@foldrun/core 0.6.0 → 0.7.0

package/src/agent-import.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,154 @@
+// Bring an agent you already have into another workspace of the same account.
+//
+// A new workspace starts blank (blankWorkspaceFiles), and the agents worth
+// having in it are usually ones already written and tuned elsewhere — a
+// researcher from one desk, a reviewer from another. Copying them by hand
+// meant opening each file, and missing the skills and scripts that live in
+// the agent's own folder. This copies the folder: what the agent IS, never
+// what it has accumulated.
+//
+// Copied: agents/<name>/agent.md and everything authored beside it — its own
+// skills/, scripts/, knowledge/. Not copied: memory/ (what it learned in the
+// other workspace's runs), outputs/, state/, the step's workspace link, and
+// the SDK's .claude session files. A fresh copy starts with no lessons that
+// were about somebody else's desk.
+
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import path from "node:path";
+import matter from "gray-matter";
+import {
+  assertSafeName,
+  listWorkspaceFiles,
+  readWorkspaceFile,
+  writeWorkspaceFile,
+  workspaceDir,
+  workspaceTools,
+  listWorkspaces,
+} from "./store.ts";
+import { libraryDir, libraryTools } from "./library.ts";
+import { isRuntimeTool, toolEntryName } from "./tool-names.ts";
+import { discoverSkills } from "./runner.ts";
+import { listSecrets } from "./secrets.ts";
+
+export interface AgentImportResult {
+  /** The name the agent has in the target workspace. */
+  name: string;
+  /** Workspace-relative paths written. */
+  files: string[];
+  /** What the copy refers to that the target workspace does not have. The
+   *  import still happens: a missing secret is set in a minute, and refusing
+   *  would make the person copy the file by hand instead. */
+  warnings: string[];
+}
+
+/** An error the API layer turns into a status rather than a 500. */
+export class AgentImportError extends Error {
+  readonly status: number;
+  constructor(message: string, status: number) {
+    super(message);
+    this.status = status;
+  }
+}
+
+/** Accumulated or generated, not authored — never carried to another workspace. */
+const NOT_COPIED = /^agents\/[^/]+\/(memory|outputs|state|workspace|\.claude)(\/|$)|^agents\/[^/]+\/\.claude\.json$/;
+
+/** The files `importAgent` would copy, without writing anything. */
+export function agentSourceFiles(tenant: string, from: string, agent: string): string[] {
+  const prefix = `agents/${agent}/`;
+  return listWorkspaceFiles(tenant, from).filter((p) => p.startsWith(prefix) && !NOT_COPIED.test(p));
+}
+
+const list = (v: unknown): string[] =>
+  Array.isArray(v) ? v.map((x) => toolEntryName(x)).filter(Boolean) : typeof v === "string" && v.trim() ? [v.trim()] : [];
+
+export function importAgent(
+  tenant: string,
+  from: string,
+  agent: string,
+  to: string,
+  opts: { as?: string; by?: string } = {},
+): AgentImportResult {
+  assertSafeName(from, "workspace");
+  assertSafeName(to, "workspace");
+  assertSafeName(agent, "agent");
+  const name = opts.as?.trim() || agent;
+  assertSafeName(name, "agent");
+  const known = new Set(listWorkspaces(tenant).map((w) => w.name));
+  if (!known.has(from)) throw new AgentImportError(`no workspace called "${from}" in this account`, 404);
