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Paperclip

An open-source, self-hosted app that runs AI agents as a company: org charts, budgets, goals and approvals, MIT-licensedOpen source

About Paperclip

Paperclip is an open-source, self-hosted app for managing AI agents: a Node.js server and React UI that place Claude Code, Codex, OpenClaw and other agents in an org chart, assign work against goals, and govern it with budgets, approvals and an activity log. The README says the open-source edition needs no Paperclip account; the hosted Paperclip Cloud is waitlist-only. It is MIT-licensed. As of 2026-10-26 the latest stable release is v2026.1023.0, published on GitHub 2026-10-24 08:03 (UTC+8).

EditorialUpdated 6 min read

What problem it solves

The GitHub description calls Paperclip the open-source app for managing agents at work. The homepage headline is A team of agents for every person., followed by the line that Paperclip is the app people use to manage AI agents for work.

Problem and approach. The README says Paperclip looks like a task manager, with org charts, budgets, governance, goal alignment and agent coordination underneath; agents bring their own prompts, models and runtimes, and Paperclip manages the organization they work in. The README also says Paperclip is not an agent framework and not just a workflow builder.

How it runs. Locally, a single Node.js process manages an embedded PostgreSQL database and local file storage; in production it can point at its own PostgreSQL database and be deployed in any way.

The repository was created 2026-03-02 23:01 (UTC+8). Recent stable releases: v2026.1001.0 on 2026-10-02 09:54 (UTC+8), v2026.1005.0 on 2026-10-07 00:40 (UTC+8), v2026.1012.0 on 2026-10-13 05:06 (UTC+8) and v2026.1023.0 on 2026-10-24 08:03 (UTC+8).

Publisher: Paperclip Labs, Inc. The terms of service and privacy policy both name Paperclip Labs, Inc. as the operator.

A team of agents for every person.

Paperclip homepage headline

Core capabilities

Org chart. Agents have roles, titles, reporting lines, permissions and budgets, and one org chart can mix people and agents.

Heartbeats. Agents wake for assigned work, follow-up messages or configured schedules, and delegation flows up and down the org chart. The README puts it as If it can receive a heartbeat, it's hired.

Budgets and costs. Token and cost tracking runs by company, agent, project, goal, issue, provider and model, with budget policies that carry warning thresholds and hard stops. The homepage FAQ says a soft warning comes at 80% of budget, and at 100% the agent auto-pauses and new tasks are blocked, with the board able to lift the limit and resume the agent at any time.

Governance and approvals. Approval stages can be configured, agent hires approved, and work paused, reassigned or stopped; config changes are revisioned and can be rolled back.

Extensions. One deployment can host several organizations with separate data; Skill Studio manages shared skills, tested with saved inputs and restorable to earlier versions; routines run on a schedule or through an API or webhook; services such as GitHub and Notion, or a custom MCP server, connect through a gateway whose actions can be set to Allowed, Ask first or Off.

Supported agents. The README's Works with list names OpenClaw, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Cursor Cloud, Gemini CLI, OpenCode, Pi, Hermes and Hermes Gateway, Grok Build and Kimi Code.

Who uses it

As of 2026-10-26 the GitHub API shows 107,271 stars, 17,820 forks and 6,573 open issues and pull requests combined.

The paperclipai package on npm recorded 192,113 downloads from 2026-09-23 to 2026-10-22; downloads include repeat and automated fetches and are not a count of installs or users.

The About page says the company uses Paperclip itself, with parts of the website planned, built and shipped by Paperclip agents while people set direction and approve releases (as reported by the vendor).

Version naming. Versions are named by date.

How it compares

Against CrewAI: CrewAI is MIT, and its GitHub description calls it a framework for orchestrating role-playing, autonomous AI agents, a tool for building agents; Paperclip is also MIT, and its README says it is not an agent framework and does not dictate how agents are built, managing instead the organization they form.

Against n8n: the n8n LICENSE.md puts most of the code under the Sustainable Use License, with some files requiring an enterprise licence; Paperclip is MIT. n8n centres on workflow automation, while Paperclip's routines run inside an organization with roles, goals, budgets and governance.

Who it's for / Not for

Good fit:

  • Individuals and teams running several coding or business agents who need one place to assign work and track spend.
  • Teams that need budget caps, approval gates and an audit trail for agents.
  • Teams that need an MIT licence and deployment on their own machines or private network.

