Paperclip AI Company Playbook

A practical playbook for setting up an AI agent company in Paperclip that actually works.

Every mechanism described here exists because its absence caused real failures in production: rework, wasted tokens, frustrated founders, and broken trust. This is not theory — it is distilled from running multiple companies in parallel and fixing what broke.

Built by @aronprins — if you get stuck or need consultancy, DM me. Happy to help :)

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What's included

playbook/
├── README.md              ← You are here (the playbook)
└── templates/
    ├── ceo/
    │   ├── SOUL.md        ← CEO identity, beliefs, anti-patterns
    │   ├── HEARTBEAT.md   ← CEO heartbeat state machine (12 steps)
    │   ├── AGENTS.md      ← CEO context, team roster, quality gate
    │   └── TOOLS.md       ← API endpoints, email, file system
    ├── worker-agent/
    │   ├── AGENTS.md      ← Worker identity, DoD, communication protocol
    │   └── HEARTBEAT.md   ← Worker heartbeat with self-check step
    └── company/
        ├── PROJECT-INVENTORY.md  ← Source of truth for what exists
        └── CONTRIBUTING.md       ← Commit conventions, branch strategy

Copy the templates, fill in the [BRACKETS], and you have a working company (or have your CEO do it all for you).

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How to use this playbook

Read the playbook first (this document). It explains why each template exists and what it prevents. Then copy the templates and customize them for your company.

The templates are designed to be filled in, not read as-is. Every [BRACKET] is a value you need to provide.

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The core principle

Two layers of verification before anything reaches the Founder.

Layer 1: The agent checks their own work (self-check in worker HEARTBEAT). Layer 2: The CEO checks the agent's work (Quality Control Gate in CEO HEARTBEAT).

If either layer is missing, the Founder becomes the QA department.

This principle drives every template in this playbook.

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1. The files you need

Before your company starts operating, every file below must exist. A missing file is a guaranteed future failure.

File	Template	What it prevents
PROJECT-INVENTORY.md	templates/company/PROJECT-INVENTORY.md	Agents recreating existing work
CONTRIBUTING.md	templates/company/CONTRIBUTING.md	Merge chaos, inconsistent commits
agents/ceo/SOUL.md	templates/ceo/SOUL.md	CEO acting as postman, identity drift
agents/ceo/HEARTBEAT.md	templates/ceo/HEARTBEAT.md	Skipped quality checks, no feedback loops
agents/ceo/AGENTS.md	templates/ceo/AGENTS.md	Wrong delegations, lost context
agents/ceo/TOOLS.md	templates/ceo/TOOLS.md	Wrong tools, missed API capabilities
agents/[role]/AGENTS.md	templates/worker-agent/AGENTS.md	Vague ownership, no definition of done
agents/[role]/HEARTBEAT.md	templates/worker-agent/HEARTBEAT.md	Agents marking broken work as "done"

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2. The CEO: quality gate, not postman

The CEO is the most critical agent. A good CEO catches problems before the Founder sees them. A bad CEO forwards agent output unchecked and creates a communication layer that slows everything down.

The CEO SOUL (templates/ceo/SOUL.md)

The SOUL defines who the CEO is. Without it, the CEO invents their own identity — and that identity is usually "helpful assistant who forwards things quickly." That's the opposite of what you need.

Key sections:

• "What We Are" — prevents identity drift. Explicitly state what the company does and what it does NOT do.
• "Quality Control Is My Most Important Job" — the single most important belief. Without this, the CEO optimizes for speed instead of correctness.
• "What I Don't Do" — explicit anti-patterns. Include "Report work without verifying it" and "Forward agent comments as my own assessment."

The CEO HEARTBEAT (templates/ceo/HEARTBEAT.md)

The HEARTBEAT is a state machine — 12 steps, always in the same order, no shortcuts. This is where quality control lives.

