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Fairway Ecosystem

Fairway is the harness-neutral coordination and engineering-record layer for agent-driven delivery. It composes with the systems that execute, route, schedule, version, verify, discuss, secure, and promote software; it does not absorb their responsibilities.

This page defines durable categories. It intentionally does not name, rank, or compare individual products.

Responsibility Map​

CategoryOwnsSends to FairwayReceives from FairwayDoes not delegate to Fairway
Coding agentInvestigation, implementation, local testing, bounded reviewSession lifecycle, checkpoints, evidence, handback, bounded usage metadataTask packet, acceptance, cited facts, required checks, unresolved waitsCredentials, self-approval, risk acceptance, merge/deploy/live authority
Agent runtime, including optional SeawayAdmission and execution of one run; effective capabilities; run-time tools, approvals, policy, events, result, usage, and costCorrelated run identity, capability and policy facts, lifecycle events, terminal result, safe evidence and artifact referencesBounded task context, workspace/revision reference, requested capabilities, caller correlationTask status, independent review, cross-run readiness, promotion authority
AI gatewayProvider/model menu, request routing, caching, capacity, pricing, and spend enforcementEffective provider/model, request usage, cache, routing, budget, and cost factsCorrelation fields and declared constraints when supportedTask ownership, worktree coordination, evidence acceptance, review or promotion
Agent orchestratorProvider scheduling, thread/process steering, capacity decisionsDelivery proof, provider state, exceptionsReady work, deterministic next action, capability/routability statusProduct truth, approval, hidden task mutation, automatic promotion
Source controlFiles, commits, branches, history, remote collaborationBranch/commit/remote factsExpected branch/worktree posture, promotion checksRepository integrity, merge execution, access control
CI/CDBuild, test, package, deploy, release executionRun status, immutable links, result evidence, rollback/closeoutExpected validation, deploy-run packet, unresolved handbackTest execution, artifact signing, deploy authorization
Issue systemRoadmap, stakeholder planning, discussion, prioritizationImported definition or durable linkExecution status/export summaryFairway runtime state, session truth, evidence, review materialization
Identity and security controlsAuthentication, authorization, secrets, network and origin policyVerified actor/proxy facts and policy resultRequired role/command boundary, audit contextCredential custody, identity proof generation, public gateway operation
FairwayIntent, decisions, evidence references, reviews, waits, execution attachment, control checks, promotion postureStructured facts from every categoryDeterministic read models, packets, reports, guards, handbacksImplementation, CI execution, planning authority, IAM, autonomous promotion

Fairway And Optional Seaway​

Seaway is an optional run-control product, not a required lower half of Fairway. Fairway can attach sessions and evidence from existing coding agents, shells, CI jobs, and orchestrators directly. Seaway can expose its run contract to an IDE, CLI, CI job, AI gateway, or another control plane without Fairway.

When combined, the relationship is correlation rather than shared state:

Fairway task / lane / worktree / review / readiness
                      |
                      | zero or more correlated runs
                      v
Seaway run / effective policy / events / result / usage / cost
                      |
                      v
coding harness / provider / tools / bounded execution environment

Fairway records why the work exists, who owns the next action, which facts and reviews support it, and whether configured promotion conditions are satisfied. Seaway controls and reports only the individual run. A successful Seaway run is evidence about execution; it is never by itself a completed task, approved review, or authorized promotion.

The proposed edge contract is defined in Optional Seaway integration. It covers version and capability negotiation, task/session/run correlation, idempotent event and terminal-result ingestion, approval handoff, cancellation, reconnect, and degraded operation. It intentionally selects no transport and schedules no adapter implementation.

The Independent Record​

Fairway does not copy every external system into its DB. It stores the minimum engineering record needed to connect them:

  • stable task and ownership state;
  • material decisions and cited Fairway facts;
  • command results and safe artifact references;
  • attributable domain reviews;
  • provider/utility session lifecycle;
  • waits, notifications, handbacks, and next actions;
  • source/release/deploy posture needed by configured guards.

The external system remains authoritative for the thing it performs or hosts. A commit SHA is a source-control fact. A CI URL and result are CI facts. An identity assertion is useful only after the configured trust boundary verifies it. Fairway links these facts without turning a summary into provenance.

Composition Rules​

Facts Cross Boundaries, Authority Does Not​

An adapter can report that a provider session ended, a notification was delivered, or a CI run passed. That fact does not approve review, accept risk, or authorize promotion.

Commands Stay Scoped​

Write-capable shared-team surfaces use command-shaped APIs and explicit roles. Fairway does not expose generic row mutation or arbitrary SQL as an integration contract.

Failure Remains Visible​

If an adapter cannot deliver, verify identity, reach a provider, or read an external result, Fairway records a failure or durable wait. It does not infer success from silence.

Privacy Is A Contract​

Provider and external adapters may report bounded metadata. They do not store raw prompts, private transcripts, tool bodies, generated-content dumps, credentials, or secret values by default.

Promotion Is External And Explicit​

Fairway can report merge-, release-, deploy-, or live-readiness. The owning source-control, CI/CD, security, and operator surfaces still authorize and perform the consequential action.

Where To Go Next​