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip"><strong>GitHub</strong></a> &middot;
<a href="https://discord.gg/m4HZY7xNG3"><strong>Discord</strong></a>
</p>
<p align="center">
<a href="https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/blob/master/LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/license-MIT-blue" alt="MIT License" /></a>
<a href="https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/stargazers"><img src="https://img.shields.io/github/stars/paperclipai/paperclip?style=flat" alt="Stars" /></a>
<a href="https://discord.gg/m4HZY7xNG3"><img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/discord-join%20chat-5865F2?logo=discord&logoColor=white" alt="Discord" /></a>
</p>
<br/>
<div align="center">
<video src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/773bdfb2-6d1e-4e30-8c5f-3487d5b70c8f" width="600" controls></video>
</div>
<br/>
## What is Paperclip?
# Open-source orchestration for zero-human companies
**If OpenClaw is an _employee_, Paperclip is the _company_**
Paperclip is a Node.js server and React UI that orchestrates a team of AI agents to run a business. Bring your own agents, assign goals, and track your agents' work and costs from one dashboard.
It looks like a task manager — but under the hood it has org charts, budgets, governance, goal alignment, and agent coordination.
**Manage business goals, not pull requests.**
| | Step | Example |
| ------ | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| **01** | Define the goal | _"Build the #1 AI note-taking app to $1M MRR."_ |
| **02** | Hire the team | CEO, CTO, engineers, designers, marketers — any bot, any provider. |
| **03** | Approve and run | Review strategy. Set budgets. Hit go. Monitor from the dashboard. |
<br/>
> **COMING SOON: Clipmart** — Download and run entire companies with one click. Browse pre-built company templates — full org structures, agent configs, and skills — and import them into your Paperclip instance in seconds.
<br/>
<div align="center">
<table>
<tr>
<td align="center"><strong>Works<br/>with</strong></td>
<td align="center"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip/master/doc/assets/logos/openclaw.svg" width="32" alt="OpenClaw" /><br/><sub>OpenClaw</sub></td>
<td align="center"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip/master/doc/assets/logos/claude.svg" width="32" alt="Claude" /><br/><sub>Claude Code</sub></td>
<td align="center"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip/master/doc/assets/logos/codex.svg" width="32" alt="Codex" /><br/><sub>Codex</sub></td>
<td align="center"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip/master/doc/assets/logos/cursor.svg" width="32" alt="Cursor" /><br/><sub>Cursor</sub></td>
<td align="center"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip/master/doc/assets/logos/bash.svg" width="32" alt="Bash" /><br/><sub>Bash</sub></td>
<td align="center"><img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip/master/doc/assets/logos/http.svg" width="32" alt="HTTP" /><br/><sub>HTTP</sub></td>
</tr>
</table>
<em>If it can receive a heartbeat, it's hired.</em>
</div>
<br/>
## Paperclip is right for you if
- ✅ You want to build **autonomous AI companies**
- ✅ You **coordinate many different agents** (OpenClaw, Codex, Claude, Cursor) toward a common goal
- ✅ You have **20 simultaneous Claude Code terminals** open and lose track of what everyone is doing
- ✅ You want agents running **autonomously 24/7**, but still want to audit work and chime in when needed
- ✅ You want to **monitor costs** and enforce budgets
- ✅ You want a process for managing agents that **feels like using a task manager**
- ✅ You want to manage your autonomous businesses **from your phone**
<br/>
## Features
<table>
<tr>
<td align="center" width="33%">
<h3>🔌 Bring Your Own Agent</h3>
Any agent, any runtime, one org chart. If it can receive a heartbeat, it's hired.
</td>
<td align="center" width="33%">
<h3>🎯 Goal Alignment</h3>
Every task traces back to the company mission. Agents know <em>what</em> to do and <em>why</em>.
</td>
<td align="center" width="33%">
<h3>💓 Heartbeats</h3>
Agents wake on a schedule, check work, and act. Delegation flows up and down the org chart.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">
<h3>💰 Cost Control</h3>
Monthly budgets per agent. When they hit the limit, they stop. No runaway costs.
