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MCP: add `update_document` so a coding agent can revise a plan it created

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@lavaman131 is already working on this.

Since Sep 21, 2026.

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Description

Problem

The /mcp contract lets an external agent create_document, read_document, list_documents, rename_document, archive_document, and
restore_document, plus the experimental implementation lifecycle. None of these change a document's body after creation. rename_document is
explicitly scoped to the title and slug and leaves "canonical plan source, plan revision … intact."

The only actors that can revise plan content today are people in the browser and the hosted Planner via @chopin, which runs under a browser
user's GitHub App session and Copilot entitlement. An MCP bearer never becomes that owner, so a coding agent's relationship with a document is
write-once, read-many.

That is a good fit for "hand a settled conversation to the team," but it blocks the obvious next step: the same agent that drafted the plan wants
to fold in reviewer findings, a corrected signature, or a resolved open question without asking a human to paste the new text or re-prompt the
Planner. Creating a second document splits Decisions and Chat across two channels.

Proposal

Add one tool:

update_document
  id              document UUID (or canonical URL, like read_document)
  revision        integer — the plan revision the caller last read
  plan            full replacement MDX source
  idempotencyKey  string ≤128

Semantics:

  • Optimistic concurrency. If revision does not match the current plan revision, return { code: "revision-conflict", revision: <current> }
    and change nothing. The caller re-reads and retries. This keeps a stale agent from silently overwriting edits people or the Planner made in the
    meantime.
  • Same validation as create. Run the source through the existing prepare / canonical path in apps/server/src/mcp/create.ts (parse →
    mint missing component ids → serialize → validate → room.validate) and return { issues } on failure, exactly as create_document does.
  • Preserve durable state. Questionnaire/Decision blocks are server-owned projections of sidecar records. An update that drops or alters
    an existing one should be refused (or the server should re-project them), so a rewrite cannot erase what the team decided — the same guarantee the
    Planner's editing tools already provide.
  • Respect the graph lock. While an implementation run holds the graph locked, refuse with document-locked, matching the existing rule
    that "plan changes that would invalidate the claimed work" are refused during an active run.
  • Authorization. Push or admin access, same as create_document. Idempotent replay with the same key returns the already-applied result.
  • Provenance. Record the MCP client and revision transition in the same place the Planner's edits are attributed, so the browser can show
    "revised by agent" markers for the changed ranges.

Return the same document shape as read_document (id, title, source, revision, url).

Alternatives considered
  • Patch-style edits (range or anchor based). Smaller payloads, but MDX offsets shift under concurrent Yjs edits and the dialect canonicalizer
    rewrites the source anyway; a full-source replace guarded by revision is simpler and matches how create_document already treats plan.
  • Let MCP callers trigger a Planner turn. Would need the bearer to acquire Copilot ownership, which the ownership model deliberately avoids.
  • Archive and recreate. Loses the channel's Chat, Decisions, and any child research documents.
Notes

apps/server/src/mcp.ts already dispatches per tool with additionalProperties: false schemas and outcome codes, and rename_document shows
the shape of a "mutate one field with conflict codes" tool, so this looks like a contained addition rather than a new subsystem. Happy to help test
against a self-hosted instance.

Dominant language
TypeScript
Stars
351
Forks
20
Avg merge
14h 7m
Merged PRs (30d)
34

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