Flow.

with: binds a value and IS a data edge · after: orders on outcome and IS a control edge. Nothing else creates an edge; there is no dependency list to maintain beside the file.

1think:2  with:3    gather: ${{ tasks.gather.output }}4  ◇infer:5    prompt: |6      Summarize · ${{ with.gather }}

1announce:2  after: { changelog: success }3  ◆invoke:4    tool: "nika:notify"

The run graph speaks a closed set of edge kinds: value bindings, the two observations, control, recovery and the reserved finally. Unknown kinds are reader-tolerated by law · new ones arrive with the spec.

• valuea with binding referencing a task output · carries the binding name
• terminal-observationa status or timing read in with · settles with the producer
• failure-observationan error read in with · flows only when the producer failed
• controlan after entry · carries its gate predicate
• recoveryan on_error.recover reference · a parking read, not an ordering edge
• finallyW5reserved · named so the enum is complete before the trace wave gives cleanup identity

release-gatedreal nika inspect payloads per kind land with the first W2+ release train (engine captures are release-gated by law) · until then every kind above links its conformance fixtures through the matrix below.

An after entry gates on producer state: succeeded, failed, skipped or terminal. The full producer-status by predicate matrix is fixture-proven upstream · the site replays it, never re-derives it.

• successfire when the producer completed clean
• failurefire when the producer failed terminally
• skippedfire when the producer was gated out
• terminalfire when the producer reached any terminal state

Producer state by consumer edge form: 40 cells, 35 run against the reference model (the spec authors every verdict), 5 statically dead. Pick a cell; the site replays the fixture truth, it never re-derives it.

The engine reads every edge and runs Kahn fronts: tasks with no unmet producer start together, each wave as wide as the graph allows. max_parallel caps a fan-out politely · fail_fast decides whether one failure drains the batch · when: is business logic AFTER the gate admits a task, never the gate itself.

ratifiedships with the decisions wave: nika:decide and the Decision IR join this page when the resync brings the W-DEC canon.