paperclipai/paperclip · error · Error

Creating companies requires board/instance-admin…

Error message

Creating companies requires board/instance-admin authentication. Agent API keys are scoped to one company; use `paperclipai company list --json` or `paperclipai company current --json` to select the scoped company, or rerun create with a board token/login.

What it means

Error "Creating companies requires board/instance-admin authentication. Agent API keys are scoped to one company; use `paperclipai company list --json` or `paperclipai company current --json` to select the scoped company, or rerun create with a board token/login." thrown in paperclipai/paperclip.

Solutions

1. Re-run with a board token/login, or use `paperclipai company list --json` / `company current --json` to work with the agent-scoped company.

When it happens

Trigger: Thrown at cli/src/commands/client/company.ts:2024 when the library encounters an invalid state.

Common situations: See trigger scenarios.

Understand the failure class

• Authentication and authorization failures — expired tokens, bad credentials, and missing scopes.

AI-assisted analysis of paperclipai/paperclip@120ae5428f (2026-08-18). Data as JSON: /api/errors/4054e1c9b44db286. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at cli/src/commands/client/company.ts:2024

  } catch (error) {
    if (!isBoardAccessRequiredError(error)) {
      throw error;
    }
  }

  const companyId = await resolveCurrentCompanyId(ctx);
  const scopedCompany = await ctx.api.get<Company>(apiPath`/api/companies/${companyId}`);
  return scopedCompany ? [scopedCompany] : [];
}

async function createCompanyForContext(ctx: {
  api: { post<T>(path: string, body?: unknown): Promise<T | null> };
}, payload: unknown): Promise<unknown> {
  try {
    return await ctx.api.post("/api/companies", payload);
  } catch (error) {
    if (isBoardAccessRequiredError(error) || isInstanceAdminRequiredError(error)) {
      throw new Error(
        "Creating companies requires board/instance-admin authentication. Agent API keys are scoped to one company; use `paperclipai company list --json` or `paperclipai company current --json` to select the scoped company, or rerun create with a board token/login.",
      );
    }
    throw error;
  }
}

async function resolveCurrentCompanyId(ctx: { companyId?: string; api: { get<T>(path: string): Promise<T | null> } }): Promise<string> {
  const fromContext = ctx.companyId?.trim();
  if (fromContext) return fromContext;

  let agent: AgentMeResponse | null = null;
  try {
    agent = await ctx.api.get<AgentMeResponse>("/api/agents/me");
  } catch (error) {
    if (error instanceof ApiRequestError && (error.status === 401 || error.status === 403)) {
      throw new Error(
        "Current company is not available. Pass --company-id, set PAPERCLIP_COMPANY_ID, set a context profile companyId, or authenticate with an agent API key.",

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