+  if (!known.has(to)) throw new AgentImportError(`no workspace called "${to}" in this account`, 404);
+  if (from === to && name === agent) {
+    throw new AgentImportError(`${agent} is already in ${to} — give the copy another name with "as"`, 409);
+  }
+
+  const files = agentSourceFiles(tenant, from, agent);
+  if (!files.includes(`agents/${agent}/agent.md`)) {
+    throw new AgentImportError(`no agent called "${agent}" in ${from}`, 404);
+  }
+  if (fs.existsSync(path.join(workspaceDir(tenant, to), "agents", name))) {
+    throw new AgentImportError(
+      `${to} already has an agent called "${name}" — import it under another name with "as"`,
+      409,
+    );
+  }
+
+  const written: string[] = [];
+  const message = `import agents/${agent} from ${from}${name !== agent ? ` as ${name}` : ""}`;
+  let front: Record<string, unknown> = {};
+  for (const src of files) {
+    let content = readWorkspaceFile(tenant, from, src);
+    const rel = src.slice(`agents/${agent}/`.length);
+    if (rel === "agent.md") {
+      front = matter(content).data as Record<string, unknown>;
+      // The folder is the name flows address; a `name:` that disagrees with
+      // it is the first thing check would complain about.
+      if (name !== agent) content = content.replace(/^(---\r?\n(?:[\s\S]*?\r?\n)?)name:[^\n]*$/m, `$1name: ${name}`);
+    }
+    const dest = `agents/${name}/${rel}`;
+    writeWorkspaceFile(tenant, to, dest, content, { ...(opts.by ? { by: opts.by } : {}), message });
+    written.push(dest);
+  }
+
+  return { name, files: written, warnings: missingFor(tenant, to, name, front) };
+}
+
+/** What the imported agent names that the target workspace cannot provide. */
+function missingFor(tenant: string, to: string, name: string, front: Record<string, unknown>): string[] {
+  const out: string[] = [];
+  const ws = workspaceDir(tenant, to);
+
+  const tools = { ...libraryTools(tenant), ...workspaceTools(tenant, to) };
+  const noTool = list(front.tools).filter((t) => !isRuntimeTool(t) && !tools[t]);
+  if (noTool.length) out.push(`tools not in ${to} or the account library: ${noTool.join(", ")} — import or add them under tools/`);
+
+  const skills = new Set<string>();
+  for (const [base, sub] of [
+    [path.join(ws, "agents", name), "skills"],
+    [ws, "skills"],
+    [ws, ".agents/skills"],
+    [libraryDir(tenant), "skills"],
+  ] as const) {
+    for (const s of discoverSkills(base, sub)) skills.add(s.name);
+  }
+  const noSkill = list(front.skills).filter((s) => !skills.has(s));
+  if (noSkill.length) out.push(`skills not in ${to} or the account library: ${noSkill.join(", ")}`);
+
+  const scripts = list(front.scripts).filter(
+    (s) =>
+      !fs.existsSync(path.join(ws, "agents", name, "scripts", s)) &&
+      !fs.existsSync(path.join(ws, "scripts", s)) &&
+      !fs.existsSync(path.join(libraryDir(tenant), "scripts", s)),
+  );
+  if (scripts.length) out.push(`scripts not in ${to}: ${scripts.join(", ")} — copy them into scripts/`);
+
+  let have: Set<string>;
+  try {
+    have = new Set(listSecrets(tenant, to).map((s) => s.name));
+  } catch {
+    have = new Set();
+  }
+  const noSecret = list(front.secrets).filter((s) => !have.has(s));
+  if (noSecret.length) out.push(`secrets not set for ${to}: ${noSecret.join(", ")} — add them with \`foldrun secrets set\` or Settings → Secrets`);
+
+  return out;
+}

