Catalog / Business processes / Partners / Partner-to-Productive / Run a First Deal Together
reference process · partners · 16 activities · 15 on the roster
Run a First Deal Together
A certified partner brings its first deal or its first delivery, and the run walks it alongside them. One deal is chosen because it is the right size and the right risk to learn on, a named person from our side goes with them stage by stage, and who faces the customer is agreed before anybody is in a room. The partner leads and we stay close enough to catch it. At the end a person decides, in writing, whether they can do it again without an escort, and the run closes by handing the partner to whoever owns the relationship from then on.
The walk
The document
One run
Adoption
The activities
What happens in a run
16 activities from a certified partner brings a first deal or delivery to the partner sells and delivers without an escort, 5 of them gates a person has to sign. Drag the diagram to move along it.
Run a First Deal Together a certified partner brings a first deal or delivery → the partner sells and delivers without an escort
too big or too risky to learn on the deal is already registered to somebody else the partner is not ready to lead the room the quote or the wording has to change the partner is losing the deal or the delivery handed back to the partner the customer says it did not land not yet, walk another one a certified partner brings a first deal or delivery 1 Take in the First Opportu… the deal or the delivery the partner brings 2 Agree This Is the Deal to… right size, right risk, right customer a person signs · never an agent 3 Name Who Walks Alongside a named person from our side, stage by stage a person signs · never an agent 4 Register the Deal the deal recorded so nobody claims it twice 5 Agree Who Faces the Custo… who leads the room and who stays quiet 6 Plan the Deal or the Deli… the steps, the dates and who owns each one 7 Rehearse Before the Custo… the pitch and the hard answers, practised first 8 Run the Customer Meetings… the partner leads, we stay in the room 9 Price and Quote It Togeth… the partner quotes, we check the numbers 10 Review What Goes to the C… the proposal read by both sides before it goes a person signs · never an agent 11 Do the Work with the Part… the partner does the work and we watch 12 Step In When It Slips when we take it back, and who decides that a person signs · never an agent 13 Confirm the Customer Got … the customer says they got what was sold 14 Debrief with the Partner what they did alone, what we did for them 15 Decide They Can Do It Una… a person signs that they need no escort a person signs · never an agent 16 Hand the Partner to Their… the run closes and the relationship carries on the partner sells and delivers without an escort
The roster this process needs
Hover a name to see the activities it holds. A dashed one is a person, and stays one.
The document
The document, with the blanks marked
Everything in amber is yours to fill in: who owns it, when it takes effect, which platforms, which numbers, and who holds each activity. Everything else is the process, and it is the same wherever it is run.
Use in LangGraph
Use in Agent Framework
Use in CrewAI
Use in Google ADK
PROCESS: run a first deal together id: <team> /run-a-first-deal-together v1
from: ref/prt/run-a-first-deal-together v1
owner: <who> effective: <date>
trigger: a certified partner brings its first opportunity or its first
delivery into <your deal registration system>
watch: record=<deal registration>
system=<your deal registration system>
change=<a certified partner registers its first
opportunity or its first delivery>
concurrency: runs may overlap - <how many> first deals open at once, and
one partner walks one first deal at a time
goal: the partner leads a real deal or a real delivery end to end with a
named escort, the customer gets what was sold, and a person signs
whether the partner may do it again alone
phases:
take-in-deal - runs collect-and-report: the customer, what the
partner thinks they are selling or delivering, the
size, the dates and how the partner found it
owner: partner-manager after: trigger
by: <days> automation: <level>
agree-the-one - convenes decide-and-announce: whether this is the
deal to learn on, judged on size, risk, customer
and how much of it the partner can actually do
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: take-in-deal
by: <days> automation: never
name-the-escort - convenes decide-and-announce: the named person from
our side for each stage, what they will do and what
they will deliberately not do
owner: partner-manager after: agree-the-one
by: <days> automation: never
register-deal - system: the deal registered against the partner
with a protection period of <days> , so it cannot be
worked twice or claimed later
owner: portal-keeper after: agree-the-one
automation: <level>
agree-front - convenes decide-and-announce: who leads each
customer conversation, who supports, and who says
nothing unless asked a direct question
owner: partner-manager
after: name-the-escort + register-deal
automation: <level>
plan-together - convenes briefing: the steps, the dates, the