</td>
<td align="center">
<h3>🏢 Multi-Company</h3>
One deployment, many companies. Complete data isolation. One control plane for your portfolio.
</td>
<td align="center">
<h3>🎫 Ticket System</h3>
Every conversation traced. Every decision explained. Full tool-call tracing and immutable audit log.
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td align="center">
<h3>🛡️ Governance</h3>
You're the board. Approve hires, override strategy, pause or terminate any agent — at any time.
</td>
<td align="center">
<h3>📊 Org Chart</h3>
Hierarchies, roles, reporting lines. Your agents have a boss, a title, and a job description.
</td>
<td align="center">
<h3>📱 Mobile Ready</h3>
Monitor and manage your autonomous businesses from anywhere.
</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br/>
## Problems Paperclip solves
| Without Paperclip | With Paperclip |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| ❌ You have 20 Claude Code tabs open and can't track which one does what. On reboot you lose everything. | ✅ Tasks are ticket-based, conversations are threaded, sessions persist across reboots. |
| ❌ You manually gather context from several places to remind your bot what you're actually doing. | ✅ Context flows from the task up through the project and company goals — your agent always knows what to do and why. |
| ❌ Folders of agent configs are disorganized and you're re-inventing task management, communication, and coordination between agents. | ✅ Paperclip gives you org charts, ticketing, delegation, and governance out of the box — so you run a company, not a pile of scripts. |
| ❌ Runaway loops waste hundreds of dollars of tokens and max your quota before you even know what happened. | ✅ Cost tracking surfaces token budgets and throttles agents when they're out. Management prioritizes with budgets. |
| ❌ You have recurring jobs (customer support, social, reports) and have to remember to manually kick them off. | ✅ Heartbeats handle regular work on a schedule. Management supervises. |
| ❌ You have an idea, you have to find your repo, fire up Claude Code, keep a tab open, and babysit it. | ✅ Add a task in Paperclip. Your coding agent works on it until it's done. Management reviews their work. |
<br/>
## Why Paperclip is special
Paperclip handles the hard orchestration details correctly.
| | |
| --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Atomic execution.** | Task checkout and budget enforcement are atomic, so no double-work and no runaway spend. |
| **Persistent agent state.** | Agents resume the same task context across heartbeats instead of restarting from scratch. |
| **Runtime skill injection.** | Agents can learn Paperclip workflows and project context at runtime, without retraining. |
| **Governance with rollback.** | Approval gates are enforced, config changes are revisioned, and bad changes can be rolled back safely. |
| **Goal-aware execution.** | Tasks carry full goal ancestry so agents consistently see the "why," not just a title. |
| **Portable company templates.** | Export/import orgs, agents, and skills with secret scrubbing and collision handling. |
| **True multi-company isolation.** | Every entity is company-scoped, so one deployment can run many companies with separate data and audit trails. |
<br/>
## What Paperclip is not
| | |
| ---------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Not a chatbot.** | Agents have jobs, not chat windows. |
| **Not an agent framework.** | We don't tell you how to build agents. We tell you how to run a company made of them. |
| **Not a workflow builder.** | No drag-and-drop pipelines. Paperclip models companies — with org charts, goals, budgets, and governance. |
| **Not a prompt manager.** | Agents bring their own prompts, models, and runtimes. Paperclip manages the organization they work in. |
| **Not a single-agent tool.** | This is for teams. If you have one agent, you probably don't need Paperclip. If you have twenty — you definitely do. |
| **Not a code review tool.** | Paperclip orchestrates work, not pull requests. Bring your own review process. |
<br/>
## Quickstart
Open source. Self-hosted. No Paperclip account required.
```bash
npx paperclipai onboard --yes
```
If you already have Paperclip configured, rerunning `onboard` keeps the existing config in place. Use `paperclipai configure` to edit settings.
Or manually:
```bash
git clone https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip.git
cd paperclip
pnpm install
pnpm dev
```
This starts the API server at `http://localhost:3100`. An embedded PostgreSQL database is created automatically — no setup required.