package/src/api-tools.ts

@@ -299,7 +299,8 @@ function genericTool(api: ApiSpec, env: Record<string, string>, bucket: TokenBuc
       `Allowed methods: ${api.methods.join(", ")}. Provide only the path after the base URL. ` +
       `Authentication is added automatically — never ask the user for credentials.` +
       typed +
-      rateSentence(api),
+      rateSentence(api) +
+      (api.guide ? `\n\nHow to use it (from its tool.md):\n${api.guide}` : ""),
     {
       method: z.enum(api.methods as [string, ...string[]]).describe("HTTP method"),
       path: z.string().describe("Path appended to the base URL, e.g. /customers/123/campaigns"),
@@ -369,6 +370,17 @@ export function buildApiTools(
       continue;
     }
 
+    // A base still holding `${FOLDRUN_API_URL}` was not filled: this install
+    // has no public address configured (a laptop, usually). Say so rather
+    // than hand the model a URL that cannot resolve.
+    if (/\$\{[A-Z_]+\}/.test(api.base)) {
+      promptLines.push(
+        `- **${api.name}** — unavailable this run: its base \`${api.base}\` names a variable this ` +
+          `install does not set (FOLDRUN_API_URL or FOLDRUN_PUBLIC_URL). Report it as blocked.`,
+      );
+      continue;
+    }
+
     const typedNames: string[] = [];
     for (const op of ops) {
       tools.push(typedTool(api, op, env, bucket, log));
@@ -394,6 +406,9 @@ export function buildApiTools(
           `. Credentials are injected for you.${rateLine}`,
         ...listed,
         ...more,
+        // Typed-only (an `operations:` allowlist) has no generic tool whose
+        // description could carry the guide, so it rides here.
+        ...(!withGeneric && api.guide ? [`  How to use it (from its tool.md):\n${api.guide}`] : []),
       );
     } else {
       promptLines.push(

package/src/approvals.ts

@@ -356,24 +356,31 @@ export async function expireStaleGate(
  *
  * Only steps waiting on an event are released: a run that is also asking a
  * person a question keeps asking.
+ *
+ * `by` names who delivered it when that is known — a signed-in person or a
+ * key through the dashboard's approve route — and `step` releases one
+ * waiting step rather than all of them.
  */
 export async function deliverEvent(
   tenant: string,
   workspace: string,
   runId: string,
   payload: string,
+  opts: { by?: string; step?: number } = {},
 ): Promise<{ run: RunRecord; steps: number[] }> {
   const run = readRun(tenant, workspace, runId);
   if (!run) throw new ApprovalError("run not found", 404);
   const waiting = run.steps
     .map((s, i) => ({ s, i }))
-    .filter(({ s }) => s.status === "awaiting-approval" && s.waitFor === "event");
-  if (waiting.length === 0) throw new ApprovalError("this run is not waiting for an event", 409);
+    .filter(({ s, i }) => s.status === "awaiting-approval" && s.waitFor === "event" && (opts.step === undefined || opts.step === i));
+  if (waiting.length === 0) {
+    throw new ApprovalError(opts.step === undefined ? "this run is not waiting for an event" : `step ${opts.step} is not waiting for an event`, 409);
+  }
   for (const { s } of waiting) s.eventPayload = payload.slice(0, 20_000);
   writeRun(tenant, workspace, run);
   let decided: number[] = [];
   for (const { i } of waiting) {
-    const out = await decideApproval(tenant, workspace, runId, { decision: "approve", step: i, by: "by an external event" });
+    const out = await decideApproval(tenant, workspace, runId, { decision: "approve", step: i, by: opts.by ?? "by an external event" });
     decided = decided.concat(out.steps);
   }
   return { run: readRun(tenant, workspace, runId) ?? run, steps: decided };

package/src/completions.ts

@@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ const TOOL_GROUPS: Completion[] = [
   { label: "code", hint: "Bash — runs anything in the sandbox" },
   { label: "web", hint: "search, fetch, browse, crawl, map, extract, answer, monitor — providers under web:" },
   { label: "ask", hint: "ask_person — ask the person running the desk mid-step, and wait for the answer" },
+  { label: "install", hint: "install apt, pip or npm packages mid-step — every agent has it; disallowedTools: [install] removes it" },
 ];
 
 const SDK_TOOL_NAMES: Completion[] = [

package/src/confine.ts

@@ -193,7 +193,7 @@ export function isWithin(root: string, abs: string): boolean {
 }
 
 /** Expand a virtual prefix to a real absolute path, or null if it has none. */
-export function expandVirtual(raw: string, roots: Roots): { abs: string; readOnly: boolean } | null {
+export function expandVirtual(raw: string, roots: Roots): { abs: string; readOnly: boolean; prefix: string } | null {
   // The SDK resolves a relative path against the cwd BEFORE canUseTool sees
   // it, so `workspace/storage/x.json` arrives as
   // `<agentDir>/workspace/storage/x.json` and never matched a prefix. The
@@ -205,12 +205,23 @@ export function expandVirtual(raw: string, roots: Roots): { abs: string; readOnl
   const candidate = rel !== null && !rel.startsWith("..") && !path.isAbsolute(rel) ? rel : raw;
   for (const v of VIRTUAL) {
     if (candidate.startsWith(v.prefix)) {
-      return { abs: path.resolve(v.root(roots), candidate.slice(v.prefix.length)), readOnly: v.readOnly };
+      return { abs: path.resolve(v.root(roots), candidate.slice(v.prefix.length)), readOnly: v.readOnly, prefix: v.prefix };
     }
   }
   return null;
 }
 
