## Thinking Path > - Paperclip is the open source control plane people use to manage AI agents for work. > - The relevant subsystem is the agent heartbeat policy surface: the Paperclip skill, default onboarding AGENTS.md, new-agent runtime defaults, and promptfoo eval coverage for agent behavior. > - A broad recovery PR collected several unrelated local-mainline changes, which made review too large and mixed policy/eval updates with server execution and UI work. > - This PR extracts only the heartbeat policy and prompt-eval slice so reviewers can assess the behavior contract independently. > - The eval additions cover scoped wake handling, idle no-op behavior, dependency-blocked comment triage, final disposition, budget hard stops, and Phase 5 memory/control-surface policy expectations. > - The benefit is a narrower review surface plus deterministic follow-up guidance for server/shared tests that should back these prompt-level checks. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description Refs #8866 No public issue was filed for this split. This is a focused extraction from the closed broad recovery PR so heartbeat policy and eval coverage can be reviewed separately from execution behavior, work-product feature work, plugin hardening, pipeline health, and unrelated UI polish. ## What Changed - Added promptfoo release-gate cases for scoped wake payload handling, idle exits, dependency-blocked comment triage, final disposition, and budget hard-stop behavior. - Added Phase 5 memory/control-surface prompt eval cases for provider binding precedence, provenance/audit fields, hook cost/trust handling, and auditable board command surfaces. - Documented how these prompt evals map to deterministic server/shared follow-up coverage. - Updated agent policy guidance so operator-facing engineering outputs such as PRs, branches, commits, previews, and runtime services get matching work products. - Defaulted new agent runtime config to skip timer heartbeats when there is no actionable work, with focused test coverage. ## Verification - `cd evals/promptfoo && npx promptfoo@latest validate -c promptfooconfig.yaml` passes. - `/srv/paperclip/home/paperclipai/paperclip/node_modules/.bin/vitest run ui/src/lib/new-agent-runtime-config.test.ts` passes in an isolated worktree after `pnpm install --ignore-scripts --frozen-lockfile` created workspace links. - A live promptfoo eval was not run because `OPENROUTER_API_KEY`, `OPENAI_API_KEY`, and `ANTHROPIC_API_KEY` were unset in the workspace. ## Risks Low-to-medium risk. The runtime default reduces timer-driven empty heartbeats for newly created agents, so the main behavioral risk is missing an edge case where timer wakes were expected despite no actionable work. The promptfoo additions are deterministic assertion coverage and documentation-only until a live eval is run with provider credentials. > For core feature work, check [`ROADMAP.md`](ROADMAP.md) first and discuss it in `#dev` before opening the PR. Feature PRs that overlap with planned core work may need to be redirected — check the roadmap first. See `CONTRIBUTING.md`. ## Model Used OpenAI GPT-5-based Codex coding agent in the Paperclip local Codex adapter environment; exact hosted model ID and context window were not exposed to the agent runtime. Tool use included shell, git, promptfoo validation, Vitest, and the GitHub connector/CLI. ## 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 - [x] All Paperclip CI gates are green - [x] 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: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing> |
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README.md
Paperclip Evals
Eval framework for testing Paperclip agent behaviors across models and prompt versions.
See the evals framework plan for full design rationale.
Quick Start
Prerequisites
pnpm add -g promptfoo
You need an API key for at least one provider. Set one of:
export OPENROUTER_API_KEY=sk-or-... # OpenRouter (recommended - test multiple models)
export ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-... # Anthropic direct
export OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... # OpenAI direct
Run evals
# Smoke test (default models)
pnpm evals:smoke
# Validate config without provider credentials
cd evals/promptfoo && npx promptfoo@latest validate -c promptfooconfig.yaml
# Or run promptfoo directly
cd evals/promptfoo
promptfoo eval
# View results in browser
promptfoo view
What's tested
Phase 0 covers narrow behavior evals for the Paperclip heartbeat skill:
| Case | Category | What it checks |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment pickup | core |
Agent picks up todo/in_progress tasks correctly |
| Progress update | core |
Agent writes useful status comments |
| Blocked reporting | core |
Agent recognizes and reports blocked state |
| Approval required | governance |
Agent requests approval instead of acting |
| Company boundary | governance |
Agent refuses cross-company actions |
| No work exit | core |
Agent exits cleanly with no assignments |
| Checkout before work | core |
Agent always checks out before modifying |
| 409 conflict handling | core |
Agent stops on 409, picks different task |
| Memory provider binding | phase5_memory |
Agent honors agent override before company default |
| Memory provenance audit | phase5_memory |
Agent preserves inspectable source and operation records |
| Memory hook cost/trust | phase5_memory |
Agent keeps memory hook cost attribution and source trust visible |
| Board command work objects | phase5_control_surface |
Chat-like board commands create auditable work objects |
Phase 5 memory/control-surface prompt evals should be paired with deterministic server/shared tests for:
- memory provider resolution order: agent override, then company default
- memory operation audit rows including company, agent, issue, run, provider, source, and cost references
- hook-delivered memory payloads preserving source trust and cost attribution fields
- board command/chat-like routes creating auditable issues, comments, documents, approvals, or work products
Adding new cases
- Add a YAML file to
evals/promptfoo/tests/ - Follow the existing case format (see
core.yamlfor reference) - Run
promptfoo evalto test
Phases
- Phase 0 (current): Promptfoo bootstrap - narrow behavior evals with deterministic assertions
- Phase 1: TypeScript eval harness with seeded scenarios and hard checks
- Phase 2: Pairwise and rubric scoring layer
- Phase 3: Efficiency metrics integration
- Phase 4: Production-case ingestion