decisions the customer has to make, and the name
against every one of them
owner: partner-manager after: agree-front
by: <days> automation: <level>
rehearse - human: the pitch, the demo and the answers to the
questions this customer will actually ask, run
through with the partner before the customer sees it
owner: curriculum-manager after: plan-together
by: <days> automation: <level>
joint-meetings - human: the partner leads the customer conversations
and our escort stays in the room, answering only
what the partner hands to them
owner: partner-manager after: rehearse
automation: <level>
price-and-quote - human: the partner builds the quote at partner
pricing, and <your deal desk role> checks the
numbers, the discount and the terms behind them
owner: partner-manager after: joint-meetings
by: <days> automation: <level>
review-output - convenes approval: the proposal, the statement of
work and anything else the customer will read,
signed off by both sides before it is sent
owner: <your legal role> after: price-and-quote
by: <days> automation: never
do-the-work - human: the partner runs the close or the delivery,
our escort watches, and every place the escort had
to take over is written down as it happens
owner: partner-manager after: review-output
automation: <level>
step-in - human: <who> decides that we take a stage back, the
customer is told who is now doing it, and the
handback conditions are written down
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: do-the-work, when it slips
by: <hours> automation: never
confirm-customer - human: the customer confirms they got what was
sold, in writing, and says who they dealt with
owner: partner-manager after: do-the-work
by: <days> automation: <level>
debrief-partner - convenes debrief: what the partner did alone, what
the escort did for them, and what the partner would
do differently on the next one
owner: partner-manager after: confirm-customer
by: <days> automation: <level>
decide-unaided - convenes approval: a named signer records whether
the partner may run the next one without an escort,
per role, with the reason either way
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: debrief-partner
by: <days> automation: never
hand-to-manager - convenes decide-and-announce: the partner moves to
whoever owns the relationship from here, with the
escort's notes and the signed decision
owner: partner-manager after: decide-unaided
automation: <level>
run-scoped:
escort-time - runs allocate-and-reconcile owner: partner-manager
from: name-the-escort until: run close
deal-health - runs collect-and-report owner: partner-monitor
every: <cadence>
from: joint-meetings until: confirm-customer
status - runs roll-call owner: partner-manager
every: <cadence>
from: plan-together until: decide-unaided
handoffs:
take-in-deal -> agree-the-one [opportunity-as-described]: the
opportunity as the partner described it, with what we can already
see about the customer
agree-the-one -> name-the-escort [deal-chosen]: the decision to walk
this one, and what makes it the right size to learn on
agree-the-one -> register-deal [customer-and-scope]: the customer,
the partner and the scope, so the registration covers what was
agreed
name-the-escort -> agree-front [escort-by-stage]: who from our side
covers which stage, and what they will not do
register-deal -> agree-front [registration]: the registration, its
date and the day protection runs out
agree-front -> plan-together [customer-facing-roles]: who leads each
conversation, so the plan puts the right name against each step
plan-together -> rehearse [questions-and-decisions]: the questions
this customer will ask, and the decisions they have to make
rehearse -> joint-meetings [rehearsal-result]: what the partner could
answer alone and what they could not, written down before the first
meeting
joint-meetings -> price-and-quote [customer-need]: what the customer
said they need, at the version the customer agreed to
price-and-quote -> review-output [quote-and-discount]: the quote, the
discount and the approval behind any discount outside the standard
schedule
review-output -> do-the-work [signed-off-proposal]: the signed-off
proposal at a version. A later change voids the sign-off and the
review runs again
do-the-work -> confirm-customer [work-as-done]: the work as delivered
or the deal as closed, and every point the escort had to take over
do-the-work -> step-in [what-is-slipping]: what is slipping, since
when, and what the customer has already been told
step-in -> do-the-work [handback-terms]: the stage we took back, what
we did with it, and the conditions under which the partner gets it
back
confirm-customer -> debrief-partner [customer-confirmation]: the
customer's dated confirmation, and who they say they dealt with
debrief-partner -> decide-unaided [what-partner-did-alone]: the list
of what the partner did alone and what we did for them, agreed by
both sides
decide-unaided -> hand-to-manager [unaided-decision]: the signed
decision per role, with the reason and anything the partner still
needs
deviations:
agree-the-one -> take-in-deal [wrong-deal-to-learn-on]: the deal is
too big or too risky to learn on, so the run goes back to intake
