path: root/CLAUDE.md

# CLAUDE.md

This file provides guidance to Claude Code (claude.ai/code) when working with code in this repository.

Also check `~/.claude/CLAUDE.md` for user-level development standards (TDD workflow, git practices, session state management, etc.) that apply globally across all projects.

## Canonical Repository

**The canonical source of truth is `/workspace/claudomator`.** All development must happen here.
Do not work in any other directory unless explicitly instructed. Do not explore `/site/doot.terst.org/` for source files.

## Build & Test Commands

```bash
# Build
go build ./...

# Run all tests
go test ./...

# Run a single package's tests
go test ./internal/executor/...

# Run a single test by name
go test ./internal/api/ -run TestServer_CreateTask_MissingName

# Run with race detector (important for executor/pool tests)
go test -race ./...

# Build the binary
go build -o claudomator ./cmd/claudomator/
```

> **Note:** `go-sqlite3` uses CGo. A C compiler (`gcc`) must be present for builds and tests.

## Running the Server

```bash
# Initialize data directory
./claudomator init

# Start API server (default :8484)
./claudomator serve

# Run a task file directly (bypasses server)
./claudomator run ./test/fixtures/tasks/simple-task.yaml

# List tasks via CLI
./claudomator list
```

Config defaults to `~/.claudomator/config.toml`. Data is stored in `~/.claudomator/` (SQLite DB + execution logs).

---

## Architecture

**Pipeline:** CLI/API → `executor.Pool` → `executor.ContainerRunner` → `claude -p` subprocess → SQLite + log files

### Package Overview

| Package | Role |
|---|---|
| `internal/task` | `Task` struct, YAML/JSON parsing, state machine constants, validation |
| `internal/executor` | `Pool` (bounded goroutine dispatcher) + `ContainerRunner` (Docker; runs `claude`/`gemini`) + `LocalRunner` (OpenAI-compatible HTTP) + `Classifier` + `AgentChannel` + per-task agent MCP server (`Registry`) + planning preamble |
| `internal/storage` | SQLite wrapper; additive migrations; tasks + executions + events tables |
| `internal/event` | `Event` type, kind/actor constants — the per-task observability stream |
| `internal/budget` | `Accountant` — rolling per-provider spend windows; gates the dispatcher |
| `internal/llm` | OpenAI-compatible chat client (used by LocalRunner + Classifier), incl. tool-use |
| `internal/api` | HTTP/WebSocket server — REST endpoints, webhook handler, validate, script runner, agent MCP (`/mcp`) + chatbot MCP (`/chatbot/mcp`), budget + events endpoints |
| `internal/notify` | `Notifier` interface; webhook, multi, log implementations |
| `internal/reporter` | Console/JSON/HTML report generation |
| `internal/deployment` | Deployment-status checking (polls URL for expected version) |
| `internal/config` | TOML config loading + data-dir layout helpers |
| `internal/cli` | Cobra commands: `run`, `serve`, `list`, `status`, `start`, `logs`, `create`, `report`, `init` |
| `internal/version` | VCS version detection (`debug.ReadBuildInfo`) |
| `web` | Embedded static UI (`embed.go`) |

### Key Data Flows

**Task execution:**
1. Task created via `POST /api/tasks` or YAML file (`task.ParseFile`)
2. `POST /api/tasks/{id}/run` → `executor.Pool.Submit()` → buffered work queue
3. `dispatch()` goroutine picks from queue, waits for slot, launches `execute()`
4. `execute()` calls `ContainerRunner.Run()` → `claude -p <instructions> --output-format stream-json`
5. stdout piped through `parseStream()` to `~/.claudomator/executions/<exec-id>/stdout.log`
6. Execution result written to SQLite, broadcast via WebSocket to connected clients

**Task state machine** (enforced in `storage.UpdateTaskState` via `task.ValidTransition`):

```
PENDING ──→ QUEUED ──→ RUNNING ──→ READY ──→ COMPLETED
               ↑              │     └──→ PENDING (rejected)
               │              │
               │              ├──→ BLOCKED ──→ READY (all subtasks done)
               │              │         └──→ QUEUED (question answered)
               │              │
               └──────────────├──→ FAILED
                              ├──→ TIMED_OUT
                              ├──→ CANCELLED
                              └──→ BUDGET_EXCEEDED
```

- **BLOCKED**: Parent task completed but has subtasks that are not yet COMPLETED, OR the agent called `ask_user`. Unblocked by `maybeUnblockParent()` or a user/chatbot answer via `/api/tasks/{id}/answer` (or the chatbot MCP `answer_question` tool).
- **READY**: Execution succeeded; awaits manual accept/reject via `/api/tasks/{id}/accept` or `/api/tasks/{id}/reject`.
- **COMPLETED**: Terminal — entered only via user accept (top-level) or automatic subtask completion.
- `FAILED/TIMED_OUT/CANCELLED/BUDGET_EXCEEDED` all re-enter at `QUEUED` for retry/resume.

