Paperclip AI Orchestration

Skill by ara.so — Daily 2026 Skills collection.

Paperclip is an open-source Node.js + React platform that runs a company made of AI agents. It provides org charts, goal alignment, ticket-based task management, budget enforcement, heartbeat scheduling, governance, and a full audit log — so you manage business outcomes instead of individual agent sessions.

Installation

Quickstart (recommended)

npx paperclipai onboard --yes

This clones the repo, installs dependencies, seeds an embedded PostgreSQL database, and starts the server.

Manual setup

git clone https://github.com/paperclipai/paperclip.git
cd paperclip
pnpm install
pnpm dev

Requirements:

• Node.js 20+
• pnpm 9.15+

The API server starts at http://localhost:3100. An embedded PostgreSQL database is created automatically — no manual DB setup needed for local development.

Production setup

Point Paperclip at an external Postgres instance and object storage via environment variables:

# .env
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://user:password@host:5432/paperclip
STORAGE_BUCKET=your-s3-bucket
STORAGE_REGION=us-east-1
AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID=$AWS_ACCESS_KEY_ID
AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY=$AWS_SECRET_ACCESS_KEY
PORT=3100

Key CLI Commands

pnpm dev              # Start API + UI in development mode
pnpm build            # Build for production
pnpm start            # Start production server
pnpm db:migrate       # Run pending database migrations
pnpm db:seed          # Seed demo data
pnpm test             # Run test suite
npx paperclipai onboard --yes   # Full automated onboarding

Core Concepts

REST API

The Paperclip API is served at http://localhost:3100/api/v1.

Authentication

// All requests require a bearer token
const headers = {
  'Authorization': `Bearer ${process.env.PAPERCLIP_API_KEY}`,
  'Content-Type': 'application/json',
};

Create a Company

const response = await fetch('http://localhost:3100/api/v1/companies', {
  method: 'POST',
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: 'NoteGenius Inc.',
    mission: 'Build the #1 AI note-taking app to $1M MRR.',
    slug: 'notegenius',
  }),
});

const { company } = await response.json();
console.log(company.id); // "cmp_abc123"

Register an Agent

const agent = await fetch(`http://localhost:3100/api/v1/companies/${companyId}/agents`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    name: 'Alice',
    role: 'CTO',
    runtime: 'claude-code',       // 'openclaw' | 'claude-code' | 'codex' | 'cursor' | 'bash' | 'http'
    endpoint: process.env.ALICE_AGENT_ENDPOINT,
    budget: {
      monthly_usd: 200,
    },
    heartbeat: {
      cron: '0 * * * *',          // every hour
      enabled: true,
    },
    reports_to: ceoAgentId,       // parent in org chart
  }),
}).then(r => r.json());

Create a Goal

const goal = await fetch(`http://localhost:3100/api/v1/companies/${companyId}/goals`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    title: 'Launch v1 to Product Hunt',
    description: 'Ship the MVP and generate 500 upvotes on launch day.',
    parent_goal_id: null,         // null = top-level goal
    owner_agent_id: ctoAgentId,
    due_date: '2026-06-01',
  }),
}).then(r => r.json());

Create a Task

const task = await fetch(`http://localhost:3100/api/v1/companies/${companyId}/tasks`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    title: 'Implement offline sync for notes',
    description: 'Use CRDTs to merge note edits made offline. See ADR-004.',
    assigned_to: engineerAgentId,
    goal_id: goal.id,              // links task to goal ancestry
    priority: 'high',
  }),
}).then(r => r.json());

console.log(task.id); // "tsk_xyz789"

List Tasks for an Agent

const { tasks } = await fetch(
  `http://localhost:3100/api/v1/agents/${agentId}/tasks?status=open`,
  { headers }
).then(r => r.json());

Post a Message to a Task Thread

await fetch(`http://localhost:3100/api/v1/tasks/${taskId}/messages`, {
  method: 'POST',
  headers,
  body: JSON.stringify({
    role: 'agent',
    content: 'Implemented CRDT merge logic. Tests passing. Ready for review.',
    tool_calls: [
      {
        tool: 'bash',
        input
how to use paperclip-ai-orchestration
CursorClaude CodeClineCodexWindsurfGooseGitHub CopilotVS CodeGemini CLIKiloOpencodeKimi CLIRoo ClineAiderContinueZedBolt.newLovablev0Replit AgentSweepSmol DeveloperDevinCavemanAmpAntigravity
How to use paperclip-ai-orchestration on Cursor
AI-first code editor with Composer
1
Prerequisites
Before installing skills in Cursor, ensure your development environment meets these requirements:
›Cursor installed and configured on your development machine
›Node.js version 16.0+ with npm package manager (verify with node --version)
›Active project directory or workspace where you want to add paperclip-ai-orchestration
2
Execute installation command
Execute the skills CLI command in your project's root directory to begin installation:
$npx skills add https://github.com/aradotso/trending-skills --skill paperclip-ai-orchestrationcopy
The skills CLI fetches paperclip-ai-orchestration from GitHub repository aradotso/trending-skills and configures it for Cursor.
3
Select Cursor when prompted
The CLI will show a list of available agents. Use arrow keys to navigate and space to select Cursor:
◆ Which agents do you want to install to?
│
│ ── Universal (.agents/skills) ── always included ────
│   • Amp
│   • Antigravity
│   • Cline
│   • Codex
│ ●Cursor(selected)
│   • Cursor
│   • Windsurf
4
Verify installation
Confirm successful installation by checking the skill directory location:
.cursor/skills/paperclip-ai-orchestration
Reload or restart Cursor to activate paperclip-ai-orchestration. Access the skill through slash commands (e.g., /paperclip-ai-orchestration) or your agent's skill management interface.
⚠
Security & Verification Notice
We perform automated surface-level scans (Gen AI Scanner, Socket, Snyk) during installation. These checks detect common vulnerabilities but do not guarantee complete security. Always review skill source code and verify the publisher's reputation before production use.
Skills execute code in your development environment. Always verify the publisher's identity, review recent commits, and test in isolated environments before production deployment.
Additional Resources
›View source code on GitHub›Skills CLI documentation›Learn more about Cursor›What are agent skills?