> **Requirements:** Node.js 20+, pnpm 9.15+
<br/>
## FAQ
**What does a typical setup look like?**
Locally, a single Node.js process manages an embedded Postgres and local file storage. For production, point it at your own Postgres and deploy however you like. Configure projects, agents, and goals — the agents take care of the rest.
If you're a solo-entreprenuer you can use Tailscale to access Paperclip on the go. Then later you can deploy to e.g. Vercel when you need it.
**Can I run multiple companies?**
Yes. A single deployment can run an unlimited number of companies with complete data isolation.
**How is Paperclip different from agents like OpenClaw or Claude Code?**
Paperclip _uses_ those agents. It orchestrates them into a company — with org charts, budgets, goals, governance, and accountability.
**Why should I use Paperclip instead of just pointing my OpenClaw to Asana or Trello?**
Agent orchestration has subtleties in how you coordinate who has work checked out, how to maintain sessions, monitoring costs, establishing governance - Paperclip does this for you.
(Bring-your-own-ticket-system is on the Roadmap)
**Do agents run continuously?**
By default, agents run on scheduled heartbeats and event-based triggers (task assignment, @-mentions). You can also hook in continuous agents like OpenClaw. You bring your agent and Paperclip coordinates.
<br/>
## Development
```bash
pnpm dev # Full dev (API + UI, watch mode)
pnpm dev:once # Full dev without file watching
pnpm dev:server # Server only
pnpm build # Build all
pnpm typecheck # Type checking
pnpm test:run # Run tests
pnpm db:generate # Generate DB migration
pnpm db:migrate # Apply migrations
```
See [doc/DEVELOPING.md](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/blob/master/doc/DEVELOPING.md) for the full development guide.
<br/>
## Roadmap
- ✅ Plugin system (e.g. add a knowledge base, custom tracing, queues, etc)
- ✅ Get OpenClaw / claw-style agent employees
- ✅ companies.sh - import and export entire organizations
- ✅ Easy AGENTS.md configurations
- ✅ Skills Manager
- ✅ Scheduled Routines
- ✅ Better Budgeting
- ⚪ Artifacts & Deployments
- ⚪ CEO Chat
- ⚪ MAXIMIZER MODE
- ⚪ Multiple Human Users
- ⚪ Cloud / Sandbox agents (e.g. Cursor / e2b agents)
- ⚪ Cloud deployments
- ⚪ Desktop App
<br/>
## Community & Plugins
Find Plugins and more at [awesome-paperclip](https://github.com/gsxdsm/awesome-paperclip)
## Contributing
We welcome contributions. See the [contributing guide](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) for details.
<br/>
## Community
- [Discord](https://discord.gg/m4HZY7xNG3) — Join the community
- [GitHub Issues](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/issues) — bugs and feature requests
- [GitHub Discussions](https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip/discussions) — ideas and RFC
<br/>
## License
MIT &copy; 2026 Paperclip
## Star History
[![Star History Chart](https://api.star-history.com/image?repos=paperclipai/paperclip&type=date&legend=top-left)](https://www.star-history.com/?repos=paperclipai%2Fpaperclip&type=date&legend=top-left)
<br/>
---
<p align="center">
<img src="https://raw.githubusercontent.com/paperclipai/paperclip/master/doc/assets/footer.jpg" alt="" width="720" />
</p>
<p align="center">
<sub>Open source under MIT. Built for people who want to run companies, not babysit agents.</sub>
</p>

View file

@ -0,0 +1,105 @@
import fs from "node:fs";
import os from "node:os";
import path from "node:path";
import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
import { onboard } from "../commands/onboard.js";
import type { PaperclipConfig } from "../config/schema.js";
const ORIGINAL_ENV = { ...process.env };
