## Thinking Path
> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work
> - A new customer's first session ends in the tenant's agent arc:
create an agent, connect a model, review
> - Walking it turned up questions the arc had no business asking — a
role picker using a vocabulary the customer has not been given, a model
picker asking them to judge models they have not met — and chrome
restating what they had just watched happen
> - Each one costs a first-session customer attention at the exact
moment they are deciding what this product is
> - This pull request cuts the arc to what it must ask, and draws the
agent as itself so the arc has a visible subject
> - The benefit is three steps that each ask one thing, ending on an
agent that is visibly ready
## Linked Issues or Issue Description
No public issue exists. The changes come from walking the sign-up arc
end to end.
**What happened:**
The agent step asks for a role from a fixed enum before asking for a
name. The model step shows two "Recommended" badges (on both options),
an "Adapter type" eyebrow, and a model picker. The review step lists a
three-row checklist of work the customer just performed. The progress
strip is a full-width segmented bar.
**Expected behavior:**
The agent step asks for a name. The model step offers the two harnesses
and hides the rest behind advanced settings. The review step says the
agent is ready. The strip counts three discrete steps.
**Steps to reproduce:**
1. Sign up and enter the tenant wizard on the agent arc.
2. Observe the role select above the optional name field.
3. Continue to the model step: both options carry a "Recommended" badge,
and a model picker sits below.
4. Continue to review: a checklist restates the organization name,
agent, and model.
**Additional context:**
The brand pill assets (`pill-1-dormant.svg`, `pill-1-alive.svg`) are
transcribed verbatim into a component rather than approximated. The role
removal exposed a latent silent-failure path — see Risks.
## What Changed
- `PillGuy` renders the brand pill in two states; the arc holds one
instance, dormant through create and connect, alive on review.
- The agent step asks for a name only. The name is required; the role
picker is gone.
- `DEFAULT_AGENT_ROLE` (`general`) backs every onboarding hire, and
`agentRole` now defaults to it rather than empty.
- The model step drops both "Recommended" badges, the "Adapter type"
eyebrow, and the model picker; "More Agent Adapter Types" becomes
"Advanced settings"; the sub-line becomes "Paperclip works with your
existing subscription or API keys."
- The review step drops its checklist; the heading becomes "Let's get
started..." with "[name] is ready to work!".
- The progress strip renders three left-aligned dots at the previous
gap.
- Five e2e specs and both wizard unit suites migrate off
`#onboarding-agent-role`.
## Verification
Run the tenant suite:
```
cd ui && npx vitest run
```
- 4398 tests pass across 474 files; `npx tsc --noEmit` clean.
- Walked live in a local instance: agent step (dots, dormant pill, name
placeholder), model step (no badges/eyebrow/picker, "Advanced
settings"), review (pill alive, new copy, no checklist).
- The retargeted role test asserts the hire payload carries `role:
"general"` and the typed name — it is the test that catches the silent
failure below.
## Risks
- **A latent silent failure, now closed.** `handleGiveHeartbeat` returns
early when `agentRole` is empty. With the picker removed and no default,
Connect would have hired nobody and shown no error. The default closes
it; the guard stays for any future path that clears the role.
- **Behavioral change:** every onboarding hire is filed as `general`
rather than a chosen role. The role remains editable in the app.
- **Behavioral change:** the model is no longer chosen during
onboarding. Every adapter offered here resolves its own default in
`buildAdapterConfig`, and the model is changeable later.
- **Assets:** the pill carries its own gradient fills and does not
follow the theme. That is deliberate — the agent looks like itself on
either ground.
## Model Used
Claude Opus 5 (`claude-opus-5`) via Claude Code, with tool use and code
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
- [x] My branch name describes the change and contains no internal
Paperclip ticket id
- [x] I have run tests locally and they pass
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable
- [ ] 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
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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