+/** Whether `<agentDir>/workspace` is the step's link to the workspace root
+ *  (linkWorkspace), so a `workspace/…` path opens the right file as written. */
+function linkedWorkspace(roots: Roots): boolean {
+  const link = path.join(roots.agentDir, "workspace");
+  try {
+    return fs.lstatSync(link).isSymbolicLink() && real(link) === real(path.resolve(roots.workspaceRoot));
+  } catch {
+    return false;
+  }
+}
+
 export function checkPaths(
   toolName: string,
   input: Record<string, unknown>,
@@ -312,8 +323,16 @@ export function checkPaths(
     }
 
     // Hand the real path back to the tool, so the virtual prefix the prompt
-    // advertises is one the agent can actually open.
-    if (virtual) rewritten = { ...(rewritten ?? input), [key]: abs };
+    // advertises is one the agent can actually open — unless the step's
+    // `workspace` link already opens it. Then the path is left as written,
+    // because the SDK remembers what was Read under the path the tool ran
+    // with but checks an Edit against the one the model wrote, before this
+    // hook sees it: Read workspace/x (rewritten) then Edit workspace/x was
+    // refused "File has not been read yet" on every try, and blog-desk's
+    // fact-checker spent a pass on it (run-muuhguk3-vhrg, 2026-10-05).
+    if (virtual && !(virtual.prefix === "workspace/" && linkedWorkspace(roots))) {
+      rewritten = { ...(rewritten ?? input), [key]: abs };
+    }
   }
 
   // Glob searches from `path` (the cwd when absent) and its PATTERN never
@@ -407,6 +426,17 @@ const PROTECTED_BASH: { re: RegExp; writeOnly: boolean; reason: string }[] = [
   },
 ];
 
+/**
+ * A web address, which names a place on a server rather than in the workspace.
+ *
+ * The protected-path patterns match a bare `runs/`, so an agent calling the
+ * platform's own API — `curl https://…/api/workspaces/x/runs/<id>` — was told
+ * it was reading the run journal. The weekly retros read their week through
+ * that API and were refused on 9 Oct 2026. Only http(s): a `file://` URL is a
+ * path, and stays checked.
+ */
+const WEB_URL = /\bhttps?:\/\/[^\s'"`)]+/gi;
+
 export function checkBash(command: string): ConfineVerdict {
   for (const re of BASH_ESCAPES) {
     if (re.test(command)) {
@@ -424,9 +454,10 @@ export function checkBash(command: string): ConfineVerdict {
   for (const segment of command.split(/[;|&]+|\n/)) {
     if (!segment.trim()) continue;
     const writes = WRITES_TO_A_FILE.test(segment);
+    const paths = segment.replace(WEB_URL, " ");
     for (const rule of PROTECTED_BASH) {
       if (rule.writeOnly && !writes) continue;
-      if (rule.re.test(segment)) return { ok: false, reason: `Bash was denied: ${rule.reason}` };
+      if (rule.re.test(paths)) return { ok: false, reason: `Bash was denied: ${rule.reason}` };
     }
   }
   return { ok: true };

