## Thinking Path
> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work
> - Managed deployments provision a platform-managed default environment
for agent runs; the UI shows this environment in selectors, the agent
form, run details, and the environments page
> - Those surfaces append the raw driver key to the environment name, so
users see labels like "Paperclip Computer (sandbox)", "Paperclip
Computer · sandbox", and fallback copy such as "Managed sandbox" and
"The sandbox has no ready authentication"
> - "sandbox" is infrastructure vocabulary, not the product name of the
environment; showing it next to the managed environment's name is
confusing and off-brand
> - This pull request renders platform-managed environments by name
alone and rewords the sandbox-phrased copy, while user-created
environments keep the driver suffix so mixed lists stay distinguishable
> - The benefit is that the default environment reads as one clear
product name everywhere, and self-hosted users lose nothing: their own
environments still show the driver
## Linked Issues or Issue Description
**What existing behavior does this improve?**
Display of the platform-managed default environment across the UI.
**Subsystem affected**
UI (environment selectors, agent config form, environments page, agents
page, run details) and the claude-local/codex-local adapter auth checks.
**Current behavior**
The agent form labels the inherited default environment as "Name
(sandbox)". Environment selectors and the environments list render "Name
· sandbox". The agents page describes the environment as "<provider>
sandbox provider". The agent form's fallback label is "Managed sandbox".
Adapter auth checks say "The sandbox has no ready authentication for
this adapter."
**Proposed behavior**
Platform-managed environment rows (`metadata.managedByPaperclip`) render
their name alone. The fallback label is "Paperclip Computer". The agents
page describes managed environments as "Managed by Paperclip". Run
details omit the driver suffix for sandbox-driver environments (the
adjacent Provider entry already identifies the mechanism). Adapter auth
checks say "This environment has no ready authentication for this
adapter."
**Reason and benefit**
The managed environment carries a product name. Appending the raw driver
key ("sandbox") to it is noise and contradicts the product naming.
User-created environments keep the driver suffix, so mixed lists stay
distinguishable.
**Breaking changes**
None. Message text of the auth check is not read programmatically; the
UI keys off `ADAPTER_AUTH_MISSING_CHECK_CODE`. Rows without the managed
marker render exactly as before.
## What Changed
- New `environmentDisplayLabel` helper in
`ui/src/lib/managed-sandbox-environment.ts`: managed rows → name alone;
other rows → "Name · driver".
- `AgentConfigForm`: inherited-default label uses the helper; fallback
copy "Managed sandbox" → "Paperclip Computer"; environment options use
the helper.
- `ProjectProperties`, `CompanyEnvironments`: environment selector
options use the helper; the environments-list row hides the driver
suffix on managed rows; the managed detail page's fallback description
no longer says "sandbox".
- `Agents` page: managed environments are described as "Managed by
Paperclip" instead of "<provider> sandbox provider".
- `CommentThread` run details: the driver suffix is omitted for
sandbox-driver environments.
- claude-local and codex-local adapters: auth-missing check message/hint
reworded from "sandbox" to "environment" (ACP and environment-test
paths); claude-local probe/effort/login hints reworded the same way.
- Run status lines: "Syncing workspace to sandbox", "Exporting git
changes from sandbox", "Starting adapter in sandbox", and friends now
say "environment"; "Finalizing sandbox workspace" → "Finalizing
workspace". Templated transfer-progress lines map the `sandbox`
transport key to "environment" for display (`runtime-progress.ts`).
- Agent form sign-in panel: "Sign in to the sandbox" → "Sign in to the
environment"; "Authenticated. The sandbox has credentials now." → "…The
environment has credentials now."
- Feature catalog + instance settings card: "Managed Sandbox Only" →
"Managed Environment Only" (setting key unchanged; the card keeps its
alphabetical slot).
- Server agents routes: execution-target failure and test-identity copy
no longer say "sandbox"; workspace-mode label "Cloud sandbox" → "Cloud
environment".
- Tests: new `environmentDisplayLabel` unit cases; new `AgentConfigForm`
render case asserting the managed default renders without "(sandbox)" or
"· sandbox"; status-line assertions updated across adapter-utils, server
heartbeat/live-run, and UI chat suites.
## Verification
- `pnpm --filter @paperclipai/ui typecheck` — clean.
- `pnpm --filter @paperclipai/adapter-claude-local typecheck` and
`--filter @paperclipai/adapter-codex-local typecheck` — clean.
- `vitest run` for `managed-sandbox-environment.test.ts`,
`AgentConfigForm.render.test.tsx`, `CompanyEnvironments.test.tsx`,
`Agents.test.tsx`, `CommentThread.test.tsx`, `NewAgent.test.tsx` — all
green (118 tests across the two runs).
## Risks
Low risk. Cosmetic label changes only; no data or API changes. Rows
without `metadata.managedByPaperclip` render exactly as before, so
self-hosted deployments with their own environments see no change. The
only self-hosted-visible wording changes are the adapter auth-check
message and the driver suffix omission on sandbox-driver rows in run
details.
## Model Used
- Claude (Anthropic) — claude-fable-5 (Claude Fable 5), Claude Code CLI,
extended thinking, tool use.
## 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 (no
docs reference these labels)
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [ ] All Paperclip CI gates are green
- [ ] Greptile is 5/5 with no open P2s, recommendations, or follow-ups
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge
## Thinking Path
> - Paperclip is the control plane for running AI-agent companies, so
long-running remote work needs to stay observable to human operators.
