Orchestration

Orchestration turns independent capabilities into an application story without making the kernel a workflow engine. llm-core owns portable workflow intent and the controlled path for meaningful tool effects. A selected runtime integration owns native ordering, branching, pause, retry, rollback, and resume semantics.

flowchart TB
  contracts["Portable contracts"] --> capabilities["Capability ports"]
  capabilities --> control["Controlled effect sequencing"]
  capabilities --> intent["Portable workflow intent"]
  intent --> adapters["Qualified runtime adapter"]
  adapters --> native["Native workflow runtime"]
  control --> result["Authoritative effect outcome"]

This direction keeps three responsibilities separate:

Layer	Owns	Does not own
Kernel capability	Portable contracts and their guarantees	Native workflow execution
Controlled effect	Policy, approval, receipt, concurrency, and effect sequencing	A general workflow runtime
Runtime integration	Native execution semantics and runtime authority	Portable kernel contract definitions
Adapter projection	Explicit mapping and conversion-loss reporting	Universal checkpoint portability

Two separate responsibilities

The /workflow front describes portable intent. It does not expose a local Workflow.run, runWorkflow, or resume engine. A qualified adapter projects supported intent into LangGraph, Temporal, Mastra, or another selected runtime.

Meaningful effects take the controlled path. executeControlledTool coordinates policy, approval, concurrency, durable receipts, execution, and redacted event delivery. A runtime may use those contracts inside its own workflow, but the kernel does not take ownership of that workflow.

This is a deliberate split. Native pause or checkpoint state is not evidence that a side effect can be repeated safely.

Choose the next page

• Workflows explains portable intent and adapter-owned execution.
• Controlled tool execution explains the fail-closed path for meaningful effects.
• Composition patterns shows how to assemble reusable workflows without creating hidden execution authority.