cannot install: npm returned an unexpected version response

Pre-submission checklist

• I have searched existing open and closed issues and this is not a duplicate.
• I am on the latest released version of Paperclip (or can reproduce on master).
• I have confirmed the error originates in Paperclip itself — not in my agent adapter, API provider, or local configuration.

What happened?

curl -fsSLO https://paperclip.ing/install.sh
curl -fsSLO https://paperclip.ing/install.sh.sha256
if command -v sha256sum >/dev/null 2>&1; then
  sha256sum -c install.sh.sha256
else
  shasum -a 256 -c install.sh.sha256
fi
bash install.sh

results in:

install.sh: OK
[paperclip] Detected linux/x64
[paperclip] Using Node.js v24.19.0
[paperclip] Delegating to the Paperclip CLI
[paperclip] + npx --yes paperclipai@latest install
npm notice run npx
npm notice run 'paperclipai' install
Resolving paperclipai@latest from https://registry.npmjs.org...
npm returned an unexpected version response: [
  "2026.824.1"
]

this has been going on for multiple versions.

Expected behavior

Steps to reproduce

Paperclip version or commit

Deployment mode

Self-hosted server

Installation method

Other

Agent adapter(s) involved

• Claude Code
• Codex
• Cursor
• Droid
• Hermes
• Custom / external plugin adapter
• Not adapter-specific (core bug)

Database mode

None

Access context

None

Node.js version

No response

Operating system

No response

Relevant logs or output

Relevant config (if applicable)

Additional context

No response

Privacy checklist

• I have reviewed all pasted output for PII (usernames, file paths, API keys, tokens, company names) and redacted where necessary.