Paperclip harness — start here

This is a new project. Nothing here runs yet. It exists so the third attempt starts from a clean place, with the history of the first two attempts attached.

If you are an agent: read AGENTS.md first, then HANDOVER.md, then docs/PLAN.md.

If you are the person: read these in order:

HANDOVER.md — what we tried before, what worked, what failed, and why this is different.
docs/PLAN.md — the plan: the four screens, the milestones, what is Paperclip's job and what is ours.
docs/PAPERCLIP-API-NOTES.md — what we measured against your running Paperclip, with the endpoint and the response.
CHECKLIST.md — the exact steps for the next session, in order, with boxes to tick.
docs/TUIOS-RUNBOOK.md — TUIOS, not tmux: the three machines, starting a session, driving panes.
docs/OPERATING-RULES.md — the nine rules, including how a task is judged finished.
docs/DOCMAP.md — which document is authoritative for what. One home per document.
docs/ENVIRONMENT-FACTS.md — the ids, the installed tools, and the one step that is still unproven.

The one-line version

Paperclip already owns tasks, blockers, comments, approvals, runs, cost and git worktrees. We are building one small Go terminal program with four screens on top of it. Nothing else.

What you need installed (all present on .13 today)

Paperclip server running locally on http://127.0.0.1:3100 (it is; 685 endpoints).
PAPERCLIP_BOARD_KEY in the environment — the user key. The terminal program uses this one. An agent key cannot write outside a heartbeat run.
Go toolchain — now installed (go1.26.5, from nix profile). The NixOS config change that makes it permanent is staged in /etc/nixos/configuration.nix and needs one sudo nixos-rebuild switch. See docs/ENVIRONMENT-FACTS.md.
Pi, which is already the worker adapter on your Paperclip agent.

Running the terminal program

bin/layout                                # open every screen as a TUIOS pane
bin/screen reply AUD-162                  # or one screen

cd tui
go run . -screen tree -project spike-2026-11-10    # one screen in this terminal
go run . -screen tree -project spike-2026-11-10 -dump   # the same data as plain text

The screens live in the session named paperclip-harness, one per workspace. How that is built and repaired is in docs/TUIOS-RUNBOOK.md.

The project can be an id or its url key. Keys inside the program: arrows or Tab and Shift-Tab move, r re-reads from Paperclip, q quits. A bare Esc is left free, because in TUIOS it has to close a box.

The six workspaces

workspace	shows	keys
shell	a prompt in the project folder	—
board	tasks by group, the chosen task, what needs you	↑↓ j k · enter (show everywhere) · a (assign) · tab
work	runs, change, facts — tabs	[ ] tab · ↑↓ j k · r
reply	the thread and a reply box	enter (write) · s (status to send) · esc
new	the form that makes a task	tab · enter · esc
project	folder, machine, session, costs, verify command	[ ] tab · ↑↓ j k
repair	health checks, the live layout, the rebuild log	[ ] tab · ↑↓ j k · R

Choosing a task on the board and pressing Enter writes it into the project's .harness/harness.toml, and every other workspace follows within a second.

Refresh and rebuild

r — read the data again in this panel. Nothing closes, nothing moves, the layout is untouched. Use it when the numbers look stale.
B — on the Repair screen only: add whatever panes are missing without closing any, so it is safe to press from inside a pane.
? — the keys for the panel you are in, as an overlay.
/ — filter the task list by identifier, title or assignee name.
u — unblock a task whose blocker has finished but which still says blocked.
R — rebuild everything: bin/board --replace closes each pane the layout owns and builds all seven again, in order. It runs detached in its own session, because the panel you pressed it in is one of the panes being replaced; the output is written to /tmp/paperclip-harness-rebuild.log, and the Repair workspace shows that log on its third tab.

R is on every screen except the new-task form, where letters are text.

How an interface change is tested

Not in a plain terminal, and not in tmux. TUIOS owns part of the keyboard and forwards clicks relative to the pane, so the check is a real TUIOS pane read back with capture-pane. The commands are in docs/TUIOS-RUNBOOK.md, which is the one place they live.

The commands

command	what it does
`bin/office <folder> [--project X] [--session Y]`	adopt a folder: write `.harness/harness.toml`, build its pages
`bin/board [--folder DIR] [--replace]`	build or repair the pages; run twice and nothing is duplicated
`bin/project-reset <folder> [--dry-run] [--yes]`	close the pages, remove the worktrees and branches; keep the folder and every Paperclip record
`bin/merge <task> [--check]`	rebase, verify, review with `ocr`, merge; a refusal is a decision for the person
`bin/review <task> [--post]`	the same review on its own
`bin/screen <screen> [task or project]`	open one page by name

Rules for this project

No interface work before a real task has run end to end.
Paperclip owns the facts. We never keep a second copy of a task, a blocker or a cost.
Every claim in a document names the command that showed it.
Nothing is copied from the old project except documents.

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