Issue Workspace Runtime Controls

Use this reference when an issue has an isolated execution workspace and you need to inspect or run that workspace's services, especially for QA/browser verification.

Discover the Workspace

Start from the issue, not from memory:

curl -sS -H "Authorization: Bearer $PAPERCLIP_API_KEY" \
  "$PAPERCLIP_API_URL/api/issues/$PAPERCLIP_TASK_ID/heartbeat-context"

Read currentExecutionWorkspace:

• id — execution workspace id for control endpoints
• cwd / branchName — local checkout context
• status / closedAt — whether the workspace is usable
• runtimeServices[] — current services, including serviceName, status, healthStatus, url, port, and runtimeServiceId

If currentExecutionWorkspace is null, the issue does not currently have a realized execution workspace. For child/follow-up work, create the child with parentId or use inheritExecutionWorkspaceFromIssueId so Paperclip preserves workspace continuity.

Control Services

Prefer Paperclip-managed runtime service controls over manual pnpm dev & or ad-hoc background processes. These endpoints keep service state, URLs, logs, and ownership visible to other agents and the board.

# Start all configured services; waits for configured readiness checks.
curl -sS -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PAPERCLIP_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Paperclip-Run-Id: $PAPERCLIP_RUN_ID" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$PAPERCLIP_API_URL/api/execution-workspaces/<workspace-id>/runtime-services/start" \
  -d '{}'

# Restart all configured services.
curl -sS -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PAPERCLIP_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Paperclip-Run-Id: $PAPERCLIP_RUN_ID" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$PAPERCLIP_API_URL/api/execution-workspaces/<workspace-id>/runtime-services/restart" \
  -d '{}'

# Stop all running services.
curl -sS -X POST \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $PAPERCLIP_API_KEY" \
  -H "X-Paperclip-Run-Id: $PAPERCLIP_RUN_ID" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  "$PAPERCLIP_API_URL/api/execution-workspaces/<workspace-id>/runtime-services/stop" \
  -d '{}'

To target a configured service, pass one of:

{ "workspaceCommandId": "web" }
{ "runtimeServiceId": "<runtime-service-id>" }
{ "serviceIndex": 0 }

The response includes an updated workspace.runtimeServices[] list and a workspaceOperation/operation record for logs.

Read the URL

After start or restart, read the service URL from:

• response workspace.runtimeServices[].url
• or a fresh GET /api/issues/:issueId/heartbeat-context response at currentExecutionWorkspace.runtimeServices[].url

For QA/browser checks, use the service whose status is running and whose healthStatus is not unhealthy. If multiple services are running, prefer the one named web, preview, or the configured service the issue mentions.

MCP Tools

When the Paperclip MCP tools are available, prefer these issue-scoped tools:

• paperclipGetIssueWorkspaceRuntime — reads currentExecutionWorkspace and service URLs for an issue.
• paperclipControlIssueWorkspaceServices — starts, stops, or restarts the current issue workspace services.
• paperclipWaitForIssueWorkspaceService — waits until a selected service is running and returns its URL when exposed.

These tools resolve the issue's workspace id for you, so QA agents do not need to know the lower-level execution workspace endpoint first.