Onboarding should not require Codex or Claude Code

[andyjcopson2-dotcom]

I'm interested in using Paperclip, but I'm currently blocked at the onboarding stage because it appears to expect me to configure/use either Codex or Claude Code.

I don't want to use either of those runtimes. My intention is to use Paperclip with a different agent/model setup, rather than being tied to Codex or Claude Code.

The current onboarding experience makes this feel like a requirement rather than an optional integration. That is frustrating because I haven't even been able to properly evaluate Paperclip before being pushed toward a specific agent provider.

Could onboarding be changed so that:

Codex and Claude Code are presented as optional adapters rather than prerequisites.
Users can complete the initial Paperclip setup without configuring either one.
Other supported adapters can be selected during or after onboarding.
There is a clear "skip agent setup for now" option for users who simply want to explore the Paperclip UI and configuration first.

I appreciate that Paperclip is designed as an orchestration layer rather than an AI model itself, but forcing users through a specific agent runtime during onboarding creates an unnecessary barrier to trying the software.

I'd be interested to know whether this is intentional behaviour or whether a provider-neutral onboarding flow is planned.

[spyder94]

I'm going to second this, though what I see as options are Claude and OpenAI. Regardless, the requirement to have a subscription or API key to one of those seems to go completely against the documentation stating you can "bring your own agent" and that it has all these adapters for various agents. There should, at the very least, be some documentation on how to install Paperclip from scratch and then configure the adapters / agents.

[dustinwloring1988]

I was able to make a quick change in mine to make it optional i also add opencode to the list of ones in onboarding since they have a free model without api key needed. just ask your agent to do this and 2 mintues later you will be set

[HairyBlue]

I support this request. I primarily use Pi, and it would be great if Paperclip allowed users to select any supported adapter during initial onboarding, rather than being limited to Codex or Claude Code.

Since Pi, Gemini/Agy CLI, OpenCode, and other adapters are already available when manually creating agents, it would make sense to offer the same options during onboarding.

This would make the setup process more flexible, especially for users who already have their preferred CLI agents configured.

[zipang]

I just tested paperclip today and this single requirement during the onboarding process almost got me to instantly quit. I intended to use my Opencode Go subscription so i was severely disapointed. But maybe there are some hard-constraints behind these choices, maybe the CEO role can only be given to a harness with specific features (?!) I don't know. If that's the case it should be explained. If not, that's a severe drawback because we all know how Anthropic and OpenAI plans are expensives.

[andysasyboy-cloud]

So frustrating

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