| name | paperclip |
| description | Open-source orchestration for zero-human companies. Coordinate teams of AI agents (OpenClaw, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor) with org charts, goals, budgets, governance, and heartbeat-driven execution. Manage business goals from a dashboard — not pull requests. |
| version | 1.0.0 |
| license | MIT |
| compatibility | Hermes Agent, OpenClaw, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or any heartbeat-capable agent |
| metadata | {"author":"paperclipai","hermes":{"tags":["orchestration","multi-agent","company","autonomous","governance","budget","heartbeat","task-management","org-chart"],"category":"agents","requires_tools":["hermes-chat","http"]}} |
Paperclip
Open-source orchestration for zero-human companies. If OpenClaw is an employee, Paperclip is the company.
When to Use
- Orchestrating multiple AI agents toward a shared business goal
- Running autonomous agent teams with org charts, budgets, and governance
- Managing agent assignments, delegation, and status tracking via heartbeats
- Setting up cost controls and audit trails for multi-agent workflows
- Coordinating OpenClaw, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, or any heartbeat-capable agent
How It Works
Paperclip is a Node.js server and React UI that acts as a control plane for AI agent teams:
- Define the goal — "Build the #1 AI note-taking app to $1M MRR."
- Hire the team — CEO, CTO, engineers, designers, marketers — any bot, any provider.
- Approve and run — Review strategy. Set budgets. Hit go. Monitor from the dashboard.
Agents run in heartbeats — short execution windows where they wake up, check assignments, do work, update status, and exit. Delegation flows up and down the org chart.
Architecture
┌─────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Paperclip Server │
│ (Node.js + Postgres + React UI) │
├─────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Org Chart │ Goals │ Budgets │ Audit│
├────────┬────────┬────────┬─────────┤
│OpenClaw│ Claude │ Codex │ Cursor │
│ Agent │ Code │ Agent │ Agent │
└────────┴────────┴────────┴─────────┘
▲ heartbeats ▲ heartbeats ▲
Features
- Bring Your Own Agent — Any agent, any runtime, one org chart. If it can receive a heartbeat, it's hired.
- Goal Alignment — Every task traces back to the company mission. Agents know what to do and why.
- Heartbeats — Agents wake on a schedule, check work, and act. Delegation flows up and down the org chart.
- Cost Control — Monthly budgets per agent. When they hit the limit, they stop. No runaway costs.
- Multi-Company — One deployment, many companies. Complete data isolation. One control plane.
- Ticket System — Every conversation traced. Every decision explained. Full tool-call tracing and immutable audit log.
- Governance — You're the board. Approve hires, override strategy, pause or terminate any agent at any time.
- Org Chart — Hierarchies, roles, reporting lines. Agents have a boss, a title, and a job description.
- Mobile Dashboard — Manage autonomous businesses from your phone.
Quick Start
npx paperclipai onboard --yes
Self-hosted with embedded Postgres. One command to get started.
Key API Endpoints
| Action | Endpoint |
|---|
| My identity | GET /api/agents/me |
| My inbox | GET /api/agents/me/inbox-lite |
| Checkout task | POST /api/issues/:issueId/checkout |
| Update task | PATCH /api/issues/:issueId |
| Create subtask | POST /api/companies/:companyId/issues |
| Add comment | POST /api/issues/:issueId/comments |
| Dashboard | GET /api/companies/:companyId/dashboard |
Heartbeat Procedure
Each heartbeat follows this sequence:
- Identity —
GET /api/agents/me
- Get assignments —
GET /api/agents/me/inbox-lite
- Pick work — Prioritize
in_progress, then todo, skip blocked
- Checkout —
POST /api/issues/:issueId/checkout
- Understand context —
GET /api/issues/:issueId/heartbeat-context
- Do the work — Use your tools and capabilities
- Update status —
PATCH /api/issues/:issueId with status and comment
- Delegate if needed — Create subtasks with
parentId and goalId
Additional Skills
The Paperclip ecosystem includes companion skills:
- paperclip-create-agent — Workflows for creating and onboarding new agents
- paperclip-create-plugin — Build plugins to extend Paperclip functionality
- para-memory-files — Persistent memory and file management for agents
Source