P1 review finding: extractMeta timed only the literal's vm evaluation;
materializing the RESULT then read properties ordinarily on the HOST
stack, so a meta literal smuggling a getter (get name() { while(true){} })
could wedge the host outside any timeout — defeating the exact spin
isolation the worker thread exists for.
Rather than harden the evaluator (descriptor walks, AST validation),
delete the mechanism: the workflow's identity now reaches the seam as a
plain JSON field (WorkflowStartRequest.meta), carried by the tool as a
schema-validated `meta` object parameter the model fills directly. The
engine only shape-validates data (validateMeta, every violation named)
and pre-parses the body; the scanner, the vm evaluation, and the
host-side materialization are gone, and with them the hole. A body
still opening with a Claude Code-style `export const meta` statement
gets a pointed SCRIPT_PARSE message (the likeliest authoring slip; a
CC script's body stays drop-in, only its meta header moves into the
parameter). syncTimeoutMs now governs exactly one thing: the initial
synchronous slice inside the worker.
The RFC's decision section is rewritten in place (implemented-RFC
rule); the embedded-meta format moves to alternatives-considered with
the hole as the reason. Tool description, presentation (title now reads
meta.name directly — the textual sniff is gone), seam vocabulary docs,
and catalogs follow.
5.1 KiB
Workflow
The workflow seam — an agent running a model-written orchestration SCRIPT that fans out subagents. Like subagent it is one optional capability, not part of the agent-loop spine, so its vocabulary lives here rather than in core.md. Unlike the subagent registry it takes the bash shape: ONE engine implementation per context provides ctx.workflows; there is no named-provider registry (a second engine is a plugin swap, not a co-resident).
Interface: dsh-workflow (ctx.workflows + the vocabulary below). The implementation is dsh-workflow-workerthread (a node:worker_threads engine — one worker per run, the script's vm context inside it); the model-facing consumer is dsh-tool-workflow. The proposal and rationale: the dynamic-workflows RFC.
Source: packages/workflow/workflow/src/types.ts
The start request
What a caller asks for when starting a run. The tool layer builds this from the model's { script, meta, args } call plus the calling agent; meta and args are plain JSON DATA (the engine shape-validates meta and rejects loud BEFORE anything runs — no script text is ever evaluated to obtain it). parent is REQUIRED — every child the script spawns is attributed to it (cwd, lineage, and depth flow through the subagent seam).
interface WorkflowStartRequest {
script: string
meta: WorkflowMeta
args?: unknown
parent: Agent
signal?: AbortSignal
}
The workflow's identity: WorkflowMeta
The identity block carried as data on the start request (the tool's meta parameter; the field vocabulary matches the Claude Code dynamic-workflows meta block). phases is progress vocabulary only: phase() calls match titles for observers; no execution structure is implied.
interface WorkflowMeta {
name: string
description: string
whenToUse?: string
phases?: WorkflowPhase[]
}
The terminal result: WorkflowResult
The outcome of one run, resolved by WorkflowRun.result. value is the script's materialized return value — plain host-realm JSON data (null when the script returned nothing) — meaningful only for completed. stopReason is a CLOSED union (engine-owned; consumers may exhaust it): completed | cancelled | error. A non-completed reason carries the failure in error, and the consumer maps it to an isError tool result rather than reporting partial output as success.
interface WorkflowResult {
value: unknown
stopReason: WorkflowStopReason
error?: string
agentsStarted: number
}
A live run: WorkflowRun
The handle the consumer holds while a script executes. The consumer awaits result, may cancel mid-flight, and MUST dispose on every path. result does NOT reject — a script failure resolves with stopReason: 'error' — and once the run is cancelled it SETTLES within the engine's bounded grace even if the script itself never settles (the engine force-settles cancelled; the worker-thread engine then terminates the script's worker), so a consumer awaiting result is never wedged past a cancellation. dispose() = cancel + that bounded settle + child quiescence; it never hangs on a stuck script.
interface WorkflowRun {
readonly id: WorkflowRunId
readonly meta: WorkflowMeta
readonly result: Promise<WorkflowResult>
cancel(reason?: string): void
dispose(): Promise<void>
}
Failure discipline: WorkflowError.fatal
Hook misuse inside a script — bad arguments, unknown/deferred agent() options, a schema outside the structured-output subset, a tripped cap, a seam start failure, cancellation — throws a WorkflowError with fatal: true. The parallel()/pipeline() combinators RE-THROW fatal errors instead of mapping the item to null: a typo'd option must kill the script loudly, never dissolve into something that reads as an ordinary child failure. The per-item null is reserved for child-run failures (a non-completed stop reason) and ordinary in-stage script errors.
Events
The workflow/* events (workflow/start, workflow/phase, workflow/log, workflow/agent-start, workflow/agent-end, workflow/end — see the events catalog) are observe-only emits carrying DATA SNAPSHOTS: every payload starts with WorkflowRunInfo (id + meta), never the live WorkflowRun, so a subscriber cannot gain cancel/dispose, and workflow/end deliberately omits the result value (a listener observing outcomes must not receive a mutable alias of the caller's result). Every emit is per-listener contained — a throwing subscriber is logged, never propagated, and cannot starve the listeners registered after it — and every listener receives its own payload clone, so mutating it corrupts neither the engine nor other listeners; the containment mirrors subagent/start/subagent/end.