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Workflow Execution Model Compliance

Rule

All runtime-native workflows must comply with the CAS Workflow Execution Model.

Specifically:

  • CAS Runner is responsible for orchestration.
  • Workflows are responsible for reasoning.
  • Knowledge Providers are responsible for knowledge access.
  • Prompt contracts remain the authoritative source of workflow reasoning behaviour.
  • Workflows must consume context supplied by CAS Runner.
  • Workflows must not perform repository discovery or direct knowledge workspace scanning.
  • Workflows must not assume repository structure.
  • Workflows must not implement orchestration responsibilities that belong to CAS Runner.
  • Workflow outputs must conform to their declared schema contracts.
  • Runtime onboarding must follow the lifecycle and responsibility boundaries defined by the CAS Workflow Execution Model.

Rationale

CAS is evolving from a collection of manually executed prompts into a governance platform with runtime-native capabilities.

Without a common execution model, workflows risk embedding responsibilities that belong to orchestration, knowledge access, or runtime management. This creates inconsistent onboarding approaches, duplicated logic, tighter coupling to repository structures, and reduced portability across execution environments.

The Workflow Execution Model establishes a consistent separation of concerns:

text Knowledge Provider ↓ Provides Knowledge CAS Runner ↓ Orchestrates Workflow ↓ Reasons Schema ↓ Validates Outputs

This separation improves maintainability, onboarding consistency, automation readiness, and governance scalability.

Applies To

  • Runtime-native workflows
  • Workflow onboarding efforts
  • CAS Runner capabilities
  • Discovery workflows
  • Governance workflows
  • Intelligence workflows
  • Publication workflows
  • Future workflow registrations
  • Runtime orchestration implementations

Examples include:

  • conversation-to-architecture-work
  • vision-to-architecture-work
  • discovery-to-architecture-work
  • signal-to-pattern-proposal
  • cross-aid-synthesis

Example

Compliant

text CAS Runner ↓ Loads Conversation Context Workflow ↓ Generates Architecture Work CAS Runner ↓ Persists Output

The workflow receives context and performs reasoning only.

Non-Compliant

text Workflow ↓ Scans knowledge/projects/** ↓ Discovers Inputs ↓ Generates Output ↓ Writes Files Directly

The workflow performs repository discovery and persistence responsibilities that belong to CAS Runner, violating the Workflow Execution Model.

Enforcement

Violations should be identified during:

  • Workflow onboarding reviews
  • Architecture reviews
  • Governance assessments
  • Alignment evaluations
  • Runtime capability validation

New runtime workflows should demonstrate compliance before being promoted to first-class CAS capabilities.

See Also