function createExistingConfigFixture() {
const root = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "paperclip-onboard-"));
const runtimeRoot = path.join(root, "runtime");
const configPath = path.join(root, ".paperclip", "config.json");
const config: PaperclipConfig = {
$meta: {
version: 1,
updatedAt: "2026-03-29T00:00:00.000Z",
source: "configure",
},
database: {
mode: "embedded-postgres",
embeddedPostgresDataDir: path.join(runtimeRoot, "db"),
embeddedPostgresPort: 54329,
backup: {
enabled: true,
intervalMinutes: 60,
retentionDays: 30,
dir: path.join(runtimeRoot, "backups"),
},
},
logging: {
mode: "file",
logDir: path.join(runtimeRoot, "logs"),
},
server: {
deploymentMode: "local_trusted",
exposure: "private",
host: "127.0.0.1",
port: 3100,
allowedHostnames: [],
serveUi: true,
},
auth: {
baseUrlMode: "auto",
disableSignUp: false,
},
storage: {
provider: "local_disk",
localDisk: {
baseDir: path.join(runtimeRoot, "storage"),
},
s3: {
bucket: "paperclip",
region: "us-east-1",
prefix: "",
forcePathStyle: false,
},
},
secrets: {
provider: "local_encrypted",
strictMode: false,
localEncrypted: {
keyFilePath: path.join(runtimeRoot, "secrets", "master.key"),
},
},
};
fs.mkdirSync(path.dirname(configPath), { recursive: true });
fs.writeFileSync(configPath, `${JSON.stringify(config, null, 2)}\n`, { mode: 0o600 });
return { configPath, configText: fs.readFileSync(configPath, "utf8") };
}
describe("onboard", () => {
beforeEach(() => {
process.env = { ...ORIGINAL_ENV };
delete process.env.PAPERCLIP_AGENT_JWT_SECRET;
delete process.env.PAPERCLIP_SECRETS_MASTER_KEY;
delete process.env.PAPERCLIP_SECRETS_MASTER_KEY_FILE;
});
afterEach(() => {
process.env = { ...ORIGINAL_ENV };
});
it("preserves an existing config when rerun without flags", async () => {
const fixture = createExistingConfigFixture();
await onboard({ config: fixture.configPath });
expect(fs.readFileSync(fixture.configPath, "utf8")).toBe(fixture.configText);
expect(fs.existsSync(`${fixture.configPath}.backup`)).toBe(false);
expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(path.dirname(fixture.configPath), ".env"))).toBe(true);
});
it("preserves an existing config when rerun with --yes", async () => {
const fixture = createExistingConfigFixture();
await onboard({ config: fixture.configPath, yes: true, invokedByRun: true });
expect(fs.readFileSync(fixture.configPath, "utf8")).toBe(fixture.configText);
expect(fs.existsSync(`${fixture.configPath}.backup`)).toBe(false);
expect(fs.existsSync(path.join(path.dirname(fixture.configPath), ".env"))).toBe(true);
});
});

View file

@ -244,11 +244,12 @@ export async function onboard(opts: OnboardOptions): Promise<void> {
),
);
let existingConfig: PaperclipConfig | null = null;
if (configExists(opts.config)) {
p.log.message(pc.dim(`${configPath} exists, updating config`));
p.log.message(pc.dim(`${configPath} exists`));
try {
readConfig(opts.config);
existingConfig = readConfig(opts.config);
} catch (err) {
p.log.message(
pc.yellow(
@ -258,6 +259,76 @@ export async function onboard(opts: OnboardOptions): Promise<void> {
}
}
if (existingConfig) {
p.log.message(
pc.dim("Existing Paperclip install detected; keeping the current configuration unchanged."),
);
p.log.message(pc.dim(`Use ${pc.cyan("paperclipai configure")} if you want to change settings.`));
const jwtSecret = ensureAgentJwtSecret(configPath);
const envFilePath = resolveAgentJwtEnvFile(configPath);
if (jwtSecret.created) {
p.log.success(`Created ${pc.cyan("PAPERCLIP_AGENT_JWT_SECRET")} in ${pc.dim(envFilePath)}`);
} else if (process.env.PAPERCLIP_AGENT_JWT_SECRET?.trim()) {
p.log.info(`Using existing ${pc.cyan("PAPERCLIP_AGENT_JWT_SECRET")} from environment`);
} else {