**WebSocket:** `Hub` fans out task completion events to all connected clients. `Server.StartHub()` must be called before `ListenAndServe`.

### Execution model (ContainerRunner, Docker-based)

The production runner for both `claude` and `gemini` agent types is
`ContainerRunner`. (The old subprocess `ClaudeRunner`/`GeminiRunner` and the
`/tmp` git-sandbox helpers were removed; the standalone Gemini stub is gone.)

1. The repo is cloned into a per-run workspace bind-mounted at `/workspace`; a
   writable `$HOME` is staged at `/home/agent`. The agent runs as the host uid
   (`--user`), with `IS_SANDBOX=1` set so `claude --permission-mode
   bypassPermissions` is honored even under root.
2. Instructions are written to a file and passed to the CLI; when the MCP
   back-channel is active and `skip_planning` is false, the planning preamble is
   prepended.
3. After a successful run, new commits are pushed from the workspace.
4. On BLOCKED (the agent called `ask_user`), the workspace path is stored in
   `executions.sandbox_dir` so the resume execution reuses it.

### Agent back-channel (MCP)

Runners expose a normalized `AgentChannel` (`AskUser`, `ReportSummary`,
`SpawnSubtask`, `RecordProgress`). Transport is per-runner:

- **ContainerRunner** mints a per-task bearer token (`executor.Registry`) and
  points the agent at the host MCP server: claude via `--mcp-config`, gemini via
  `~/.gemini/settings.json`. The server (`/mcp`) resolves the task from the token
  and never trusts an agent-supplied ID.
- **LocalRunner** declares the four tools as OpenAI function-calling defs and
  runs a tool-use loop, re-feeding tool results as message history.

`ask_user` records a clarification and returns `ErrAgentBlocked`; the runner
turns the buffered question into a `*BlockedError` and the task blocks.

### Task YAML Format

```yaml
name: "My Task"
description: "Optional longer description"
agent:
  type: "claude"              # "claude" (default) or "gemini" (stub, not production-ready)
  model: "sonnet"             # optional; auto-classified by Classifier if omitted
  instructions: |
    Do something useful.
  project_dir: "/path/to/project"  # optional; triggers sandbox isolation
  max_budget_usd: 1.00
  permission_mode: "bypassPermissions"  # default; or "default", "acceptEdits"
  allowed_tools: ["Bash", "Read", "Edit"]
  disallowed_tools: []
  context_files: ["/extra/context/path"]
  system_prompt_append: "Extra instructions appended to system prompt."
  skip_planning: false        # if false, prepends planning/orchestration preamble
  additional_args: []         # extra flags forwarded verbatim to claude CLI
timeout: "15m"
priority: "normal"            # "high" | "normal" | "low" (stored but not yet used for scheduling)
tags: ["ci"]
depends_on: ["other-task-id"]
retry:
  max_attempts: 1             # stored but retry is currently manual via /resume
  backoff: "exponential"
```

> **Note:** The YAML key is `agent:`, not `claude:`. Earlier docs showed `claude:` which was wrong.

Batch files wrap multiple tasks under a `tasks:` key.

### Storage Schema

Two tables. Schema is auto-migrated additively on `storage.Open()` — new columns are `ALTER TABLE ... ADD COLUMN` statements that silently succeed if the column already exists.

```
tasks:      id, name, description, config_json, priority, timeout_ns, retry_json,
            tags_json, depends_on_json, parent_task_id, state, rejection_comment,
            question_json, summary, elaboration_input, interactions_json,
            created_at, updated_at

executions: id, task_id, start_time, end_time, exit_code, status, stdout_path,
            stderr_path, artifact_dir, cost_usd, error_msg, session_id,
            sandbox_dir, changestats_json, commits_json, tokens_in, tokens_out,
            agent

events:     id, task_id, seq, ts, kind, actor, payload_json
```

The `events` table is the per-task observability stream (`internal/event`); see
the REST `GET /api/tasks/{id}/events` and the chatbot MCP `get_events` tool.
`executions.agent` records which provider ran each execution, for budget
accounting (`SpendByProviderSince`).

JSON blobs: `config_json` (AgentConfig), `retry_json`, `tags_json`, `depends_on_json`, `interactions_json`, `changestats_json`, `commits_json`.

