feat: Add CLI support for agent notepads (feature-flagged)

- Add --beta-notepad CLI flag with global config
- Conditionally inject workflow notepad into system prompt
- Add WorkflowNotepad tool for updating notepad content
- Both features gated behind --beta-notepad flag + WORKFLOW_ID

This complements the backend changes in remote-config-server.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Sonnet 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

extensions/cli/src/commands/BaseCommandOptions.ts

@@ -27,6 +27,8 @@ export interface BaseCommandOptions {
   betaUploadArtifactTool?: boolean;
   /** Enable beta Subagent tool */
   betaSubagentTool?: boolean;
+  /** Enable beta Notepad feature */
+  betaNotepad?: boolean;
 }
 
 /**

extensions/cli/src/services/index.ts

@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { loadAuthConfig } from "../auth/workos.js";
 import { initializeWithOnboarding } from "../onboarding.js";
 import {
+  setBetaNotepadToolEnabled,
   setBetaSubagentToolEnabled,
   setBetaUploadArtifactToolEnabled,
 } from "../tools/toolsConfig.js";
@@ -68,6 +69,9 @@ export async function initializeServices(initOptions: ServiceInitOptions = {}) {
   if (commandOptions.betaSubagentTool) {
     setBetaSubagentToolEnabled(true);
   }
+  if (commandOptions.betaNotepad) {
+    setBetaNotepadToolEnabled(true);
+  }
   // Handle onboarding for TUI mode (headless: false) unless explicitly skipped
   if (!initOptions.headless && !initOptions.skipOnboarding) {
     const authConfig = loadAuthConfig();

extensions/cli/src/shared-options.ts

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ export function addCommonOptions(command: Command): Command {
     .option("--auto", "Start in auto mode (all tools allowed)")
     .option("--verbose", "Enable verbose logging")
     .option("--beta-status-tool", "Enable beta status tool")
+    .option("--beta-notepad", "Enable beta notepad feature")
     .option(
       "--rule <rule>",
       "Add a rule (can be a file path, hub slug, or string content). Can be specified multiple times.",
@@ -104,6 +105,8 @@ export function mergeParentOptions(parentCommand: Command, options: any): any {
     "auto",
     "tools",
     "verbose",
+    "betaStatusTool",
+    "betaNotepad",
     "rule",
     "mcp",
     "model",

extensions/cli/src/systemMessage.ts

@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import { processRule } from "./hubLoader.js";
 import { PermissionMode } from "./permissions/types.js";
 import { serviceContainer } from "./services/ServiceContainer.js";
 import { ConfigServiceState, SERVICE_NAMES } from "./services/types.js";
+import { isBetaNotepadToolEnabled } from "./tools/toolsConfig.js";
 const { WalkerSync } = pkg;
 
 /**
@@ -115,6 +116,26 @@ async function getConfigYamlRules(): Promise<string[]> {
   return [];
 }
 
+/**
+ * Fetch workflow notepad content from the API if WORKFLOW_ID is set and beta flag is enabled
+ */
+async function getWorkflowNotepad(): Promise<string | null> {
+  const workflowId = process.env.WORKFLOW_ID;
+  if (!workflowId || !isBetaNotepadToolEnabled()) {
+    return null;
+  }
+
+  try {
+    const { get } = await import("./util/apiClient.js");
+    const response = await get(`workflows/${workflowId}/notepad`);
+    return response.data?.notepad || null;
+  } catch (error) {
+    // Silently fail if API call fails (don't break agent startup)
+    console.warn("Could not fetch workflow notepad:", error);
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
 /**
  * Load and construct a comprehensive system message with base message and rules section
  * @param additionalRules - Additional rules from --rule flags
@@ -165,9 +186,21 @@ export async function constructSystemMessage(
   const configYamlRules = await getConfigYamlRules();
   processedRules.push(...configYamlRules);
 
+  // Fetch workflow notepad if WORKFLOW_ID is set
+  const notepad = await getWorkflowNotepad();
+
   // Construct the comprehensive system message
   let systemMessage = baseSystemMessage;
 
