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paperclip-harness/docs/STARTUP.md

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# Starting a project: the commands and the rule
These commands are on your `PATH` as `office`, `board`, `merge`, `review`, `triage` and
`project-reset`. Each is a two-line wrapper in `~/.local/bin` that runs the real script in this
repository — a wrapper, not a symlink, because a symlinked script resolves its own directory to
`~/.local/bin` and then cannot find its siblings. The previous project's wrappers were moved to
`~/.local/bin/.old-harness/`, not deleted.
Replaces the previous project's four commands. There are three now, and one rule that removes
most of the confusion.
## The rule
> **The folder and the session live on the same machine.**
> If you are typing inside a session, on the machine that owns the folder, you type
> `bin/office <folder>` and nothing else.
`--host` exists for exactly one case: the folder is on a different machine from the shell you are
typing in. It is stated once; after that the project file remembers it.
## The three commands
| What you want | Command |
|---|---|
| adopt a folder | `bin/office <folder> --project "<Paperclip project name>"` |
| adopt a folder Paperclip has never seen | `bin/office <folder> --new "<Name>"` |
| adopt a folder that lives on another machine | `bin/office <folder> --project "<Name>" --host nixos-desktop` |
| repair or rebuild the panes | `bin/board`, `bin/board --replace`, `bin/board --reset` |
| close everything and start again | `bin/project-reset <folder>` |
Nothing else is needed. In particular you do **not** create the session by hand any more: the
previous design needed `tuios new --host …` because `office` could not create a session. This one
can, through the daemon's own verb, so the second command is gone.
## What `bin/office` does, in order
1. Reads the folder. If another machine is named, checks first whether that name is *this*
machine, and runs locally if it is. (The previous version once tried to `ssh` to itself.)
2. Resolves a host name to an address ssh can reach: `nixos-desktop`/`.13` → `192.168.20.13`,
`sam-4screen-desktop`/`.27` → `192.168.20.27`, `sam-thinkpad`/`.51` → `192.168.20.51`.
3. If it really is another machine: tests the login with `ssh -o BatchMode=yes <address> true`,
then runs the same command there, and prints how to attach.
4. On the machine that owns the folder: creates the Paperclip project if `--new` was given, or
adopts the existing one; writes `.harness/harness.toml`, `check.sh`, `NOTES.md` — never
overwriting anything that exists.
Before the remote run it copies this folder's commands to the other machine at
`~/.local/share/paperclip-harness/bin/` and leaves a short `~/.local/bin/office` there, so
nothing has to be installed by hand. On `.27` and `.51` `~/.local/bin` is not on `PATH`
yet, so there the command is called by its full path.
5. Creates the session if it is missing, on that machine's daemon.
6. Builds the eight panes, in order, each pane claimed by workspace **name**.
The last step it cannot do is show you the session. A program may not move your client: the
daemon refuses `switch-session` from a pane. Switch with TUIOS's own session switcher, or
`tuios attach --host <machine> <session>`.
## The three rebuild levels
| Command | What it does |
|---|---|
| `bin/board` | creates what is missing, closes nothing |
| `bin/board --replace` | closes this project's panes, then builds all eight again |
| `bin/board --reset` | closes **every** pane in the session, waits for none to remain, clears the workspace names, then builds |
`--reset` exists because `--replace` on a half-built session can run out of workspace slots and
leave pages missing.
Inside a pane, `R` in `Repair>repair` rebuilds everything; `B` only adds what is missing.
## Worktrees, and the folder that is not a repository
A new project gets a worktree policy: Paperclip makes a branch and a separate directory per task,
so two tasks never change the same files, and there is a diff to review and a merge to approve.
That needs a repository **with at least one commit**. `office` checks, and when the folder is not
one it explains what is lost and asks before touching anything:
```
/tmp/officetest is not a git repository, so each task cannot have its own branch and worktree.
without them, two tasks can change the same files at once, and there
is no diff to review and nothing to merge.
make it a repository now? This runs: git init -b main, git add -A,
and one commit of EVERY file in the folder, including anything you
have not noticed. Add a .gitignore first if that is not what you want.
type yes to do it:
```
Three answers, in order of preference:
1. **Answer the question.** It only appears at a terminal, so nothing is created by a script by
accident.
2. **`--git-init`** does the same without asking, for a script.
3. **Do it yourself**, which is what a machine without a terminal is told to do, with the exact
commands.
If you say no, or there is no terminal and no flag, the project is still created — as
`local_path`, in place. A task then edits the folder directly: no branch, no diff, nothing to
merge. That is honest for a folder of notes and wrong for code.
The base branch is read from the folder (`git symbolic-ref`), not assumed to be `main`, so a
repository on `master` works.
## A folder on a machine that does not serve Paperclip
Panes run where the folder is. **Agents run where Paperclip is**, because Paperclip starts them
itself. When those are different machines the panes read the folder correctly and the agents
cannot see it at all. `office --new` therefore refuses, and says why:
```
refused: this folder is on sam-4screen-desktop, but Paperclip and its agents run on nixos-desktop
the panes will open here and will read this folder correctly
the agents will not: they start on nixos-desktop, where /home/sam/SECURITY does not exist
a task you assign will fail, or work on a different folder
move the folder to nixos-desktop, mount it there, or pass --anywhere to go ahead anyway
```
`--anywhere` goes ahead anyway, for the case where the panes are all you want.
## Traps this design keeps from the previous one
- A pane's command must carry the project, or a rebuild shows the wrong one.
- Compare a host name against this machine's own names and addresses before ssh, or you log in to
yourself.
- Never store a workspace number; TUIOS deletes an emptied workspace and renumbers the rest.
- A pane that never exits keeps a workspace alive. `Shell>shell` is that pane here.
- Scripts resolve their own directory with `realpath`, so a symlinked wrapper still finds its
siblings.