> - Cloud / sandbox agents are an active roadmap area, and their
workspace sync path is part of the runtime substrate every remote coding
run depends on.
> - In the sandbox and SSH execution-target flows, Paperclip logged that
sync had started, then often went silent for the full transfer window.
> - That made large remote syncs feel stalled and also hid a real
performance problem in the command-managed sandbox upload path.
> - The first part of this pull request threads a throttled
progress-reporting surface through the adapter execution-target stack so
sync and restore work can emit meaningful updates.
> - The second part fixes the command-managed sandbox transport itself:
it removes the old serial 32KB append bottleneck, but also falls back
away from the single-stream path when a provider-backed sandbox runner
cannot surface mid-flight stdin progress.
> - The result is that sandbox and SSH transfers are both faster and
more observable, including the live Daytona-style sandbox case that
previously only emitted `0%` and `100%`.
## Linked Issues or Issue Description
No public GitHub issue exists for this bug, so it is described inline
below following the bug report template.
### What happened
- Remote sandbox and SSH workspace syncs could spend a long time
transferring data while only logging a start line (`Syncing workspace
and runtime assets to sandbox environment`) and, at best, a terminal
line.
- In the command-managed sandbox path, the original upload
implementation also paid a large performance cost by appending base64
data in many small sequential remote writes (thousands of serial 32KB
round-trips on a large workspace).
- After the initial transport rewrite, live provider-backed sandbox runs
still only emitted `0%` and `100%` because the single-stream stdin RPC
buffered progress until completion.
### Expected behavior
- Long-running sandbox and SSH syncs should periodically report how much
of the transfer is complete (a percentage and/or MB transferred) so an
operator can tell the run is healthy and making progress rather than
stuck.
- The main sandbox upload path should not be artificially slow.
- A transfer that fails partway should leave an explicit failure marker
in the log rather than a dangling intermediate percentage.
### Steps to reproduce
1. Run an agent against a sandbox (command-managed) or SSH
(remote-managed) execution target with a non-trivial workspace.
2. Watch the run log during the workspace/runtime asset sync phase.
3. Observe that the log shows the sync start line and then stays silent
for the full transfer (live provider-backed sandbox runs only show `0%`
then `100%`).
### Paperclip version or commit
- Branch `PAPA-825-provide-status-updates-when-syncing-sandboxes` off
`master`.
### Deployment mode
- Self-hosted / local instance using sandbox (command-managed) and SSH
(remote-managed) execution targets, including provider-backed sandbox
runners.
## What Changed
- Added shared throttled runtime progress reporting and threaded
`onProgress` through the adapter execution-target surface and adapter
`execute.ts` entrypoints.
- Added sync and restore progress reporting for the command-managed
sandbox path and the SSH/remote-managed path, including git
import/export progress where totals are known.
- Reworked command-managed sandbox transfer behavior so uploads use the
faster single-stream path when appropriate, but fall back to chunked
progress-emitting writes when the runner cannot expose mid-stream stdin
progress.
- Marked provider-backed environment sandbox runners as not supporting
single-stream stdin progress so live sandbox runs emit meaningful
intermediate updates instead of only `0%` and `100%`.
- Emit an explicit terminal failure marker (`failed at NN% (x/y MB)`)
when an SSH/tar transfer rejects, so a failed sync no longer leaves a
dangling intermediate percentage in the log.
- Run the SSH sync/restore size estimate (local directory walk / remote
`du` probe) concurrently with the transfer instead of awaiting it before
opening the pipe, so progress instrumentation no longer adds startup
latency proportional to workspace file count.
- Added and extended focused regression coverage for runtime progress
throttling and the new failure marker, command-managed sandbox
transfers, sandbox orchestration, SSH transfer progress, and environment
execution-target wiring.
## Verification
- `pnpm exec vitest run
packages/adapter-utils/src/runtime-progress.test.ts
packages/adapter-utils/src/ssh-fixture.test.ts
packages/adapter-utils/src/command-managed-runtime.test.ts
packages/adapter-utils/src/sandbox-managed-runtime.test.ts`
- `pnpm exec vitest run
packages/adapter-utils/src/command-managed-runtime.test.ts
server/src/__tests__/environment-execution-target.test.ts`
- `npx tsc --noEmit` for `packages/adapter-utils`
## Risks
- The provider-backed sandbox fallback now prefers chunked
command-managed writes when progress hooks are active, so
small-to-medium uploads may trade some raw throughput for observable
intermediate progress on runtimes that cannot surface true mid-stream
stdin progress.
- Progress percentages on tar-based transfers still depend on estimates
in some cases, so operators may briefly see MB-only lines before the
estimate resolves, then near-final clamping before the terminal `100%`
line.
- This PR changes shared execution-target behavior used by multiple
adapters, so regressions would most likely appear in remote runtime
setup/teardown flows rather than in a single adapter.
## Model Used
- Initial implementation: OpenAI GPT-5.4 via Codex local agent
(`codex_local`), high reasoning mode.
- Observability follow-ups (failure marker, concurrent size estimate,
added tests): Claude Opus 4.8 via Claude Code (`claude_local`).
## 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] I have run tests locally and they pass
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable
- [ ] If this change affects the UI, I have included before/after
screenshots
- [ ] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [ ] All Paperclip CI gates are green
- [ ] Greptile is 5/5 with no open P2s, recommendations, or follow-ups
- [ ] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge
---------
Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
Devin Foley