Orchestration

The orchestrate() function runs a single synthesis cycle in 13 steps:

1. Discover — walk watcher filesystem for .meta/meta.json files (no Qdrant dependency)
2. Read — parse meta.json for each discovered path
3. Build tree — construct the ownership tree from valid paths
4. Select candidate — rank by effective staleness, acquire lock on winner
5. Compute context — scope files, delta files, child meta outputs, previous content/feedback
6. Structure hash — SHA-256 of sorted scope file listing (computed from context)
7. Steer detection — compare current _steer vs latest archive
8. Architect (conditional) — runs if: no cached builder, structure changed, steer changed, or periodic refresh
9. Builder — executes the architect's brief, produces _content + structured fields
10. Critic — evaluates the synthesis, produces _feedback
11. Merge & finalize — stage result in .lock, copy to meta.json
12. Archive & prune — create timestamped archive snapshot, prune beyond maxArchive
13. Release lock — delete .lock file (in finally block)

Module Structure

The orchestration pipeline is split into focused modules following SOLID/DRY principles:

Error Handling

• Architect failure with cached builder: continues with existing _builder
• Architect failure without cached builder: cycle ends, error recorded
• Builder failure: cycle ends, error recorded
• Builder timeout (SpawnTimeoutError): attempts to salvage advanced _state from partial output via timeoutRecovery; if _state progressed, it is persisted (state-only finalize) and the cycle is recorded as a partial success
• Critic failure: synthesis is preserved, error attached
• Errors never block the queue: logged, reported, queue advances

Lock Staging ("Never Write Worse")

Results are staged in .lock before being committed to meta.json. If the process crashes:

• Before staging: meta.json is untouched
• After staging, before commit: meta.json is untouched; stale .lock cleaned at next startup
• After commit: synthesis is preserved