paperclipai/paperclip · error

Costs are outside this actor's authorization boundary

Error message

Costs are outside this actor's authorization boundary

What it means

Error "Costs are outside this actor's authorization boundary" thrown in paperclipai/paperclip.

Source

Thrown at server/src/routes/costs.ts:82

  const issues = issueService(db);
  const access = accessService(db);

  async function resolveIssueByRef(rawId: string) {
    const identifier = normalizeIssueIdentifier(rawId);
    if (identifier) {
      return issues.getByIdentifier(identifier);
    }
    return issues.getById(rawId);
  }

  async function assertCompanyCostReadAllowed(req: Parameters<typeof assertCompanyAccess>[0], res: any, companyId: string) {
    const decision = await access.decide({
      actor: req.actor,
      action: "company_scope:read",
      resource: { type: "company", companyId },
    });
    if (decision.allowed) return true;
    res.status(403).json({ error: "Costs are outside this actor's authorization boundary" });
    return false;
  }

  async function assertIssueCostReadAllowed(req: Parameters<typeof assertCompanyAccess>[0], res: any, issue: {
    id: string;
    companyId: string;
    projectId: string | null;
    parentId: string | null;
    assigneeAgentId: string | null;
    assigneeUserId: string | null;
    status: string;
  }) {
    const decision = await access.decide({
      actor: req.actor,
      action: "issue:read",
      resource: {
        type: "issue",
        companyId: issue.companyId,

View on GitHub (pinned to 120ae5428f)

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/costs.ts:82 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@120ae5428f (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/9779eb8322fcb4c2. Report an issue: GitHub.