Not a fit:

  • Teams that need a vendor-hosted service: Paperclip Cloud is still waitlist-only, and the roadmap marks cloud deployments as partial or experimental (🟡).
  • Environments that accept no outbound usage data: anonymous telemetry is on by default and has to be switched off.
  • Teams that need a desktop app or a direct link to an existing ticket system: both sit on the roadmap and are not done.
  • Developers looking for an agent-building framework: the README says Paperclip does not build agents.

Getting started

Requirements. The npx path needs Node.js 24.11 or newer; running from source also needs pnpm 9.15 or newer. The package.json of the paperclipai CLI also lists node >=24.11.0.

One-command setup. The command npx paperclipai@latest onboard --yes completes setup; the installation docs say onboard defaults locally to an embedded PostgreSQL database, with local-disk file storage and local encrypted secrets.

Running from source. Started from source with pnpm dev, the UI and API are at localhost:3100 and an embedded PostgreSQL database is created automatically.

Access mode. The quickstart defaults to trusted local loopback mode; for use on a private network, the README adds --bind lan or --bind tailnet to start in authenticated mode.

Trial run. The README gives test-drive commands, such as npx paperclipai test-drive with ANTHROPIC_API_KEY set, or --harness codex to switch to Codex.

Turning telemetry off. Any one of these works: PAPERCLIP_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1 or DO_NOT_TRACK=1, or telemetry.enabled: false in the config; it switches off automatically when CI=true.

Pricing & license

Software: MIT, free. The homepage FAQ says Paperclip is MIT-licensed, self-hosted and needs no Paperclip account.

Costs: agent and model usage is billed by each provider. The hosted Paperclip Cloud is opening gradually through a waitlist.

Licence relationship: the terms of service separate the MIT-licensed open-source project from services operated by Paperclip Labs, Inc., including the hosted platform, API and telemetry backend, and say nothing in them restricts the rights granted under the MIT License.

Licence: the LICENSE is MIT, with the line Copyright (c) 2025 Paperclip AI; the GitHub API and the package.json of the paperclipai CLI both mark it MIT.

Risks & limits

Telemetry on by default. The README says anonymous usage data is collected without personal information, issue content, prompts, file paths or secrets, and private repository references are hashed with a per-install salt before sending. The privacy policy adds that detailed telemetry, which can include full stack traces, agent run logs and configuration data, is collected only when a user opts in. OpenTelemetry and Sentry are both opt-in and activate only when the matching environment variables are set.

No authentication in local mode. The trusted loopback mode used by the quickstart is meant for a single machine; the README pairs access from other devices with authenticated mode on a private-network bind such as Tailscale, or a persistent server deployed with Docker.

Budget stops can lag. The README says enforcement uses recorded spend, and usage reporting and in-flight work can delay a stop.

Experimental features. Agent Chat and the chat and email connectors are experimental and are turned on in the instance settings.

Differing statements, listed side by side:

  • Copyright notice: the LICENSE says Copyright (c) 2025 Paperclip AI; the README License section says MIT © 2026 Paperclip Labs, Inc.

Our verdict

What sets Paperclip apart: it ships no agent of its own and provides an org chart, task assignment, budgets and approvals on top of existing agents such as Claude Code and Codex; it is MIT-licensed and self-hosted, and the open-source edition needs no Paperclip account.

Its limits: the trusted loopback mode used by the quickstart has no authentication and is meant for a single machine; anonymous telemetry is on by default and can be switched off by environment variable or config; the hosted Paperclip Cloud is still waitlist-only; and budget enforcement uses recorded spend, so a stop can come after the limit.

Sources

Official

  1. Paperclip – The app people use to manage AI agents for workpaperclip.ing · Accessed Oct 26, 2026
  2. About – Paperclip Labspaperclip.ing · Accessed Oct 26, 2026
  3. Terms of Service – Paperclippaperclip.ing · Accessed Oct 26, 2026
  4. Privacy Policy – Paperclippaperclip.ing · Accessed Oct 26, 2026
  5. Join the Paperclip waitlistpaperclip.ing · Accessed Oct 26, 2026
  6. Paperclip Docsdocs.paperclip.ing · Accessed Oct 26, 2026
  7. Paperclip READMEGitHub · Accessed Oct 26, 2026
  8. Paperclip LICENSE (MIT)GitHub · Accessed Oct 26, 2026

Updates & reading