## Thinking Path
> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work
> - The app can run self-hosted or as a cloud-managed instance, where a
hosting platform provisions the instance with its company already
materialized (the existing `isCloudManagedInstance()` predicate and
`cloud_managed` floors)
> - The company Import/Export surface lets an operator materialize whole
companies from an export bundle; on a cloud-managed instance this
bypasses the existing `cloud_managed` company-creation floor and
conflicts with platform-owned provisioning
> - Importing should be disabled on cloud-managed instances, while
export stays open as the data-portability escape hatch
> - This pull request floors every import route with 403
`code=cloud_managed` on cloud-managed instances and hides the Import UI
there, using the existing predicate and the established floor pattern
> - It also extends the operator-hidden settings registry with keys for
every top-level company settings page, so a hosting operator can hide
any of them with `PAPERCLIP_HIDDEN_SETTINGS` alone next time
> - The benefit is one consistent managed-instance policy: cloud-managed
instances cannot import companies, self-hosted installs keep the full
import surface unchanged
## Linked Issues or Issue Description
No public issue exists; the underlying problem follows the enhancement
template.
**What existing behavior does this improve?**
The company import surface (`/api/companies/import*`,
`/api/companies/:companyId/imports/*`) and its UI entry points on
cloud-managed instances.
**Subsystem affected**
Server routes (`server/src/routes/companies.ts`) and UI navigation/pages
(settings sidebar, settings tabs, org chart, `/company/import` route).
**Current behavior**
A cloud-managed instance floors direct company creation (`POST
/api/companies` answers 403 `cloud_managed`), but the import routes
still accept company bundles, so an import can materialize companies the
hosting platform did not provision. The UI offers Import entry points
that lead to a surface that is not available on cloud-managed instances.
**Proposed behavior**
On instances where `isCloudManagedInstance()` is true, every import
route answers 403 `code=cloud_managed` before auth and body work, and
the Import UI (sidebar entry, settings tab, org-chart button,
`/company/import` route) is hidden or redirected. Export remains fully
available. Self-hosted instances are unchanged.
**Reason and benefit**
Cloud-managed instances keep one consistent provisioning authority, and
users do not see an Import surface that dead-ends in a 403.
## What Changed
- `server/src/routes/companies.ts`: a router-level floor mounted at the
`/import` and `/:companyId/imports` prefixes. It covers the single-shot
upload, preview, job polling, chunked transfer
declare/part-upload/status/preview/apply, and the agent-safe per-company
import routes. It throws `forbidden(..., { code: "cloud_managed" })` on
cloud-managed instances, or `403 settings_operator_managed` when the
operator hides `company.import` — both before auth and body validation,
mirroring the company-creation floor.
- `packages/shared/src/settings-visibility.ts`: new
`HIDEABLE_COMPANY_PAGES` registry group — `company.members`,
`company.invites`, `company.secrets`, `company.export`, `company.import`
— with a `hidesCompanyPage` helper. The company General page stays
non-hideable (settings root). `company.import` floors its API; the other
keys are UI-visibility only, as documented in the registry, so
membership/invite/secret/export APIs stay live for agents.
- `ui/src/components/CloudManagedPageGate.tsx` (new): route gate that
redirects cloud-managed instances to `/company/settings`, modeled on
`HiddenSettingsPageGate`.
- `ui/src/App.tsx`: wraps the `company/import` route in
`CloudManagedPageGate`.
- `ui/src/components/CompanySettingsSidebar.tsx`,
`ui/src/components/access/CompanySettingsNav.tsx`,
`ui/src/pages/OrgChart.tsx`: hide the Import entry points when
`useCloudInstance()` reports a managed instance, and honor the new
`company.*` hidden-settings keys for every company page entry (sidebar
item, tab, org-chart buttons).
- `ui/src/App.tsx`: `HiddenSettingsPageGate` route gates for the members
(incl. the legacy access route), invites, secrets, export, and import
pages under their `company.*` keys.
- `docs/deploy/environment-variables.md`: documents the new keys and
their semantics; the CLI and board-operator guides note that import is
unavailable on cloud-managed instances.