---

## Features

### Planning Preamble & Orchestration

When `agent.skip_planning` is false (the default), `withPlanningPreamble()` prepends a system-level prompt that points the agent at its MCP/tool-use back-channel rather than file/REST conventions:
- Break work taking more than ~3 minutes into pieces via the `spawn_subtask` tool, then stop
- Call `ask_user` (and end the turn) when it needs a decision
- Commit all changes before finishing
- Call `report_summary` before finishing

The four tools — `ask_user`, `report_summary`, `spawn_subtask`, `record_progress` — are served over MCP (claude/gemini) or OpenAI tool-use (local); the old `CLAUDOMATOR_QUESTION_FILE`/`CLAUDOMATOR_SUMMARY_FILE` conventions were removed.

### Changestats

After each execution, changestats (files changed, lines added/removed) are parsed from git `diff --stat` output in `stdout.log` and stored in `executions.changestats_json`.

> **Duplication debt:** Changestats are extracted in two places: `executor.Pool.handleRunResult()` and `api.Server.processResult()`. Both write the same value to the same row (idempotent), but the double-extraction is confusing and should be consolidated. See [Design Debt](#design-debt).

**Parser:** `internal/task/changestats.go` — `ParseChangestatFromOutput`, `ParseChangestatFromFile`.

**Frontend:** `web/app.js` renders a `.changestats-badge` on COMPLETED/READY task cards.

### GitHub Webhook Integration

`POST /api/webhooks/github` accepts `check_run` and `workflow_run` events. Returns `{"task_id": "..."}` (200) on task creation or 204 if ignored.

#### Config (`~/.claudomator/config.toml`)

```toml
webhook_secret = "your-github-webhook-secret"   # HMAC-SHA256; skip validation if omitted

[[projects]]
name = "myrepo"
dir  = "/workspace/myrepo"
```

#### Matching logic

Repository name matched case-insensitively against each project's `name` and the basename of its `dir`. Falls back to the only configured project if no match found.

#### Task creation

Tasks created for:
- `check_run` with `action: completed` and `conclusion: failure`
- `workflow_run` with `action: completed` and `conclusion: failure` or `timed_out`

Tagged `["ci", "auto"]`, capped at $3 USD, allowed tools: Read, Edit, Bash, Glob, Grep.

### Task creation (chatbot-driven)

The natural-language `POST /api/tasks/elaborate` endpoint and the web create
form were removed. Chatbots now create and drive tasks through the chatbot MCP
server (`/chatbot/mcp`, shared bearer token): `submit_task`, `list_tasks`,
`get_task`, `get_events`, `answer_question`, `accept_task`, `reject_task`,
`cancel_task`. The web UI is observability-only (task tree, live logs, event
timeline, accept/reject, budget headroom).

### Budget gating

`internal/budget.Accountant` tracks per-provider spend in a rolling window
(default 5h, `[budget]` config). Before running, the dispatcher reroutes paid
work to the free local runner when a cap would be breached, else blocks the task
(`BUDGET_EXCEEDED`). `GET /api/budget` surfaces headroom. Local runners are free.

### Auth / binding

The server binds `127.0.0.1` by default and refuses a non-loopback bind unless
`external_bind_allowed = true` (front external access with a reverse proxy). The
shared `api_token` guards the web UI + chatbot MCP; agent MCP uses per-task
tokens; GitHub webhooks use HMAC.

### Model Classifier

`executor.Classifier` calls the Gemini CLI (`gemini-2.5-flash-lite`) to pick the best Claude or Gemini model for a task. Falls back to the default model (`sonnet`) if Gemini fails. Agent type is selected first by load balancer; classifier only picks the model within that agent.

> **Implementation gap:** Output parsing is brittle — strips `"Loaded cached credentials."` lines and markdown fences by string matching. No fallback if Gemini CLI isn't installed. Classification results are not cached or logged for learning.

---


---

## Design Debt

### Stories / checker backend not yet removed (Phase 8 follow-up)

The web stories dashboard was removed, but the backend remains: the `stories`
table + `internal/api/stories.go` handlers + `/api/stories/*` routes,
story-elaborate in `elaborate.go`, and the story/checker logic woven into
`executor.handleRunResult` (`checkStoryCompletion`, `spawnCheckerTask`,
`triggerStoryDeploy`, `ensureStoryBranch`) plus the `tasks` story/checker
columns. This is a large, lifecycle-touching teardown best done as its own pass.

### Deprecated task columns not yet dropped (Phase 8 follow-up)

`tasks.question_json`, `summary`, `interactions_json`, `elaboration_input` are
superseded by the `events` table but still read by the answer flow and task
panel. Dropping them requires migrating those reads to events first.

### Gemini tool-use unverified

The gemini MCP wiring (`~/.gemini/settings.json`) is in place but was never run
against a real `gemini` binary — see `cmd/spike` (`go run ./cmd/spike gemini`).