package/src/deploy.ts

@@ -208,6 +208,25 @@ export function readTree(dir: string): DeployFile[] {
  *  only the deployed files, so a library or gallery outward tool is not seen
  *  here — `foldrun check`, which resolves every scope, remains the real gate.
  *  Non-blocking by decision: the deploy proceeds and says so. */
+/**
+ * A frontmatter block that lost its opening `---`: `key: value` lines, then a
+ * lone `---`, with nothing above them. Nothing is read from it — the parser
+ * sees prose — so the agent runs with no tools and the default model, and a
+ * model told to call a tool it was never given writes the call out as text.
+ * seo-digest's editor did that every Sunday from 20 Sep to 5 Oct 2026.
+ * Returns the problem, or null.
+ */
+export function unopenedFrontmatter(raw: string): string | null {
+  const text = raw.replace(/^\uFEFF/, "");
+  if (/^---\r?\n/.test(text)) return null;
+  const lines = text.split(/\r?\n/);
+  const close = lines.findIndex((l) => l.trim() === "---");
+  if (close < 1) return null;
+  const above = lines.slice(0, close).filter((l) => l.trim() && !l.trim().startsWith("#"));
+  if (!above.length || !above.every((l) => /^[A-Za-z_][\w-]*:(\s|$)/.test(l) || /^\s+\S/.test(l))) return null;
+  return "the frontmatter has no opening `---`, so none of it is read: the agent runs with no tools and the default model. Add `---` as the first line.";
+}
+
 export function deployWarnings(files: DeployFile[]): DeployIssue[] {
   const front = (content: string): Record<string, unknown> => {
     try { return matter(content).data as Record<string, unknown>; } catch { return {}; }
@@ -227,6 +246,9 @@ export function deployWarnings(files: DeployFile[]): DeployIssue[] {
   const outwardAgents: string[] = [];
   const agentNames: string[] = [];
   const out: DeployIssue[] = [];
+  if (!files.some((f) => /^agents\/[^/]+\/agent\.md$/.test(f.path)) && !files.some((f) => /^\.(claude|agents)\/agents\/[^/]+\.md$/.test(f.path))) {
+    out.push({ where: "agents/", message: "no agents yet — add one (agents/<name>/agent.md), or import one from another workspace" });
+  }
   // The web: warnings check prints — the old session: key, and a pinned
   // user agent behind the runner image's Chrome, which the platform knows
   // from FOLDRUN_RUNNER_ENGINES (the deploy read it from the image).
@@ -284,6 +306,8 @@ export function deployIssues(files: DeployFile[]): DeployIssue[] {
   // written, not discovered as a date that is a day out.
   for (const f of files) {
     if (!/^(AGENTS\.md|agents\/[^/]+\/agent\.md)$/.test(f.path)) continue;
+    const unopened = unopenedFrontmatter(f.content);
+    if (unopened) at(f.path, unopened);
     let front: Record<string, unknown> = {};
     try {
       front = matter(f.content).data as Record<string, unknown>;
@@ -306,9 +330,10 @@ export function deployIssues(files: DeployFile[]): DeployIssue[] {
     if (lang) at(f.path, lang);
     for (const w of localeProblems(front)) at(f.path, w);
   }
-  if (agents.size === 0) {
-    at("agents/", "no agents — a workspace needs at least one agents/<name>/agent.md");
-  }
+  // No agents is a workspace that has not started yet — "Create workspace"
+  // makes exactly that — and deploying it is harmless: a flow that names an
+  // agent this push lacks is refused below, step by step. deployWarnings says
+  // it, so the empty state is visible without blocking the first push.
 
   // Flows, parsed from the incoming text rather than from disk. A step naming
   // an agent that this push does not ship is the single most common way a

package/src/evals.ts

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@
 // they pass — no point paying a model to grade output already known to be
 // wrong.
 
+import { accountModelEnv } from "./model-env.ts";
 import { sdkEnv } from "./step-exec.ts";
 import fs from "node:fs";
 import path from "node:path";
@@ -477,6 +478,7 @@ async function judge(
   output: string,
   model: string,
   effort: Effort | null,
+  env: Record<string, string | undefined>,
 ): Promise<AssertionResult["detail"] & string> {
   const prompt =
     `You are grading one piece of output against one criterion. Answer with exactly ` +
@@ -493,7 +495,7 @@ async function judge(
       allowedTools: [],
       settingSources: [],
       strictMcpConfig: true,
-      env: sdkEnv(undefined),
+      env,
       maxTurns: 1,
     },
   });
@@ -513,6 +515,7 @@ async function checkAssertion(
   agentDir: string,
   model: string,
   effort: Effort | null,
+  judgeEnv: () => Record<string, string | undefined> = () => sdkEnv(undefined),
 ): Promise<AssertionResult> {
   const hay = output.toLowerCase();
   switch (assertion.type) {
@@ -545,7 +548,15 @@ async function checkAssertion(
       return { assertion, passed: code === 0, detail: `exit ${code ?? "error"}${out ? ` — ${out.slice(0, 200)}` : ""}` };
     }
     case "judge": {
-      const verdict = await judge(assertion.value, output, model, effort);
+      // The judge runs on the account's own model key, never quietly on the
+      // platform's: a customer's eval is not the operator's bill.
+      let env: Record<string, string | undefined>;
+      try {
+        env = judgeEnv();
+      } catch (err) {
+        return { assertion, passed: false, detail: `judge not run — ${err instanceof Error ? err.message : String(err)}` };
+      }
+      const verdict = await judge(assertion.value, output, model, effort, env);
       const passed = /^\s*PASS\b/i.test(verdict);
       return { assertion, passed, detail: verdict.slice(0, 300) || "judge returned nothing" };
     }
@@ -628,7 +639,14 @@ export async function runEval(
       const judges = testCase.expect.filter((a) => a.type === "judge");
       for (const a of cheap) assertions.push(await checkAssertion(a, output, agentDir, info.model, info.effort));
       if (assertions.every((r) => r.passed)) {
-        for (const a of judges) assertions.push(await checkAssertion(a, output, agentDir, info.model, info.effort));
+        const judgeEnv = () => {
+          const m = accountModelEnv(tenant, workspace, () => sdkEnv(undefined));
+          if (m.format !== "anthropic") {
+            throw new Error(`this account's provider speaks ${m.format}; a judge needs an Anthropic-format provider`);
+          }
+          return m.env;
+        };
+        for (const a of judges) assertions.push(await checkAssertion(a, output, agentDir, info.model, info.effort, judgeEnv));
       } else {
         for (const a of judges) {
           assertions.push({ assertion: a, passed: false, detail: "not run — an earlier check failed" });

