paperclip/packages/paperclip-runner/docs/tutorials/scenario-chat.md

Scenario chat Tutorial: Chat With the Mock Control Plane

Time to first success: about 3 minutes. One command opens a chat where you send prompts to a Capability scenario and watch exactly how the mock Paperclip control plane was used on every turn. The tutorial runs from the repository root. It starts no Paperclip service, contacts no Paperclip control plane, and holds no provider credential.

Scenario chat extends the Capability browser surface; it does not integrate the runner into Paperclip. Real integration is future upload integration and requires separate approval. See the future binding boundary reference.

What you need

• Node.js 20 or newer and pnpm 9 or newer. Verified with Node 22.22.2.
• No Rust toolchain and no network access after pnpm install.

Install the package workspace from the repository root:

pnpm install --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner --lockfile=false --offline --ignore-scripts --dev

1. Open the chat (about 1 minute)

pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner run demo:scenarios

Open http://127.0.0.1:4183/scenario-explorer/#/chat/ap-mcp-gate-01.

Before you type anything, the conversation already has content: a session seed strip reading "Control plane checked out the task and opened the run — no agent tool exists for this," and a Session seed activity strip counting what it did. That is the point of turn 0. Work happened, and no agent tool was involved.

The session status chip reads Idle · seeded. The right rail — Activity on desktop, the Activity segment on a phone — shows the seed group with its exposure decision, state diff, and verdict.

2. Run a turn that succeeds

Type into the composer and press Enter:

Where does the MCP tool approval for this task stand?

The turn appends: your message as a right-aligned bubble, two semantic calls (get_task_context, list_approvals) as tool cards with their disposition badges, the agent's reply, and a Turn 1 activity strip:

Turn 1 activity   ⚙ 2 tools   ⌘ 0 control plane   Δ 0 domains   ✓ Pass

Click the strip. The Activity stream opens turn 1's group with the six evidence sections in order — exposed tools, calls and results, authorization, control plane, state diff, parity. Nothing changed state, and the diff says so.

3. Run a turn that is denied

Raise the approval request yourself and get the tool switched on.

request_approval is denied. The denial renders in place on the danger surface with the failing operation, the code policy_denied, the reason required_claim_missing, and an explicit line that no protected state was returned. The turn strip counts it (✕ 1 denied), and on mobile the Activity segment carries a · 1 deny chip so you can see it without opening the segment.

The session status still reads Scripted · deterministic and the session parity still passes. A denial is a correct outcome, not a broken session — this run simply does not hold governance:approvals:request. Open the turn's Authorization section to see the claims considered and the missing one.

4. See control-plane-owned work with no agent tool

Open http://127.0.0.1:4183/scenario-explorer/#/chat/ix-checkbox-01?replay=fake. replay=fake plays the recorded three-turn conversation.

Turn 2 opens a checkbox interaction. Turn 3 is the board answering it — and that answer is performed by the control plane, not by a tool:

⌘ Control plane recorded the board's answer and scheduled the continuation
  wake — no agent tool exists for this.

Open turn 3's State diff section. The interactions domain shows status: pending → answered, the unchanged domains collapse to one line, and a Control plane badged row records wake.scheduled. The wake is scheduled by reconciliation; the agent never asked for it.

5. Reset and replay

Reset session asks first, because it discards mutable mock state. Accept it and the transcript returns to the seeded turn 0 — no turns, no denials, a clean diff. Switching scenario from the rail mid-session asks the same question, since two scenarios never share mock state.

Replay scripted session plays the remaining recorded turns and needs no confirmation: it reproduces an identical timeline.

6. Run the tests and record the evidence

pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner run test:scenarios
pnpm --filter @paperclipai/paperclip-runner run test:browser:scenarios
# Recorded evidence generation is deferred from this release.

The first covers the session data contract and the chat components, the second drives the surface in a real browser at both viewports, and the third writes the ten acceptance screenshots to .paperclip-local/evidence/capability/ — failing if any route scrolls horizontally.

What this does not do

• No ACPX implementation and no real control-plane integration.
• No provider credential in the browser. Codex (bounded) stays disabled with a named reason unless the local provider relay is running; Scripted (deterministic) drives the same mock core offline.
• Nothing you type is persisted. A reload drops an unsent draft, which is the accepted trade against storing conversation content.

Reference: Scenario chat scenario chat.