### Priority field is stored but never used

`task.Priority` (`high`, `normal`, `low`) is persisted in SQLite and surfaced in the API. The executor `dispatch()` goroutine uses a simple FIFO channel (`workCh`) with no priority ordering.

### RetryConfig is stored but retry is manual

`task.RetryConfig.MaxAttempts` and `Backoff` are parsed and stored. No code reads them during execution. Retries must be triggered manually via `POST /api/tasks/{id}/resume`.

### Changestats extracted in two places

`executor.Pool.handleRunResult()` and `api.Server.processResult()` both call `task.ParseChangestatFromFile()` and write to `executions.changestats_json`. The second write is idempotent but wasteful and confusing. One of the two should be removed.

### context.Background() in resume path

`api.Server.handleAnswerQuestion()` calls `p.SubmitResume(context.Background(), ...)`. If the HTTP request context is cancelled, the resume still runs. Inversely, if the server shuts down, in-flight resumes using the server's root context would be cancelled while this one would not. Should use a long-lived server-level context, not `Background()`.

### Non-transactional execution creation

`pool.execute()` calls `store.CreateExecution(exec)` followed by `store.UpdateTaskState(t.ID, task.StateRunning)` as separate statements. If the server crashes between them, the task stays PENDING while an execution record exists with status RUNNING. Recovery (`RecoverStaleRunning`) partially handles this but the root cause is the missing transaction.

### Elaborate/validate cmd path indirection

`Server` has two separate fields `elaborateCmdPath` and `validateCmdPath` that override `claudeBinPath` only for tests. This is a testing-time seam that leaks into the production struct. A cleaner approach would be to inject an `Elaborator` interface.

### `withFailureHistory` mutates a shallow copy

In `executor.go`, `withFailureHistory` creates a copy of the task struct (`copy := *t`) but `copy.Agent = t.Agent` copies the struct value — slices inside AgentConfig (`AllowedTools`, `DisallowedTools`, etc.) share the backing array. Appending to `SystemPromptAppend` is safe but any mutation of slices would affect the original.

### Additive migration strategy is fragile

`storage.migrate()` lists every `ALTER TABLE ADD COLUMN` statement in code order. The only idempotency guard is catching "column already exists" errors. There is no migration version tracking. Columns dropped in `CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS` and added back via ALTER are indistinguishable from new columns. Concurrent server instances running migrations simultaneously have no protection.

---

## REST API Reference

| Method | Endpoint | Description |
|--------|----------|-------------|
| GET | `/api/tasks` | List tasks; `?state=RUNNING&since=<RFC3339>&limit=50` |
| POST | `/api/tasks` | Create task (JSON body) |
| GET | `/api/tasks/{id}` | Get task |
| DELETE | `/api/tasks/{id}` | Delete task + subtasks + executions |
| POST | `/api/tasks/{id}/run` | Submit PENDING task to executor |
| POST | `/api/tasks/{id}/cancel` | Cancel RUNNING/QUEUED task |
| POST | `/api/tasks/{id}/accept` | Accept READY task → COMPLETED |
| POST | `/api/tasks/{id}/reject` | Reject READY task → PENDING |
| POST | `/api/tasks/{id}/answer` | Answer BLOCKED task question → QUEUED |
| POST | `/api/tasks/{id}/resume` | Resume FAILED/TIMED_OUT/CANCELLED task |
| GET | `/api/tasks/{id}/subtasks` | List subtasks |
| GET | `/api/tasks/{id}/executions` | List execution history |
| GET | `/api/executions/{id}` | Get execution |
| GET | `/api/executions/{id}/log` | Get execution log (`?tail=100`) |
| GET | `/api/executions/{id}/logs/stream` | Stream logs as SSE |
| GET | `/api/tasks/{id}/logs/stream` | Stream latest execution logs |
| GET | `/api/executions` | List recent executions across all tasks |
| GET | `/api/tasks/{id}/deployment-status` | Poll deployment readiness |
| GET | `/api/tasks/{id}/events` | Task observability event stream (`?since_seq=N`) |
| GET | `/api/budget` | Per-provider rolling-window spend headroom |
| POST | `/api/tasks/validate` | Validate task JSON |
| POST/GET/DELETE | `/mcp` | Per-task agent MCP back-channel (bearer = minted token) |
| POST/GET/DELETE | `/chatbot/mcp` | Chatbot MCP server (bearer = `api_token`) |
| POST | `/api/scripts/{name}` | Run named script with task context |
| GET | `/api/ws` | WebSocket upgrade (live task updates) |
| GET | `/api/workspaces` | List directories under `workspace_root` |
| GET | `/api/health` | Server health |
| POST | `/api/webhooks/github` | GitHub CI webhook |

---

## ADRs

See `docs/adr/001-language-and-architecture.md` for the Go + SQLite + WebSocket rationale.