Paperclip

Beta: Paperclip is in early development. This template and the software may have unexpected issues.

Paperclip is an orchestration platform for coordinating multiple AI agents (Claude, Codex, Cursor, OpenClaw, etc.) to run autonomous businesses. It provides a Node.js server with a React UI that manages agent teams, assigns goals, tracks work, and monitors costs from a central dashboard.

Getting Started

1. Deploy the template and wait for the service to start.
2. Open the Zeabur Terminal for the Paperclip service.
3. Create the first admin account:

   pnpm paperclipai auth bootstrap-ceo
   

4. Copy the invite URL from the output and open it in your browser to register.
5. Login to your preferred AI tool — Codex or Claude Code (see AI Agent Authentication below).
6. When creating an agent, set Working directory to a path under /home/node/ (e.g. /home/node/workspaces/my-project).
7. Click Test now to run the adapter environment check. A successful result shows hello probe succeeded.
8. After setup, set PAPERCLIP_AUTH_DISABLE_SIGN_UP to true in Zeabur environment variables to prevent unauthorized signups.

AI Agent Authentication

Currently only Terminal login is supported. Environment variable authentication (OPENAI_API_KEY / ANTHROPIC_API_KEY) is not yet working.

Tool	Terminal Login
Codex	runuser -u node -- codex login --device-auth
Claude Code	runuser -u node -- claude login

Notes

• Always use runuser -u node -- prefix when running CLI tools in Terminal. Running as root will cause permission issues.
• Codex device auth: Enable "Enable device code authorization for Codex" in ChatGPT Security Settings before running the login command.
• OPENAI_API_KEY is not set warning: This warning can be safely ignored if you authenticated via codex login.

Important Notes

• Persistent storage: Only data under /home/node/ survives restarts. All other paths are ephemeral.
• Working directory: Do not use /app — it contains the Paperclip source code and will be overwritten on updates. Always use paths under /home/node/ which is persistent.
• Sign-up control: Set PAPERCLIP_AUTH_DISABLE_SIGN_UP to true after creating your admin account. Temporarily set to false when you need to invite new users, then set back to true.

Changelog

2026-03-16 — Initial Release

• Zeabur template for Paperclip AI agent orchestration platform
• Services: PostgreSQL 17 + Paperclip (prebuilt image zeabur/paperclip, amd64 + arm64)
• Startup script auto-generates config.json on first boot
• Server runs as node user via runuser (required for Claude Code CLI)
• Single persistent volume at /home/node/
• Pre-installed CLI tools: claude-code, codex, opencode-ai

Links

• Documentation
• GitHub