lda-wf/docs/superpowers/research/2026-06-09-product-smoke-rpc-cli.md

Product Smoke: MCP-Backed JSON-RPC CLI

Date: 2026-06-09

Historical note: this smoke captured older platform-source behavior. Current deployments no longer need self-bindings such as wf.std=wf.std for built-in platform sources, and current validation rejects explicit platform-source bindings. The two rows below mentioning wf.std=wf.std are preserved as historical output, not current guidance.

Target:

wf --url http://127.0.0.1:8765/rpc ...

Server was already running when this smoke pass started.

Summary

The remote CLI path is usable end-to-end:

• wf status reports remote target, sources, admin counts, registry availability, and capability samples.
• Source listing works.
• Direct cap call works for both built-in wf.std capabilities and upstream MCP-backed capabilities.
• Draft -> artifact -> deployment -> validate -> run -> inspect -> trace works through the JSON-RPC server.
• Deployment cleanup works.

Commands Run

Command	Result
wf --url http://127.0.0.1:8765/rpc status	OK; remote mode, 7 sources, 4 connections, registry available.
wf --url ... source list --format compact	OK; showed 4 MCP connections plus wf.admin, wf.recipes, wf.std.
wf --url ... cap call wf.std.constant --input '{"value":"smoke constant"}'	OK; output value echoed.
wf --url ... cap call everything.default.echo --input '{"message":"smoke echo"}'	OK; returned MCP content-block envelope.
wf --url ... admin registry list	OK; empty registry.
wf --url ... draft create-from-capability smoke_ws_20260609 wf.std.constant ...	OK; valid draft, high-confidence wrapper hints.
wf --url ... draft validate smoke_ws_20260609	OK; valid.
wf --url ... draft inspect smoke_ws_20260609 --include-draft	OK; full draft returned.
wf --url ... draft save smoke_ws_20260609 --artifact smoke_artifact_20260609 --version 1 ...	Historical: artifact saved and suggested wf.std=wf.std; current behavior should not suggest platform bindings.
wf --url ... deploy save smoke_deploy_20260609 --artifact smoke_artifact_20260609 --version 1 --binding wf.std=wf.std	Historical: accepted then; current validation rejects explicit platform bindings.
wf --url ... deploy validate smoke_deploy_20260609	OK; status: runnable.
wf --url ... run start smoke_deploy_20260609 --input '{"value":"remote lifecycle smoke"}'	OK; completed with expected output.
wf --url ... run inspect run_7afdda9f958a4c258866192a78d1ef6b	OK; compact completed run summary.
wf --url ... run trace run_7afdda9f958a4c258866192a78d1ef6b --from 0 --limit 5	OK; one trace frame with resolved input and state changes.
wf --url ... admin auth list	OK; empty auth list.
wf --url ... deploy delete smoke_deploy_20260609	OK; deployment deleted.

UX Gaps Found

1. artifact inspect takes VERSION as a positional argument, while nearby commands use --version. I first tried artifact inspect <id> --version 1 and got a clean Typer error. This is not a crash, but it is inconsistent.

2. cap call for raw MCP tools returns the raw MCP content-block envelope. This is technically correct and already documented as a content-block boundary, but it is still user-visible friction for ordinary "just echo text" probes.

3. There is no CLI cleanup command for draft workspaces or artifacts. Smoke tests can delete deployments, but draft/artifact records remain unless the store is disposable or cleaned out of band.

Suggested Follow-Ups

1. Add --version alias support for wf artifact inspect while keeping the positional form for compatibility.

2. Add explicit docs/examples for interpreting raw MCP content envelopes from cap call, or add a separate wrapper/extraction helper path. Do not silently flatten all content blocks.

3. Add safe cleanup commands:

   • wf draft delete <workspace_id> --confirm
   • wf artifact delete <artifact_id> <version> --confirm

   These should target stores only and should not delete deployments unless a separate explicit cascade option exists.