- Tests: new `server/src/__tests__/company-import-cloud-floor.test.ts`
and `ui/src/components/CloudManagedPageGate.test.tsx`, registry cases in
`packages/shared/src/settings-visibility.test.ts`, plus cloud and
hidden-key cases in the sidebar, settings-nav, and org-chart suites.
## Verification
- TypeScript typechecks pass for every workspace package (`tsc` in
shared, server, ui; the runner's Rust leg needs a local cargo toolchain
and is covered by CI).
- `pnpm test` on this branch fails only in 9 files that also fail on a
clean `origin/master` checkout on the same machine
(environment-dependent suites: live-listener probes,
workspace/native-runtime spawns, skill materialization). Zero
branch-only failures against that baseline; every suite touched by this
change passes.
- `server/src/__tests__/company-import-cloud-floor.test.ts` asserts:
every import route answers 403 `cloud_managed` under the server-token
signal; the managed-config signal alone also floors; every import route
answers 403 `settings_operator_managed` when `company.import` is hidden;
hiding other company pages leaves import open; the floor applies before
auth and body validation; export stays open on cloud-managed instances;
self-hosted import preview and job polling still work.
- `packages/shared/src/settings-visibility.test.ts` covers the new
`company.*` keys and `hidesCompanyPage`.
- UI suites assert the Import tab, sidebar entry, and org-chart button
disappear on a cloud-managed instance while Export stays, that
`/company/import` redirects through the gate, and that the `company.*`
keys hide their sidebar entries and tabs.
## Risks
- Low risk for self-hosted installs: the floor is inert unless a cloud
signal (`PAPERCLIP_CLOUD_TENANT_SERVER_TOKEN` or
`PAPERCLIP_MANAGED_CONFIG`) is present, and the self-hosted paths are
regression-tested.
- On cloud-managed instances this is a deliberate behavioral removal:
import (including agent-driven safe imports and resumable transfers)
stops working the moment an instance runs this build. In-flight chunked
transfers on such instances cannot be applied afterward; they answer
403.
- CLI import commands against a cloud-managed instance now fail with the
`cloud_managed` error; the message names the reason.
- The new `company.*` keys change nothing unless an operator sets them:
`PAPERCLIP_HIDDEN_SETTINGS` unset keeps behavior identical, and older
images ignore unknown keys by design. The four non-import company keys
hide UI only; their APIs stay live, which the registry documents
explicitly.
## Model Used
Claude Fable 5 (`claude-fable-5`, Anthropic) via Claude Code — agentic
coding session with tool use (code search, editing, local test
execution).
## 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
- [ ] 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 open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work
> - A company accumulates real state — issues, labels, blockers,
documents, work products, monitors, attachments, agents, routines — and
people need to move that state between instances: self-hosted to cloud,
cloud back to self-hosted, or plain backups
> - The experimental, flag-gated Cloud Sync transport (#6548) tried to
solve this host-to-host: the source pushed into a receiver over HTTPS
with a cross-instance consent/token handshake, which required the
destination to be publicly reachable and broke for common self-hosted
topologies (plain-HTTP LAN/VPN origins); the receiver half never landed
upstream at all
> - Meanwhile the portability bundle and the existing export/import
pages already move companies offline with none of those networking
constraints — but silently dropped labels, blockers, issue documents,
work products, monitors, and every attachment
> - This pull request removes the host-to-host transport and makes
Import/Export the single data-movement path: the pages become
first-class company-settings destinations, exports declare exactly what
they do not carry, and bundle schemaVersion 6 now carries all of the
above, with attachments as content-addressed sha256 blobs verified
before a single row is written
> - The benefit is a migration and backup flow that works between any
two instances with no reachability requirements, no cross-instance auth,
and no silent data loss
## Linked Issues or Issue Description
- Refs #6548 — the original Cloud Sync sender this PR supersedes and
removes.
- Related, not duplicates: #1697 (goals in the portability manifest —
orthogonal field addition), #954 (an earlier import/export +
skill-visibility proposal predating the current portability bundle).
- No open issue describes this directly, so in brief (feature-request
shape): **Problem** — moving a company between instances silently lost
labels (imports with label references actually hard-failed), blocker
relations, issue documents, work products, monitor state, and all
attachments, and the alternative Cloud Sync transport required the
destination to be publicly reachable over HTTPS plus a consent
handshake, which failed for typical self-hosted setups. **Desired
behavior** — one Import/Export flow in company settings that produces a
portable bundle carrying all of that data, tells the operator up front
what it cannot carry, imports with automations paused, and offers real
one-click activation afterwards.
