orchestration-patterns

name	orchestration-patterns
description	Decision guide for selecting the right orchestration pattern for a process

Orchestration Pattern Selection

Every process declares an orchestration: field in its process.md. This guide helps you choose the right pattern.

Terminology

• Slug: A short identifier for a process run instance (e.g., cycle-9, 2026-03-08-code-review). The slug is provided by the user or derived from the directive when the orchestrator creates the workspace.

Available Patterns

Pattern	File	Orchestrator Role	Best For
hub-and-spoke	hub-and-spoke.md	Central orchestrator, all agents communicate through hub	Multi-agent pipelines with clear phases
discussion	discussion.md	Moderator, facilitates multi-agent discussion	Brainstorming, design review, multi-perspective analysis
solo	solo.md	Operator, single agent handles everything	Simple processes, single-skill tasks
sequential-agents	sequential-agents.md	Coordinator, explicit handoff between agents	Strict ordering, resource constraints, assembly-line work

Decision Matrix

Start here:

1. How many agents does the process need?

   • One agent: use solo
   • Multiple agents: continue to question 2

2. Do agents need to discuss or debate?

   • Yes, agents need multi-perspective synthesis: use discussion
   • No, agents work on distinct phases: continue to question 3

3. Can phases run in parallel?

   • Yes, I/O dependencies allow parallelism: use hub-and-spoke (default)
   • No, strict linear ordering required: use sequential-agents

4. Still unsure?

   • Default to hub-and-spoke. It handles both parallel and sequential phases, and the orchestrator can infer execution order from I/O dependencies.

Shared Lifecycle

All patterns share a common lifecycle protocol defined in lifecycle.md:

• Workspace creation, lifecycle task creation, status tracking format
• Ready-handshake protocol for agent spawn timing
• Shutdown sequence, completion gate, session continuity, resumability

Read lifecycle.md first, then the pattern-specific file for execution rules.

Pattern Details

• hub-and-spoke.md — Spawn order, parallelism inference, error chain, gate protocol, intra-phase parallel dispatch
• discussion.md — Moderator behavior, turn-taking, synthesis rules
• solo.md — Single-agent operation, when to upgrade to multi-agent
• sequential-agents.md — Handoff protocol, agent lifecycle (eager shutdown)

Overriding Defaults

A process can override pattern defaults in its process.md:

• sequential: true forces linear execution even in hub-and-spoke
• Mode files (modes/supervised.md, modes/autonomous.md) control gate behavior
• Error policy can be customized per-process (default is in hub-and-spoke.md)