Paperclip Agent Orchestration
Paperclip is a local agent management system that runs Rebar’s 7 autonomous agents. Each agent has a defined role, a heartbeat schedule, and a monthly budget cap. Paperclip handles scheduling, issue routing, and execution tracking.
Architecture
The framework defines agents declaratively in system/paperclip.yaml. A sync script pushes definitions to the Paperclip API. Paperclip then manages heartbeats, issue assignment, and budget enforcement.
system/paperclip.yaml # source of truth for all agent config
system/agents/*.yaml # detailed per-agent definitions
system/.paperclip-ids.json # cached API IDs after first sync
tools/paperclip-sync.sh # CLI for sync, status, heartbeat, issues
The 7 Agents
Rebar Steward
Role: Maintenance | Schedule: Every 4 hours | Budget: $5/mo
Maintains expertise.yaml health across all clients and apps. On each heartbeat:
- Validates YAML syntax for every expertise.yaml
- Flags files over 900 lines (cap is 1000)
- Counts unvalidated observations — runs
/improveif over 10 pending - Compresses bloated files
Wiki Curator
Role: Maintenance | Schedule: Every 30 minutes | Budget: $3/mo
Keeps the knowledge wiki healthy. On each heartbeat:
- Checks
raw/for unprocessed files - If files found, runs
/wiki-ingestand reports results - If no files, runs
/wiki-lintin quick mode - Auto-fixes broken links and orphaned pages (up to 5 per run)
Site Builder Agent
Role: Engineer | Schedule: Every 6 hours | Budget: $8/mo
Manages the site-builder app lifecycle. Picks up build requests from the issue queue, executes the pipeline, and records results in expertise.yaml. Escalates failures to the Triage Agent.
Social Media Agent
Role: CMO | Schedule: Weekdays at 9am | Budget: $2/mo
Runs the daily social media pipeline:
- Topic rotation (services, rebar, case study)
- Draft generation from templates
- Humanization via Claude
- Image card generation (HTML to PNG)
- Post to LinkedIn and Facebook
- Save drafts and file to wiki
Outreach Agent
Role: Engineer | Schedule: Every 30 minutes | Budget: $3/mo
Monitors posts for new comments. Classifies each comment (question, objection, compliment), generates a reply using the outreach framework, humanizes it, and posts. Alternates scouting between LinkedIn and Reddit each heartbeat.
GTM Agent
Role: CMO | Schedule: Weekdays at 8am | Budget: $4/mo
Go-to-market orchestrator. Runs daily before the Social Media Agent:
- Pulls engagement metrics from LinkedIn, Reddit, GitHub
- Identifies prospects by scanning comments and profiles
- Manages the content calendar across 6 services
- Coordinates with Outreach and Social Media agents
- Generates weekly GTM reports every Friday
Triage Agent
Role: PM | Schedule: Every 5 minutes | Budget: $1/mo
Lightweight issue router. Reads new unassigned issues and classifies them:
- Wiki/ingest keywords → Wiki Curator
- Build/deploy/site keywords → Site Builder Agent
- Expertise/validation keywords → Rebar Steward
- Unknown → leaves unassigned with a clarification comment
Setup
Install Paperclip
npm install -g paperclipai
# or run directly
npx paperclipai runPaperclip starts a local API server on http://127.0.0.1:3100.
Sync Agent Definitions
Push all 7 agents from system/paperclip.yaml to the Paperclip API:
bash tools/paperclip-sync.sh agents[paperclip-sync] Syncing agent definitions to Paperclip...
[paperclip-sync] Creating agent 'Rebar Steward'...
[paperclip-sync] Created 'Rebar Steward' with id: abc123
[paperclip-sync] Creating agent 'Wiki Curator'...
[paperclip-sync] Created 'Wiki Curator' with id: def456
...
[paperclip-sync] Sync complete.
Agent IDs are cached in system/.paperclip-ids.json so subsequent syncs skip already-registered agents.
Check Status
bash tools/paperclip-sync.sh status[paperclip-sync] Paperclip is running.
[paperclip-sync] Registered agents:
- Rebar Steward (id: abc123, role: devops)
- Wiki Curator (id: def456, role: researcher)
- Triage Agent (id: ghi789, role: pm)
...
Trigger a Heartbeat Manually
bash tools/paperclip-sync.sh heartbeat rebar-stewardThis runs the agent’s heartbeat routine immediately instead of waiting for the cron schedule.
Create an Issue
bash tools/paperclip-sync.sh issue "Ingest meeting notes from Dec 15" wiki-curatorCreates an issue in the Rebar Ops project and assigns it to the specified agent.
Event Hooks
Rebar events automatically create Paperclip issues:
| Event | Issue Created | Assigned To |
|---|---|---|
New file in raw/ | ”Ingest: {filename}“ | Wiki Curator |
| Self-improve overdue | ”Self-improve: {target}“ | Rebar Steward |
| Build requested | ”Build: {app_name}“ | Site Builder Agent |
Editing Agent Definitions
- Edit
system/paperclip.yamlorsystem/agents/{name}.yaml - Run
bash tools/paperclip-sync.sh agentsto push changes - Paperclip picks up the new config on the next heartbeat
The YAML files are the source of truth. The Paperclip API is a downstream consumer.
Related
- Architecture — how agents fit into the overall system
- Commands — the slash commands agents execute
- Self-Learn Loop — what Rebar Steward maintains