## What Changed
- New export fidelity report (`GET
/api/companies/:companyId/export/fidelity`) + an "Export fidelity" panel
on the Export page listing anything a bundle will not include (now only:
approvals, cost history, activity history)
- Imports accept `pauseAutomations`; imported agents and routines land
paused, the import result reports created routines, and the Import page
ends in an activation panel that actually resumes selected
agents/activates routines
- Export and Import pages promoted into the company-settings nav; the
Cloud Upstream wizard, ux-lab page, and API client removed; the old
settings route redirects to Export
- Host-to-host transport removed: upstream-sync/receiver-client routes
and services, CLI `cloud connect`/`cloud push` + keypair store, the
shared upstream transfer contract, and the `enableCloudSync` flag;
migration `0196` drops the two experimental `cloud_upstream_*` sender
tables
- Bundle schemaVersion 6: labels (definitions + per-task names, remapped
by name on import), blocker relations (`blockedBy` slugs,
cycle-tolerant), issue documents (`tasks/<slug>/documents/<key>.md`),
work products (system refs nulled), monitors (notes/scheduledBy
restored, imported un-armed)
- Attachments travel as content-addressed `blobs/<sha256>` entries
(deduped; comment-scoped attachments re-link via comment index); every
blob is hash-verified **before any write**, so a corrupted bundle cannot
leave a partially imported company; both zip codecs now round-trip
extensionless/binary entries byte-exactly; the Import page preflights
the inline body limit and offers continue-without-attachments
- v5 (and older) bundles still import, with an informational warning;
bundles newer than v6 are rejected cleanly
- Docs: board-operator import/export guide, CLI README, README/ROADMAP
updated
## Verification
- `pnpm -r` typechecks (shared, db incl. migration numbering/safety
checks, server, ui, cli) and `pnpm check:token-gates` — clean
- Vitest: full server + shared sweep 4,888 passed / 1 skipped, with the
only 3 failures being pre-existing on `master` (2×
heartbeat-workspace-branch-containment, 1× workspace-runtime auto-port;
reproduced identically with this change stashed); ui + cli suites green;
the embedded-Postgres export-fidelity suite applies the full migration
chain including the new `0196` against a fresh database
- Live end-to-end on a scratch instance: seeded a company with labels, a
blocker pair, an issue document, a work product, a monitor, an agent, a
routine, and two binary attachments (one comment-scoped) → export →
import into a fresh company → labels remapped to new ids, blocker edge
and document restored, monitor un-armed with notes intact, attachments
byte-identical (sha256-compared through the API), agents/routines paused
→ activation panel resumed them; a v5-shaped bundle imported with only
the info warning; flipping one byte in a blob made the import 422 with
**zero** rows created
- Reviewer repro: create a company with a labeled issue + attachment →
Settings → Export → download → Settings → Import on another
company/instance → watch the preview, apply with "start paused", then
activate
## Risks
- Migration `0196` drops
`cloud_upstream_connections`/`cloud_upstream_runs` — experimental tables
behind a default-off flag; their connection/run history is intentionally
discarded
- Breaking removals are all of experimental, flag-gated surface:
`/api/upstream-sync/*` + `/api/cloud-upstreams/*` routes, `paperclipai
cloud connect|push`, and the `enableCloudSync` flag (stale keys in
stored instance settings parse harmlessly)
- Import remains non-atomic on mid-apply errors generally (pre-existing
behavior); the new blob verification specifically moved ahead of all
writes so tampered bundles cannot create partial state
- GitHub-sourced imports do not fetch `blobs/*` and skip attachments
with a warning
## Model Used
- Claude Fable 5 (`claude-fable-5`, Anthropic), via Claude Code CLI with
extended thinking, tool use, and subagent orchestration; implementation
and review split across Fable 5 subagents, with live end-to-end
verification against a running instance
## 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
- [ ] 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
Documents the `paperclipai company export` and `paperclipai company import`
CLI commands, covering package format, all options, target modes, collision
strategies, GitHub sources, interactive selection, and API endpoints.
Co-Authored-By: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Devin Foley
dotta