# Domain 3 — Multi-Agent Orchestration

**Status:** Proposed
**Depends on:** v2.7.17-orchestrator, v2.8.13-model-resolution-matcher, v2.8.17-boulder-state

## Why

BooCode's conductor runs sequential analysis flows on local Qwen with a static wave scheduler. Each step is a linear dependency chain. This works for simple analysis flows but misses 8 concrete improvements identified in the lift analysis (boocode-lift-analysis.md Domain 3).

DO_WHILE loops, SWITCH branching, FORK_JOIN parallel execution, a formal task state machine, declarative DAGs, parallel batch execution, and a structured phased lifecycle would make the conductor a true multi-agent workflow engine.

## What Changes

### Phase 1: Flow state machine + branching (high confidence)

1. Task state machine — Add formal states: SCHEDULED → IN_PROGRESS → COMPLETED/FAILED/TIMED_OUT with retriable flag. Currently steps just have running/completed/failed/cancelled.

2. DO_WHILE loop step — Re-runs a sub-step until a condition is met. while(condition) guard on step definition.

3. SWITCH branch step — cases: [{ when: condition, steps: [...] }]. First matching case executes.

4. FORK_JOIN step — Fans out to N parallel sub-steps and synchronizes at a Join point. All branches must complete before the flow advances.

### Phase 2: Declarative DAGs (medium confidence)

5. JSON DAG format — Optional JSON-based flow definition alongside existing TypeScript Step[] arrays. LLM-friendly, versioned, loadable from disk.

### Phase 3: Batch execution + lifecycle (lower confidence)

6. Parallel batch execution — Independent tasks within a flow run concurrently. Uses existing dispatcher's task queue — launch multiple tasks at once.

7. Structured phased lifecycle — ticket → research → plan → execute → commit → review as a template flow definition.

## Non-Goals
- No replacement of existing flow engine — additive changes only
- No Paseo daemon integration (handled by omo-paseo-bridge)
- No inter-agent messaging (Domain 4)

## Capabilities

### New Capabilities
- DO_WHILE step type — repeat sub-steps until condition met
- SWITCH step type — conditional branching by case
- FORK_JOIN step type — parallel fan-out with Join sync
- Retriable task flag — auto-retry failed steps up to N times
- JSON DAG format — portable flow definitions
- Phased lifecycle template — ticket-to-review reference flow

### Modified Capabilities
- Step kind: gains 'do_while', 'switch', 'fork_join'
- Flow runner: wave scheduler handles branching + parallel branches
