## Thinking Path
> - Paperclip orchestrates AI agents for zero-human companies and ships
a
> "local-first, cloud-ready" deployment model
> - The deploy docs currently cover local/Docker but not a production
> cloud target, so teams asking "how do I put this behind a real domain"
> have no canonical path
> - We already support Docker images, RDS-compatible Postgres, and an
EFS
> storage profile, so AWS ECS Fargate is a natural fit
> - Without a runbook, each team reinvents VPC, security groups, TLS,
and
> secrets wiring and usually gets at least one step wrong
> - This pull request adds `docs/deploy/aws-ecs.md`, an ECS
task-definition
> template, and an `.env.aws.example`, cross-linked from the deploy
overview
> - The benefit is a single, reproducible ~$110/mo path to a production
> deployment, plus a full teardown for throwaway environments
## What Changed
- New `docs/deploy/aws-ecs.md` — an 11-step ECS Fargate runbook covering
ECR,
VPC, RDS, EFS, Secrets Manager, IAM, ALB, and ECS service with the
deployment circuit breaker enabled
- New `docker/ecs-task-definition.json` — Fargate-ready task definition
with
`<ACCOUNT_ID>`, `<REGION>`, `<EFS_ID>`, `<DOMAIN>` placeholder tokens
- New `docker/.env.aws.example` — documents every non-secret env var the
ECS deployment needs
- `docs/deploy/overview.md` — one-line cross-reference to the new guide
- Greptile feedback addressed in follow-up commits:
- `containerName` in the service-create call now matches
`paperclip-server` in the task definition
- HTTP :80 listener added that 301-redirects to :443
- Dedicated RDS DB subnet group created before `create-db-instance`
- EFS teardown polls on mount-target deletion instead of `sleep 30`
## Verification
- Walked every step of the runbook against the task definition to
confirm
variable names (`$ALB_SG`, `$ECS_SG`, `$RDS_SG`, `$EFS_SG`, `$TG_ARN`,
`$LISTENER_ARN`, `$HTTP_LISTENER_ARN`, `$EFS_ID`, `$RDS_ENDPOINT`, etc.)
are
defined before they are referenced
- Confirmed the `containerName` in Step 10 (`paperclip-server`) matches
`docker/ecs-task-definition.json` line 11
- Confirmed the `sed` placeholder substitution in Step 8 matches the
tokens
in the task definition template
- Teardown order was checked in reverse-dependency order: ECS service →
listeners → target group → ALB → RDS (waits for deletion) → DB subnet
group → EFS mount targets (polled) → EFS → secrets → SGs → ECR → IAM →
log group
## Risks
- **Low risk for the repo.** Docs-only change plus two template files
under
`docker/`; no runtime code paths are touched and nothing is imported by
the build.
- **Risk for users who follow the runbook:** AWS bills accrue
immediately
once RDS/ALB/EFS exist. The runbook calls this out and includes a full
teardown procedure. Placeholder tokens (`<ACCOUNT_ID>`, `<REGION>`,
`<EFS_ID>`, `<DOMAIN>`) are documented so nothing is silently
hard-coded.
## Model Used
- Claude (Anthropic), model `claude-opus-4-6`, ~200K context window,
extended thinking mode on, used with tool access (file edit, shell) via
Claude Code. The Greptile follow-up commits were authored the same way.
## 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 run tests locally and they pass — N/A for docs/config
templates; validated by reading
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable — N/A for docs
- [x] If this change affects the UI, I have included before/after
screenshots — N/A, no UI
- [x] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge
---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
## Thinking Path
> - Paperclip server starts up and sets internal `PAPERCLIP_API_URL` for
downstream services and adapters
> - The server startup code was unconditionally overwriting
`PAPERCLIP_API_URL` with `http://localhost:3100` (or equivalent based on
`config.host`)
> - In Kubernetes deployments, `PAPERCLIP_API_URL` is set via a
ConfigMap to the externally accessible load balancer URL (e.g.
`https://paperclip.example.com`)
> - Because the env var was unconditionally set after loading the
ConfigMap value, the ConfigMap-provided URL was ignored and replaced
with the internal localhost address
> - This caused downstream services (adapter env building) to use the
wrong URL, breaking external access
> - This pull request makes the assignment conditional — only set if not
already provided by the environment
> - External deployments can now supply `PAPERCLIP_API_URL` and it will
be respected; local development continues to work without setting it
## What Changed
- `server/src/index.ts`: Wrapped `PAPERCLIP_API_URL` assignment in `if
(!process.env.PAPERCLIP_API_URL)` guard so externally provided values
are preserved
- `server/src/__tests__/server-startup-feedback-export.test.ts`: Added
tests verifying external `PAPERCLIP_API_URL` is respected and fallback
behavior is correct
- `docs/deploy/environment-variables.md`: Updated `PAPERCLIP_API_URL`
description to clarify it can be externally provided and the load
balancer/reverse proxy use case
## Verification
- Run the existing test suite: `pnpm test:run
server/src/__tests__/server-startup-feedback-export.test.ts` — all 3
tests pass
- Manual verification: Set `PAPERCLIP_API_URL` to a custom value before
starting the server and confirm it is not overwritten
## Risks
- Low risk — purely additive conditional check; existing behavior for
unset env var is unchanged
## Model Used
MiniMax M2.7 — reasoning-assisted for tracing the root cause through the
startup chain (`buildPaperclipEnv` → `startServer` → `config.host` →
`HOST` env var)
## 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 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
- [x] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge
---------
Co-authored-by: Pawla Abdul (Bot) <pawla@groombook.dev>
Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
- Add wget, ripgrep, python3, and GitHub CLI (gh) to base image
- Add OPENCODE_ALLOW_ALL_MODELS=true to production ENV
- Move compose files, onboard-smoke Dockerfile to docker/
- Move entrypoint script to scripts/docker-entrypoint.sh
- Add Podman Quadlet unit files (pod, app, db containers)
- Add docker/README.md with build, compose, and quadlet docs
- Add scripts/docker-build-test.sh for local build validation
- Update all doc references for new file locations
- Keep main Dockerfile at project root (no .dockerignore changes needed)
Co-Authored-By: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
- Restored docs/ directory that was accidentally deleted by `git add -A`
in the v0.2.3 release script
- Replaced generic "P" favicon with actual paperclip icon using brand
primary color (#2563EB)
- Added light/dark logo SVGs for Mintlify navbar (paperclip icon + wordmark)
- Updated docs.json with logo configuration for dark/light mode
- Fixed release.sh to stage only release-related files instead of `git add -A`
to prevent sweeping unrelated changes into release commits
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Rename all workspace packages from @paperclip/* to @paperclipai/* and
the CLI binary from `paperclip` to `paperclipai` in preparation for
npm publishing. Bump CLI version to 0.1.0 and add package metadata
(description, keywords, license, repository, files). Update all
imports, documentation, user-facing messages, and tests accordingly.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 <noreply@anthropic.com>
