paperclipai/paperclip · error

cloud-managed instances may only install plugins from the bu

Error message

cloud-managed instances may only install plugins from the bundled plugin catalog

What it means

403 policy guard on POST /plugins/install. Fires on cloud-managed instances for local-path installs whose canonicalized path is not within the bundled plugin catalog root — preventing arbitrary local installs even after path canonicalization.

Source

Thrown at server/src/routes/plugins.ts:1196

    if (cloudManaged && !isLocalPath) {
      res.status(403).json({
        error:
          "npm installs are disabled on cloud-managed instances; only plugins bundled with the application may be installed",
      });
      return;
    }

    // Canonicalize local install paths on every instance so traversal
    // segments and symlinks cannot smuggle an aliased path past validation.
    let canonicalLocalPath: string | undefined;
    if (isLocalPath) {
      const validated = await canonicalizeLocalPluginPath(trimmedPackage);
      if (!validated.ok) {
        res.status(400).json({ error: `Invalid localPath: ${validated.reason}` });
        return;
      }
      if (cloudManaged && !(await isWithinBundledPluginRoot(validated.canonicalPath))) {
        res.status(403).json({
          error:
            "cloud-managed instances may only install plugins from the bundled plugin catalog",
        });
        return;
      }
      canonicalLocalPath = validated.canonicalPath;
    }

    try {
      const installOptions = canonicalLocalPath !== undefined
        ? { localPath: canonicalLocalPath }
        : { packageName: trimmedPackage, version: version?.trim() };

      const discovered = await loader.installPlugin(installOptions);

      if (!discovered.manifest) {
        res.status(500).json({ error: "Plugin installed but manifest is missing" });
        return;

View on GitHub (pinned to a7e689b3c3)

Solutions

1. This is an authorization rule, not a bug: perform the action with an actor that satisfies the stated constraint (board user, the owning agent, or an in-scope resource).
2. If access should be allowed, verify the actor's credentials/company scope and the resource's ownership before retrying.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at server/src/routes/plugins.ts:1180 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@a7e689b3c3 (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1cda6f88ca81fdb0. Report an issue: GitHub.