Devin Foley
07e98d2b2c
## Thinking Path > - Paperclip is the control plane for running AI-agent companies, so long-running remote work needs to stay observable to human operators. > - Cloud / sandbox agents are an active roadmap area, and their workspace sync path is part of the runtime substrate every remote coding run depends on. > - In the sandbox and SSH execution-target flows, Paperclip logged that sync had started, then often went silent for the full transfer window. > - That made large remote syncs feel stalled and also hid a real performance problem in the command-managed sandbox upload path. > - The first part of this pull request threads a throttled progress-reporting surface through the adapter execution-target stack so sync and restore work can emit meaningful updates. > - The second part fixes the command-managed sandbox transport itself: it removes the old serial 32KB append bottleneck, but also falls back away from the single-stream path when a provider-backed sandbox runner cannot surface mid-flight stdin progress. > - The result is that sandbox and SSH transfers are both faster and more observable, including the live Daytona-style sandbox case that previously only emitted `0%` and `100%`. ## Linked Issues or Issue Description No public GitHub issue exists for this bug, so it is described inline below following the bug report template. ### What happened - Remote sandbox and SSH workspace syncs could spend a long time transferring data while only logging a start line (`Syncing workspace and runtime assets to sandbox environment`) and, at best, a terminal line. - In the command-managed sandbox path, the original upload implementation also paid a large performance cost by appending base64 data in many small sequential remote writes (thousands of serial 32KB round-trips on a large workspace). - After the initial transport rewrite, live provider-backed sandbox runs still only emitted `0%` and `100%` because the single-stream stdin RPC buffered progress until completion. ### Expected behavior - Long-running sandbox and SSH syncs should periodically report how much of the transfer is complete (a percentage and/or MB transferred) so an operator can tell the run is healthy and making progress rather than stuck. - The main sandbox upload path should not be artificially slow. - A transfer that fails partway should leave an explicit failure marker in the log rather than a dangling intermediate percentage. ### Steps to reproduce 1. Run an agent against a sandbox (command-managed) or SSH (remote-managed) execution target with a non-trivial workspace. 2. Watch the run log during the workspace/runtime asset sync phase. 3. Observe that the log shows the sync start line and then stays silent for the full transfer (live provider-backed sandbox runs only show `0%` then `100%`). ### Paperclip version or commit - Branch `PAPA-825-provide-status-updates-when-syncing-sandboxes` off `master`. ### Deployment mode - Self-hosted / local instance using sandbox (command-managed) and SSH (remote-managed) execution targets, including provider-backed sandbox runners. ## What Changed - Added shared throttled runtime progress reporting and threaded `onProgress` through the adapter execution-target surface and adapter `execute.ts` entrypoints. - Added sync and restore progress reporting for the command-managed sandbox path and the SSH/remote-managed path, including git import/export progress where totals are known. - Reworked command-managed sandbox transfer behavior so uploads use the faster single-stream path when appropriate, but fall back to chunked progress-emitting writes when the runner cannot expose mid-stream stdin progress. - Marked provider-backed environment sandbox runners as not supporting single-stream stdin progress so live sandbox runs emit meaningful intermediate updates instead of only `0%` and `100%`. - Emit an explicit terminal failure marker (`failed at NN% (x/y MB)`) when an SSH/tar transfer rejects, so a failed sync no longer leaves a dangling intermediate percentage in the log. - Run the SSH sync/restore size estimate (local directory walk / remote `du` probe) concurrently with the transfer instead of awaiting it before opening the pipe, so progress instrumentation no longer adds startup latency proportional to workspace file count. - Added and extended focused regression coverage for runtime progress throttling and the new failure marker, command-managed sandbox transfers, sandbox orchestration, SSH transfer progress, and environment execution-target wiring. ## Verification - `pnpm exec vitest run packages/adapter-utils/src/runtime-progress.test.ts packages/adapter-utils/src/ssh-fixture.test.ts packages/adapter-utils/src/command-managed-runtime.test.ts packages/adapter-utils/src/sandbox-managed-runtime.test.ts` - `pnpm exec vitest run packages/adapter-utils/src/command-managed-runtime.test.ts server/src/__tests__/environment-execution-target.test.ts` - `npx tsc --noEmit` for `packages/adapter-utils` ## Risks - The provider-backed sandbox fallback now prefers chunked command-managed writes when progress hooks are active, so small-to-medium uploads may trade some raw throughput for observable intermediate progress on runtimes that cannot surface true mid-stream stdin progress. - Progress percentages on tar-based transfers still depend on estimates in some cases, so operators may briefly see MB-only lines before the estimate resolves, then near-final clamping before the terminal `100%` line. - This PR changes shared execution-target behavior used by multiple adapters, so regressions would most likely appear in remote runtime setup/teardown flows rather than in a single adapter. ## Model Used - Initial implementation: OpenAI GPT-5.4 via Codex local agent (`codex_local`), high reasoning mode. - Observability follow-ups (failure marker, concurrent size estimate, added tests): Claude Opus 4.8 via Claude Code (`claude_local`). ## 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] I have run tests locally and they pass - [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable - [ ] If this change affects the UI, I have included before/after screenshots - [ ] 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 - [ ] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before requesting merge --------- Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
@paperclipai/adapter-utils
Shared utilities for Paperclip adapters: process spawning, environment injection, sandbox/SSH transport, workspace sync, and the round-trip helpers that move code between the local execution-workspace cwd and wherever the agent actually runs.
For the adapter-author guide see
docs/adapters/creating-an-adapter.md
and the in-repo notes at packages/adapters/AUTHORING.md.
No-remote-git contract
The local execution-workspace cwd is the only persistence boundary across runs. No adapter may depend on a git remote for cross-run state.
Adapters that run the agent on a different host should use the SSH round-trip
helpers in src/ssh.ts:
prepareWorkspaceForSshExecution({ spec, localDir, remoteDir })— bundles the local cwd (tracked files, dirty edits, untracked additions, and the git history needed to reconstruct it) toremoteDirbefore the run starts. Runs with nogit remoteconfigured.restoreWorkspaceFromSshExecution({ spec, localDir, remoteDir, ... })— syncs the remote cwd back intolocalDirafter the run, including any new commits the agent created. Also runs with nogit remoteconfigured.
prepareRemoteManagedRuntime in
src/remote-managed-runtime.ts wraps both
calls for adapters that want a per-run remote workspace and an automatic
restoreWorkspace() finally hook.
The invariant is pinned by the no-remote-git contract case in
src/ssh-fixture.test.ts, which asserts that a
remote-only commit propagates to the local worktree through the
prepare → restore round-trip with no git remote configured at any point. Do
not regress that test.