package/src/host-env.ts

@@ -54,3 +54,30 @@ export function hostSafeEnv(from: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env): NodeJS.Proce
   // every spawn. The value is the same either way.
   return out as NodeJS.ProcessEnv;
 }
+
+/**
+ * Where this install's own API answers, for a step to call: `FOLDRUN_API_URL`
+ * when the operator set it, else `FOLDRUN_PUBLIC_URL` + `/api`. Undefined on a
+ * laptop with neither.
+ *
+ * A desk that reads its own run history used to write the host into its
+ * files (`https://dev.foldrun.io/api`), so the same workspace pointed at the
+ * wrong server the day it moved. Now a script reads `$FOLDRUN_API_URL` and an
+ * `apis:` entry writes `base: ${FOLDRUN_API_URL}`.
+ */
+export function platformApiUrl(from: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env): string | undefined {
+  const explicit = from.FOLDRUN_API_URL?.trim();
+  if (explicit) return explicit.replace(/\/+$/, "");
+  const origin = from.FOLDRUN_PUBLIC_URL?.trim();
+  return origin ? `${origin.replace(/\/+$/, "")}/api` : undefined;
+}
+
+/** The install's own addresses an `apis:` base may name. Not secrets: they
+ *  are printed in the prompt as the tool's base URL. */
+export function expandPlatformVars(value: string, from: NodeJS.ProcessEnv = process.env): string {
+  const vars: Record<string, string | undefined> = {
+    FOLDRUN_API_URL: platformApiUrl(from),
+    FOLDRUN_PUBLIC_URL: from.FOLDRUN_PUBLIC_URL?.trim().replace(/\/+$/, "") || undefined,
+  };
+  return value.replace(/\$\{(FOLDRUN_API_URL|FOLDRUN_PUBLIC_URL)\}/g, (whole, name: string) => vars[name] ?? whole);
+}

