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DottaandPaperclip 018993140f feat: let agents name prompt-only tasks (#14761)
## Thinking Path

> - Paperclip is the open source app people use to manage AI agents for
work.
> - Users create tasks with a title and a description.
> - A required title adds work when the prompt already explains the
request.
> - An agent can name the task once it reads that request.
> - This pull request accepts prompt-only tasks and starts them with a
short prompt slice.
> - A scoped title tool lets the assigned agent replace that slice early
without changing execution state.
> - A live browser eval checks the real agent call, saved title, audit
entry, and preservation of user titles.

## Linked Issues or Issue Description

**Subsystem affected**

Cross-cutting: task creation, shared contracts, database, server, runner
tools, and board UI.

**Problem or motivation**

Users must currently write a title before they can submit a detailed
task prompt. The agent has enough context to write a useful title
itself.

**Proposed solution**

Make the title optional when a description is present. Save the first
120 characters of the normalized prompt as a provisional title. Ask the
assigned agent to call `set_task_title` early. Use an atomic
provisional-title guard to preserve titles supplied or edited by users.
Keep explicit titles supported.

Related: #14543 and #14556 concern empty-title submission. This change
intentionally enables that submission when a prompt is present, instead
of requiring a title.

## What Changed

- Add the `titleNeedsGeneration` field with an idempotent migration.
Keep existing titles unchanged.
- Add `PUT /api/issues/:id/title` and the native and legacy
`set_task_title` tool. Enforce company access, active-run ownership,
shared, bounded retry receipts across native/HTTP calls, and
transactional audit logging. Refresh external-object links after commit,
with the same feature gate and plugin detectors as ordinary title edits.
- Add early naming guidance in Standard, Ask, and Plan task context.
Preserve the description, status, and assignment.
- Allow prompt-only root and child task creation, plus draft restoration
in the New Task dialog. Keep user titles supported.
- Add an opt-in Product E2E suite for prompt-only Standard and Ask
tasks, plus an explicit-title control. It checks actual provider calls
within the first five tools, persisted state, audit attribution, and the
reloaded UI.
- Preserve a closed vocabulary of API key maintenance phrases in
declared prose while rejecting opaque credential suffixes. Add one
bounded naming retry after wording is rejected, without treating the
rejected call as a saved title.
- Repair the native cleanup receipt check exposed during full
verification: accept matching input digests, retain legacy input checks,
and reject conflicting receipts.

## Verification

- Live Product E2E on `f43478473800e3a46b85c5ee79677efdb15108e7`: **3/3
passed** with native Codex `gpt-5.4-mini`, first attempts only,
automatic retries disabled. Standard and Ask each saved “Rotate expired
API key” on their first tool call, with matching persisted state and a
single same-run audit entry. The explicit-title control retained its
user title with zero title writes. All three verified the reloaded
browser UI.
- Campaign: `local-2026-09-30T21-30-11-021Z`. Earlier failed campaigns
are retained separately; they exposed credential-prose handling and
prompted the naming recovery fix. No failed result was regraded or
deleted.
- Reproduce with `pnpm test:e2e:runner -- --id
task-titles.runner-codex-mini.local.prompt-title-standard --id
task-titles.runner-codex-mini.local.prompt-title-ask --id
task-titles.runner-codex-mini.local.preserve-explicit-title
--max-automatic-retries 0` and an authorized provider key.
- Full `pnpm -r typecheck` and `pnpm build` passed on the latest commit.
The runner build used the configured external eval source tree.
- Product E2E unit suite: **61 files, 818 tests passed**; E2E typecheck
and UI token gates passed.
- Title API/native regressions cover prompt-only and explicit child
creation, user edits, ownership/company isolation, external reference
refresh, cross-surface retry replay, and the 64-key limit without
receipt eviction. All passed. Prompt-context coverage: **44 tests
passed**.
- Rust credential regressions: **35 tests passed**, including benign
maintenance qualifiers and opaque credential rejection in every declared
prose field. Catalog/report reconciliation: **28 tests passed**. Native
recovery: **560 tests passed**.
- Broad local `pnpm test:run`: **14,555 tests passed** in the general
server group; two suites failed to initialize embedded PostgreSQL and
the existing 40,000-file Git streaming stress test exceeded its
300-second macOS timeout. All three suites then passed in isolation (**5
tests passed**) without code or timeout changes. The original full local
command exited nonzero and is not being represented as a clean full run.
- Latest-head GitHub checks are green: **53 passed, 4 skipped, zero
failed or pending**, including all test shards and the canary packaging
dry run. Greptile reviewed the same commit at **5/5**, with zero
unresolved review threads.

## Risks

- The additive database field must reach the server and UI together. The
migration uses `IF NOT EXISTS` and defaults existing tasks to a final
title.
- Title generation depends on the assigned agent running. Tasks without
a run keep their provisional title.
- Live qualification covers the native Codex path in Standard and Ask
modes. API/legacy and Plan behavior have deterministic coverage.
- The credential-prose exception validates the entire suffix against a
closed maintenance vocabulary. Unknown suffixes, assignments, quoted
values, credential prefixes, and diagnostics retain strict checks.

## Model Used

OpenAI Codex, based on GPT-6, with reasoning, tool use, and code
execution. The exact deployment ID and context window are not exposed in
this session. The live eval uses the native Codex `gpt-5.4-mini`
profile.

## 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] My branch name describes the change (e.g. `docs/...`, `fix/...`)
and contains no internal Paperclip ticket id or instance-derived details
- [x] I have run tests locally and they pass
- [x] I have added or updated tests where applicable
- [x] I have updated relevant documentation to reflect my changes
- [x] I have considered and documented any risks above
- [x] All Paperclip CI gates are green
- [x] Greptile is 5/5 with no open P2s, recommendations, or follow-ups
- [x] I will address all Greptile and reviewer comments before
requesting merge

---------

Co-authored-by: Paperclip <noreply@paperclip.ing>
2026-09-30 16:48:24 -05:00
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