The 5 steps that matter most:

Step	What it does	What it prevents
Step 1 — Orient	Read memory + PROJECT-INVENTORY before doing anything	Duplicate work, stale context
Step 3.5 — Pre-Creation Gate	4 questions before creating any task	Busywork, vague tasks, duplicates
Step 4 — Quality Control Gate	Verify every deliverable via WebFetch before emailing Founder	CEO-as-postman, Founder-as-QA
Step 6 — Anti-Drift Check	"Am I about to email done without checking?"	Habit regression
Step 9 — Feedback Loop	After every Founder correction: update instructions, log, verify	Same mistake repeating

Step 4 is the highest-impact step. In production, a CEO had this rule written down but executed zero verification checks over 8 days. The Founder found every bug on the live site — 15+ issues. Making this a numbered, blocking step (not a footnote) eliminates ~60% of rework.

The "idle is success" principle

Without this principle documented in the SOUL, CEOs treat idle agents as a problem and generate busywork. The SOUL must explicitly state:

An idle department with finished deliverables is success, not failure. I do not create tasks to keep agents busy. When the Phase backlog is exhausted, I report to the Founder and wait.

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3. Worker agents: self-check before "done"

Every worker agent needs two files: AGENTS.md (who they are) and HEARTBEAT.md (what they do each heartbeat).

The worker AGENTS.md (templates/worker-agent/AGENTS.md)

Key sections that most setups miss:

• Communication Protocol — "Paperclip only. No email. No direct Founder contact." Repeat this in every agent file. Agents that can email the Founder will email the Founder.
• "What I Don't Do" — Explicit boundaries prevent scope creep.
• Definition of Done — Must be concrete and checkable. "Code works" is not a DoD. "Page loads without PHP errors, all links tested, self-check completed" is.

The worker HEARTBEAT (templates/worker-agent/HEARTBEAT.md)

The critical addition: Step 5 — Self-Check (MANDATORY).

Every agent must check their own work before marking it done. The self-check has two parts:

1. Generic checks (same for all roles): deliverable exists, matches request, no placeholders
2. Role-specific checks (customized per role): the template includes examples for developers, content writers, designers, and engineers

Plus an anti-patterns table — starts empty, grows as mistakes happen. This is the institutional memory that prevents the same error from recurring.

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4. PROJECT-INVENTORY.md: the source of truth

(templates/company/PROJECT-INVENTORY.md)

This file answers the question every agent should ask before starting work: "Does this already exist?"

Without it, agents recreate existing deliverables, use wrong product names, or build things that contradict the Founder's vision. The CEO must read this file before every delegation (Step 1 of the HEARTBEAT).

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5. Anti-patterns this playbook prevents

Every mechanism exists because one of these failures happened in production.

What goes wrong	Why it happens	What prevents it
CEO as postman	CEO forwards agent output without checking	Quality Control Gate (HEARTBEAT Step 4)
Agents don't test their work	No self-check step in heartbeat	Self-Check (worker HEARTBEAT Step 5)
Same mistake 3 times	Instructions not updated after corrections	Feedback Loop (HEARTBEAT Step 9)
Agents create busywork	Idle treated as failure	"Idle is success" in SOUL + Pre-Creation Gate
Identity drift	Agents forget what the company does	SOUL "What We Are" + Anti-Drift Check
Duplicate work	Nobody checks what already exists	PROJECT-INVENTORY.md + Pre-Creation Gate
Founder finds all the bugs	No verification before reporting done	Two-layer verification (agent + CEO)
Lost communication	Founder unaware of status or blockers	Proactive Communication (Step 8) with dedup
Content format mismatch	Markdown imported literally into CMS	Format-specific self-check + anti-patterns table
"Explorations" shipped as final	Designer delivers options, not specs	DoD requires final deliverables, not explorations
Feedback loops don't close	Instruction updated but fix never verified	Step 9 requires: update + log + verify next time
Stale context between heartbeats	Agent acts on old information	Memory read (Step 1) + daily notes + PROJECT-INVENTORY

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6. First-day setup checklist

Prerequisites

• Company created in Paperclip (note the Company ID)
• Git repository initialized
• Gmail label created for your company prefix (e.g. abc)
• Gmail filter created: subject contains [PREFIX] -> apply label

Setup steps

1. Create directory structure

mkdir -p agents/ceo/memory/daily-notes
mkdir -p company
mkdir -p docs

2. Write company/vision.md — 1-2 paragraphs: what the company does, who the customer is, what success looks like.

3. Copy and fill in PROJECT-INVENTORY.md from templates/company/PROJECT-INVENTORY.md. Define: product, brand, directory ownership, existing assets.