package/src/install-helper.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,143 @@
+// The root half of the `install` tool: a tiny server the run container's root
+// start-up leaves running before it drops to the agent user.
+//
+//   node install-helper.js <socket> <runtime cache dir>
+//
+// The agent never becomes root. It can only ask this process, over a unix
+// socket, to install Debian packages BY NAME — each name re-checked against
+// Debian's naming rule here, so nothing but a package name reaches apt, and
+// apt is driven by the same snippet the start-up uses (systemInstallSh): the
+// account's .deb cache and snapshots, so a package anyone installed before is
+// restored in about a second. Requests are served one at a time; the process
+// dies with the container.
+//
+// pip and npm need no root and are installed by the tool itself, as the agent.
+
+import fs from "node:fs";
+import net from "node:net";
+import os from "node:os";
+import path from "node:path";
+import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
+import { DEB_PACKAGE, systemInstallSh, summarizeInstallFailure } from "./runtime.ts";
+
+export interface InstallRequest {
+  manager: "apt";
+  packages: string[];
+}
+
+export interface InstallReply {
+  ok: boolean;
+  /** "snapshot" | "apt" */
+  mode?: string;
+  seconds?: number;
+  error?: string;
+}
+
+/** Validate one request; null when it may run. Exported for the tests. */
+export function refuse(req: unknown): string | null {
+  const r = req as Partial<InstallRequest> | null;
+  if (!r || typeof r !== "object") return "not a request";
+  if (r.manager !== "apt") return "this helper installs Debian packages (manager: apt) only";
+  if (!Array.isArray(r.packages) || r.packages.length === 0) return "no packages named";
+  if (r.packages.length > 50) return "at most 50 packages per request";
+  const bad = r.packages.filter((p) => typeof p !== "string" || !DEB_PACKAGE.test(p));
+  if (bad.length) return `not Debian package names: ${bad.map(String).join(", ")}`;
+  return null;
+}
+
+/** Install one validated request with the start-up's own snippet. */
+export function installApt(packages: string[], cacheDir: string): Promise<InstallReply> {
+  const logDir = fs.mkdtempSync(path.join(os.tmpdir(), "foldrun-install-"));
+  return new Promise((resolve) => {
+    const child = spawn("sh", ["-c", systemInstallSh(cacheDir, logDir)], {
+      env: { ...process.env, FOLDRUN_SYSTEM_PACKAGES: packages.join(" ") },
+      stdio: "ignore",
+    });
+    child.on("close", () => {
+      let status: { ok?: boolean; mode?: string; seconds?: number } = {};
+      try {
+        status = JSON.parse(fs.readFileSync(path.join(logDir, "system-install.json"), "utf8"));
+      } catch {
+        status = { ok: false };
+      }
+      let log = "";
+      try {
+        log = fs.readFileSync(path.join(logDir, "system-install.log"), "utf8");
+      } catch {
+        log = "";
+      }
+      fs.rmSync(logDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      resolve(
+        status.ok
+          ? { ok: true, mode: status.mode, seconds: status.seconds }
+          : { ok: false, error: summarizeInstallFailure("apt-get install", log || "no output") },
+      );
+    });
+    child.on("error", (err) => {
+      fs.rmSync(logDir, { recursive: true, force: true });
+      resolve({ ok: false, error: `could not run the installer: ${err.message}` });
+    });
+  });
+}
+
+export function serve(socket: string, cacheDir: string): net.Server {
+  try {
+    fs.rmSync(socket, { force: true });
+  } catch {
+    /* nothing there */
+  }
+  let queue: Promise<unknown> = Promise.resolve();
+  const server = net.createServer((conn) => {
+    let buf = "";
+    conn.on("data", (chunk) => {
+      buf += chunk.toString("utf8");
+      if (buf.length > 64_000) {
+        conn.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: false, error: "request too large" }) + "\n");
+        return;
+      }
+      const nl = buf.indexOf("\n");
+      if (nl < 0) return;
+      const line = buf.slice(0, nl);
+      buf = "";
+      let req: unknown;
+      try {
+        req = JSON.parse(line);
+      } catch {
+        conn.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: false, error: "not JSON" }) + "\n");
+        return;
+      }
+      const why = refuse(req);
+      if (why) {
+        conn.end(JSON.stringify({ ok: false, error: why }) + "\n");
+        return;
+      }
+      // One install at a time: apt holds a lock, and two dpkg runs in one
+      // container would fight over it.
+      queue = queue.then(async () => {
+        const reply = await installApt((req as InstallRequest).packages, cacheDir);
+        conn.end(JSON.stringify(reply) + "\n");
+      });
+    });
+    conn.on("error", () => {
+      /* the client went away */
+    });
+  });
+  server.listen(socket, () => {
+    // The agent user must be able to connect; nothing else runs in here.
+    try {
+      fs.chmodSync(socket, 0o666);
+    } catch {
+      /* best effort */
+    }
+  });
+  return server;
+}
+
+if (process.argv[1] && /install-helper\.(js|ts|mjs)$/.test(process.argv[1])) {
+  const [socket, cacheDir] = process.argv.slice(2);
+  if (!socket || !cacheDir) {
+    console.error("usage: install-helper <socket> <runtime cache dir>");
+    process.exit(2);
+  }
+  serve(socket, cacheDir);
+}