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Execution Workspaces And Runtime Services

This guide documents the intended runtime model for projects, execution workspaces, and issue runs in Vagaris.

Vagaris now presents this as a workspace-command model:

  • Services are long-running commands that stay supervised.
  • Jobs are one-shot commands that run once and exit.
  • Raw runtime JSON is still available for advanced config, but it is no longer the primary mental model.

Project runtime configuration​

You can define how to run a project on the project workspace itself.

  • Project workspace runtime config describes the services and jobs available for that project checkout.
  • This is the default runtime configuration that child execution workspaces may inherit.
  • Defining the config does not start anything by itself.

Manual runtime control​

Workspace commands are manually controlled from the UI.

  • Project workspace services are started and stopped from the project workspace UI, and project jobs can be run on demand there.
  • Execution workspace services are started and stopped from the execution workspace UI, and execution-workspace jobs can be run on demand there.
  • Vagaris does not automatically start or stop these workspace services as part of issue execution.
  • Vagaris also does not automatically restart workspace services on server boot.

Execution workspace inheritance​

Execution workspaces isolate code and runtime state from the project primary workspace.

  • An isolated execution workspace has its own checkout path, branch, and local runtime instance.
  • The runtime configuration may inherit from the linked project workspace by default.
  • The execution workspace may override that runtime configuration with its own workspace-specific settings.
  • The inherited configuration answers "which commands exist and how to run them", but any running service process is still specific to that execution workspace.

Issues and execution workspaces​

Issues are attached to execution workspace behavior, not to automatic runtime management.

  • An issue may create a new execution workspace when you choose an isolated workspace mode.
  • An issue may reuse an existing execution workspace when you choose reuse.
  • Multiple issues may intentionally share one execution workspace so they can work against the same branch and running runtime services.
  • Assigning or running an issue does not automatically start or stop workspace services for that workspace.

Execution workspace lifecycle​

Execution workspaces are durable until a human closes them.

  • The UI can archive an execution workspace.
  • Closing an execution workspace stops its runtime services and cleans up its workspace artifacts when allowed.
  • Shared workspaces that point at the project primary checkout are treated more conservatively during cleanup than disposable isolated workspaces.

Resolved workspace logic during heartbeat runs​

Heartbeat still resolves a workspace for the run, but that is about code location and session continuity, not runtime-service control.

  1. Heartbeat resolves a base workspace for the run.
  2. Vagaris realizes the effective execution workspace, including creating or reusing a worktree when needed.
  3. Vagaris persists execution-workspace metadata such as paths, refs, and provisioning settings.
  4. Heartbeat passes the resolved code workspace to the agent run.
  5. Workspace runtime services remain manual UI-managed controls rather than automatic heartbeat-managed services.

Cross-run persistence (no-remote-git contract)​

Code state moves between runs through the local execution-workspace cwd alone — not through a git remote.

  • Each run's prepare step bundles the local worktree to the run's remote dir over ssh, with no git remote configured.
  • The adapter's restore step at the end of the run writes any new remote commits back into the local worktree directly.
  • Adapters must never git push from runtime code, and must never assume a remote exists.
  • A failed restore is a run-level error and records workspace_finalize=failed on the execution workspace, which gates dependent issue wakes until the next successful finalize.

The invariant is enforced by the "no-remote-git contract" case in packages/adapter-utils/src/ssh-fixture.test.ts, which asserts a remote-only commit reaches the local worktree with no remote configured at any point.

Current implementation guarantees​

With the current implementation:

  • Project workspace command config is the fallback for execution workspace UI controls.
  • Execution workspace runtime overrides are stored on the execution workspace.
  • Heartbeat runs do not auto-start workspace services.
  • Server startup does not auto-restart workspace services.