Make the recommended MCP profile visible from the first help and docs pass without changing 3.x behavior. Rework help, top-level docs, public-contract wording, and shipped MCP/OpenAI examples so is the recommended first profile while stays the compatibility default for full-surface hosts. Bump the package and catalog to 3.8.0, mark the roadmap milestone done, and add regression coverage for the new MCP help and docs alignment. Validation included uv lock, targeted profile/help tests, make check, make dist-check, and a real guest-backed server smoke.
5.2 KiB
5.2 KiB
LLM Chat Ergonomics Roadmap
This roadmap picks up after the completed workspace GA plan and focuses on one goal:
make the core agent-workspace use cases feel trivial from a chat-driven LLM interface.
Current baseline is 3.8.0:
- the stable workspace contract exists across CLI, SDK, and MCP
- one-shot
pyro runstill exists as the narrow entrypoint - workspaces already support seeding, sync push, exec, export, diff, snapshots, reset, services, PTY shells, secrets, network policy, and published ports
- stopped-workspace disk tools now exist, but remain explicitly secondary
What "Trivial In Chat" Means
The roadmap is done only when a chat-driven LLM can cover the main use cases without awkward shell choreography or hidden host-side glue:
- cold-start repo validation
- repro plus fix loops
- parallel isolated workspaces for multiple issues or PRs
- unsafe or untrusted code inspection
- review and evaluation workflows
More concretely, the model should not need to:
- patch files through shell-escaped
printfor heredoc tricks - rely on opaque workspace IDs without a discovery surface
- consume raw terminal control sequences as normal shell output
- choose from an unnecessarily large tool surface when a smaller profile would work
The remaining UX friction for a technically strong new user is now narrower:
- the recommended chat-host onramp is now explicit, but human-mode file reads still need final transcript polish for copy-paste and chat logs
Locked Decisions
- keep the workspace product identity central; do not drift toward CI, queue, or runner abstractions
- keep disk tools secondary and do not make them the main chat-facing surface
- prefer narrow tool profiles and structured outputs over more raw shell calls
- capability milestones should update CLI, SDK, and MCP together
- CLI-only ergonomics are allowed when the SDK and MCP surfaces already have the structured behavior natively
- every milestone below must also update docs, help text, runnable examples, and at least one real smoke scenario
Milestones
3.2.0Model-Native Workspace File Ops - Done3.3.0Workspace Naming And Discovery - Done3.4.0Tool Profiles And Canonical Chat Flows - Done3.5.0Chat-Friendly Shell Output - Done3.6.0Use-Case Recipes And Smoke Packs - Done3.7.0Handoff Shortcuts And File Input Sources - Done3.8.0Chat-Host Onramp And Recommended Defaults - Done3.9.0Content-Only Reads And Human Output Polish - Planned
Completed so far:
3.2.0added model-nativeworkspace file *andworkspace patch applyso chat-driven agents can inspect and edit/workspacewithout shell-escaped file mutation flows.3.3.0added workspace names, key/value labels,workspace list,workspace update, andlast_activity_attracking so humans and chat-driven agents can rediscover and resume the right workspace without external notes.3.4.0added stable MCP/server tool profiles withvm-run,workspace-core, andworkspace-full, plus canonical profile-based OpenAI and MCP examples so chat hosts can start narrow and widen only when needed.3.5.0added chat-friendly shell reads with plain-text rendering and idle batching so PTY sessions are readable enough to feed directly back into a chat model.3.6.0added recipe docs and real guest-backed smoke packs for the five core workspace use cases so the stable product is now demonstrated as repeatable end-to-end stories instead of only isolated feature surfaces.3.7.0removed the remaining shell glue from canonical CLI workspace flows with--id-only,--text-file, and--patch-file, so the shortest handoff path no longer depends onpython -cextraction or$(cat ...)expansion.3.8.0madeworkspace-corethe obvious first MCP/chat-host profile from the first help and docs pass while keepingworkspace-fullas the 3.x compatibility default.
Planned next:
3.9.0makes human-mode file reads cleaner in terminals and chat logs, with explicit content-only reads where summaries would otherwise get in the way.
Expected Outcome
After this roadmap, the product should still look like an agent workspace, not like a CI runner with more isolation.
The intended model-facing shape is:
- one-shot work starts with
vm_run - persistent work moves to a small workspace-first contract
- file edits are structured and model-native
- workspace discovery is human and model-friendly
- shells are readable in chat
- CLI handoff paths do not depend on ad hoc shell parsing
- the recommended chat-host profile is obvious from the first MCP example
- human-mode content reads are copy-paste safe
- the five core use cases are documented and smoke-tested end to end