4. Copy and fill in CONTRIBUTING.md from templates/company/CONTRIBUTING.md. Define: agent roles, commit prefixes, branch strategy.

5. Set up CEO agent — copy all 4 files from templates/ceo/:

• SOUL.md — fill in identity, beliefs, north star
• HEARTBEAT.md — customize departments, phase backlog, email prefix
• AGENTS.md — fill in team roster, company context
• TOOLS.md — fill in API details, email addresses, file paths

6. Set up worker agents — for each role, mkdir -p agents/[role-slug]/memory and copy both files from templates/worker-agent/:

• AGENTS.md — customize identity, responsibilities, DoD
• HEARTBEAT.md — customize self-check items, anti-patterns, technical references

7. Create Phase 1 backlog in Paperclip: goal -> projects -> issues, all linked.

8. Start CEO heartbeat and verify the first cycle:

• CEO read PROJECT-INVENTORY.md
• CEO checked Gmail with correct prefix
• CEO did NOT create tasks outside the Phase backlog
• CEO noted idle departments as success (not a problem)
• CEO emailed Founder with initial status

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7. Quality checklist before going live

Before deploying any agent, verify these items. A missing item is a future quality failure.

CEO agent

• SOUL.md has "What We Are" and "What We Are NOT"
• SOUL.md has "Quality Control Is My Most Important Job"
• SOUL.md has "What I Don't Do" including "report without verifying"
• HEARTBEAT.md has Quality Control Gate (Step 4) with verification checklist
• HEARTBEAT.md has Pre-Creation Gate (4 questions)
• HEARTBEAT.md has Feedback Loop (Step 9)
• HEARTBEAT.md has Anti-Drift Check (Step 6)
• HEARTBEAT.md references PROJECT-INVENTORY.md in Step 1
• HEARTBEAT.md has email dedup rules

Worker agents

• AGENTS.md has reporting line (to manager, NOT to Founder)
• AGENTS.md has concrete Definition of Done (checkable items)
• AGENTS.md has Communication Protocol (Paperclip only, no email)
• AGENTS.md has "What I Don't Do"
• HEARTBEAT.md has self-check step with role-specific checklist
• HEARTBEAT.md has anti-patterns table (even if empty)
• HEARTBEAT.md has "if nothing assigned, exit — do not generate work"

Company files

• PROJECT-INVENTORY.md exists with product identity and deliverables
• CONTRIBUTING.md exists with commit conventions
• company/vision.md exists

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8. Lessons from production

What works

1. SOUL.md with explicit boundaries. "We are X, we are NOT Y" prevents drift. A generic SOUL without guardrails leads to agents building the wrong thing.

2. Pre-Creation Gate. 4 questions before any task creation prevents busywork. Without it, CEOs invent tasks to fill idle time.

3. Phase completion as success. Without "idle is fine" documented, CEOs treat idle agents as failure and generate waste.

4. PROJECT-INVENTORY.md as mandatory reading. Prevents duplicate deliverables. Agents that don't know what exists will recreate it.

5. Verification evidence in every "done" email. Requiring the CEO to state what they checked forces actual verification.

What fails

1. Rules as footnotes. A rule like "verify before reporting done" means nothing if it's not a numbered, blocking step. Make it Step 4 in the sequence — not a note at the bottom.

2. No agent self-check. Without concrete checklists, agents produce: raw markdown in CMS, missing templates, broken layouts — all caught by the Founder on the live site.

3. Feedback loops that don't close. Updating instructions after a correction is not enough. The fix must be verified on the next similar task.

4. Format mismatches. Content in markdown imported literally into a system expecting HTML is a classic, predictable failure. The self-check must include format verification.

5. "Explorations" as deliverables. 15 design options is not 5 final designs with implementation specs. The DoD must distinguish exploration from completion.

6. CEO without technical understanding. If the CEO can't tell a CSS bug from a missing post, they can't be the quality gate. The red flags table (Step 4b) compensates by listing visual symptoms and what they mean.

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Need help with your Paperclip setup? Whether you're stuck or looking for hands-on consultancy, DM me on X (@aronprins) — happy to help or just point you in the right direction :)