p.log.info(`Using existing ${pc.cyan("PAPERCLIP_AGENT_JWT_SECRET")} in ${pc.dim(envFilePath)}`);
}
const keyResult = ensureLocalSecretsKeyFile(existingConfig, configPath);
if (keyResult.status === "created") {
p.log.success(`Created local secrets key file at ${pc.dim(keyResult.path)}`);
} else if (keyResult.status === "existing") {
p.log.message(pc.dim(`Using existing local secrets key file at ${keyResult.path}`));
}
p.note(
[
"Existing config preserved",
`Database: ${existingConfig.database.mode}`,
existingConfig.llm ? `LLM: ${existingConfig.llm.provider}` : "LLM: not configured",
`Logging: ${existingConfig.logging.mode} -> ${existingConfig.logging.logDir}`,
`Server: ${existingConfig.server.deploymentMode}/${existingConfig.server.exposure} @ ${existingConfig.server.host}:${existingConfig.server.port}`,
`Allowed hosts: ${existingConfig.server.allowedHostnames.length > 0 ? existingConfig.server.allowedHostnames.join(", ") : "(loopback only)"}`,
`Auth URL mode: ${existingConfig.auth.baseUrlMode}${existingConfig.auth.publicBaseUrl ? ` (${existingConfig.auth.publicBaseUrl})` : ""}`,
`Storage: ${existingConfig.storage.provider}`,
`Secrets: ${existingConfig.secrets.provider} (strict mode ${existingConfig.secrets.strictMode ? "on" : "off"})`,
"Agent auth: PAPERCLIP_AGENT_JWT_SECRET configured",
].join("\n"),
"Configuration ready",
);
p.note(
[
`Run: ${pc.cyan("paperclipai run")}`,
`Reconfigure later: ${pc.cyan("paperclipai configure")}`,
`Diagnose setup: ${pc.cyan("paperclipai doctor")}`,
].join("\n"),
"Next commands",
);
let shouldRunNow = opts.run === true || opts.yes === true;
if (!shouldRunNow && !opts.invokedByRun && process.stdin.isTTY && process.stdout.isTTY) {
const answer = await p.confirm({
message: "Start Paperclip now?",
initialValue: true,
});
if (!p.isCancel(answer)) {
shouldRunNow = answer;
}
}
if (shouldRunNow && !opts.invokedByRun) {
process.env.PAPERCLIP_OPEN_ON_LISTEN = "true";
const { runCommand } = await import("./run.js");
await runCommand({ config: configPath, repair: true, yes: true });
return;
}
p.outro("Existing Paperclip setup is ready.");
return;
}
let setupMode: SetupMode = "quickstart";
if (opts.yes) {
p.log.message(pc.dim("`--yes` enabled: using Quickstart defaults."));

View file

@ -33,6 +33,8 @@ Interactive first-time setup:
pnpm paperclipai onboard
```
If Paperclip is already configured, rerunning `onboard` keeps the existing config in place. Use `paperclipai configure` to change settings on an existing install.
First prompt:
1. `Quickstart` (recommended): local defaults (embedded database, no LLM provider, local disk storage, default secrets)
@ -50,6 +52,8 @@ Non-interactive defaults + immediate start (opens browser on server listen):
pnpm paperclipai onboard --yes
```
On an existing install, `--yes` now preserves the current config and just starts Paperclip with that setup.
## `paperclipai doctor`
Health checks with optional auto-repair:

View file

@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ npx paperclipai onboard --yes
This walks you through setup, configures your environment, and gets Paperclip running.
If you already have a Paperclip install, rerunning `onboard` keeps your current config and data paths intact. Use `paperclipai configure` if you want to edit settings.
To start Paperclip again later:
```sh

View file

@ -16,7 +16,7 @@
"db:migrate": "pnpm --filter @paperclipai/db migrate",
"secrets:migrate-inline-env": "tsx scripts/migrate-inline-env-secrets.ts",
"db:backup": "./scripts/backup-db.sh",
"paperclipai": "node cli/node_modules/tsx/dist/cli.mjs cli/src/index.ts",
"paperclipai": "tsx cli/src/index.ts",
"build:npm": "./scripts/build-npm.sh",
"release": "./scripts/release.sh",
"release:canary": "./scripts/release.sh canary",