+  // Add workflow notepad context if available
+  if (notepad) {
+    systemMessage += `
+<context name="workflowNotepad">This is your persistent notepad for this workflow. It contains notes from previous runs. You can update it using the WorkflowNotepad tool.
+
+${notepad}
+</context>`;
+  }
+
   // Add plan mode specific instructions if in plan mode
   if (mode === "plan") {
     systemMessage +=

extensions/cli/src/tools/allBuiltIns.ts

@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ import { uploadArtifactTool } from "./uploadArtifact.js";
 import { viewDiffTool } from "./viewDiff.js";
 import { writeChecklistTool } from "./writeChecklist.js";
 import { writeFileTool } from "./writeFile.js";
+import { workflowNotepadTool } from "./workflowNotepad.js";
 
 // putting in here for circular import issue
 export const ALL_BUILT_IN_TOOLS = [
@@ -35,3 +36,5 @@ export const ALL_BUILT_IN_TOOLS = [
   writeChecklistTool,
   writeFileTool,
 ];
+
+export { workflowNotepadTool };

extensions/cli/src/tools/index.tsx

@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ import type {
 import { telemetryService } from "../telemetry/telemetryService.js";
 import { logger } from "../util/logger.js";
 
-import { ALL_BUILT_IN_TOOLS } from "./allBuiltIns.js";
+import { ALL_BUILT_IN_TOOLS, workflowNotepadTool } from "./allBuiltIns.js";
 import { editTool } from "./edit.js";
 import { exitTool } from "./exit.js";
 import { fetchTool } from "./fetch.js";
@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ import { checkIfRipgrepIsInstalled, searchCodeTool } from "./searchCode.js";
 import { skillsTool } from "./skills.js";
 import { subagentTool } from "./subagent.js";
 import {
+  isBetaNotepadToolEnabled,
   isBetaSubagentToolEnabled,
   isBetaUploadArtifactToolEnabled,
 } from "./toolsConfig.js";
@@ -94,6 +95,11 @@ export async function getAllAvailableTools(
     }
   }
 
+  // Add workflow notepad tool if WORKFLOW_ID is present and beta flag is enabled
+  if (process.env.WORKFLOW_ID && isBetaNotepadToolEnabled()) {
+    tools.push(workflowNotepadTool);
+  }
+
   // If model is capable, exclude editTool in favor of multiEditTool
   const modelState = await serviceContainer.get<ModelServiceState>(
     SERVICE_NAMES.MODEL,

extensions/cli/src/tools/toolsConfig.ts

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 
 let betaUploadArtifactToolEnabled = false;
 let betaSubagentToolEnabled = false;
+let betaNotepadToolEnabled = false;
 
 export function setBetaUploadArtifactToolEnabled(enabled: boolean): void {
   betaUploadArtifactToolEnabled = enabled;
@@ -21,3 +22,11 @@ export function setBetaSubagentToolEnabled(enabled: boolean): void {
 export function isBetaSubagentToolEnabled(): boolean {
   return betaSubagentToolEnabled;
 }
+
+export function setBetaNotepadToolEnabled(enabled: boolean): void {
+  betaNotepadToolEnabled = enabled;
+}
+
+export function isBetaNotepadToolEnabled(): boolean {
+  return betaNotepadToolEnabled;
+}

extensions/cli/src/tools/workflowNotepad.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,47 @@
+import type { Tool } from "./types.js";
+
+function getWorkflowIdFromEnv(): string | undefined {
+  return process.env.WORKFLOW_ID;
+}
+
+export const workflowNotepadTool: Tool = {
+  name: "WorkflowNotepad",
+  displayName: "Workflow Notepad",
+  description:
+    "Update your persistent notepad for this workflow. The current notepad content is already visible in your system prompt under <context name='workflowNotepad'>. Use this tool to replace the notepad with new content.",
+  parameters: {
+    type: "object",
+    required: ["content"],
+    properties: {
+      content: {
+        type: "string",
+        description:
+          "New content to write to notepad (max 100KB). This will replace the entire notepad.",
+      },
+    },
+  },
+  readonly: false,
+  isBuiltIn: true,
+  run: async (args: { content: string }) => {
+    const workflowId = getWorkflowIdFromEnv();
+    if (!workflowId) {
+      throw new Error(
+        "Workflow notepad only available when running in a workflow",
+      );
+    }
+
+    if (!args.content) {
+      throw new Error("content is required");
+    }
+
+    // Import dynamically to avoid circular dependencies
+    const { put } = await import("../util/apiClient.js");
+
+    // PUT /workflows/:workflowId/notepad
+    await put(`workflows/${workflowId}/notepad`, {
+      notepad: args.content,
+    });
+
+    return "Notepad updated successfully. Note: The updated content will be visible in the system prompt when you restart or in your next workflow run.";
+  },
+};