and waits for one that fits
register-deal -> agree-the-one [already-registered]: the deal is
already registered to somebody else, so which deal to walk is
decided again
joint-meetings -> rehearse [not-ready-to-lead]: the partner is not
ready to lead the room, so the rehearsal runs again before the next
customer meeting
review-output -> price-and-quote [quote-must-change]: the quote or
the wording has to change, so it is priced and written again before
anything is sent
confirm-customer -> do-the-work [customer-says-not-landed]: the
customer says they did not get what was sold, so the work goes back
to be put right before the debrief
decide-unaided -> take-in-deal [not-yet-unaided]: the signer says not
yet, so the partner walks another deal from intake
bindings:
roster: <who holds each role - agents claiming the abstract agents
above, and named people for the partner lead, the sales
leader, the delivery lead, the deal desk, the legal reviewer
and the partner's sales lead and practice lead>
systems: deal registration (write), the CRM (read), the CRM (write),
the quoting system (write, cap: <n> discount without
approval), the contract repository (read), the contract repository (write),
the delivery system (write), the partner portal (write),
the calendar (write)
data: <your partner price list> <version> , <your discount schedule>
<version> , <your statement of work template> <version> ,
the partner agreement and its tier, the certification record
policy:
a first deal is walked, never taken over quietly. Every stage the
escort performs is recorded as performed by us
the partner leads the customer conversation unless <who> has decided
otherwise and the customer has been told
nothing reaches the customer without both sides signing off on the
version that goes
a deal is registered before the first joint customer meeting, and an
unregistered deal is not walked
taking a stage back is a decision by <who> , is written down with the
reason, and comes with the conditions for handing it back
the customer is told who is doing what, and is never left believing
the partner did work we did
the decision that a partner may work unaided is a human gate, is made
per role, and is never inferred from the deal closing
a partner who has not run one unaided by <weeks> after the signed
decision is walked again rather than assumed competent
measures:
cycle time: <target> from the first opportunity to the customer's
confirmation
independence: <target> share of the plan's steps the partner ran with
no escort involvement
step-in rate: <target> for stages taken back per first deal
volume: <first deals per period>
quality gate: no run closes without the customer's dated confirmation
and a signed decision on working unaided
Copy
Take it somewhere
Use this process in LangGraph
close
Paste this into an assistant that can read the web, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. It reads the specification and the current LangGraph documentation, then writes two files: the graph, and a note on what did not survive the translation. Read the note first. What a runtime cannot express is the part worth arguing about, and this process is a draft to argue with.
copy the prompt
330 lines · the document is inside it, so nothing else is needed
Convert the business process below into a runnable LangGraph graph:
one Python file with a TypedDict state, a StateGraph, nodes, edges,
conditional edges and a checkpointer.
The document is a reference process written to the Agent Processes
specification. Read the specification before you start, because it defines
terms that look ordinary and are not:
https://agentcatalog.com/spec/agent-processes
Sections 6 (the phase graph), 6.5.1 (exception edges), 6.7.1 (deviations),
7 (automation) and 8 (handoffs) are the ones this conversion turns on.
Then read the current documentation for the primitives you will need, rather
than relying on what you remember of the API:
https://docs.langchain.com/oss/python/langgraph/interrupts
interrupt() and Command(resume=), which is how a gate stops a run
https://reference.langchain.com/python/langgraph/graph/state/StateGraph
StateGraph, add_edge, add_conditional_edges, defer
WHAT THE DOCUMENT ASKS FOR
These hold wherever the process lands, and they matter more than style.
1. Each phase under `phases:` becomes one step, and keeps its name.
2. `after:` gives the edges. `after: a + b` is a join and waits for BOTH.
Reading it as "either" is the defect the specification calls out by name.
3. Every handoff carries a key in square brackets. Each key becomes one field
on the run's state, named exactly as the key with hyphens turned into
underscores, and the sentence beside it becomes that field's comment. The key
is the stable name; the sentence is prose that may be rewritten.
4. A phase MUST NOT begin before its inbound handoff exists. Where that is
checkable, check it in the step rather than assuming it.
5. `automation: never` is a gate a person signs. The run stops there and does
not continue until a person's decision comes back. Do not turn one into a
notification, a log line, or an automatic transition, whatever the queue
looks like.
6. Each line under `deviations:` is a backward or sideways edge, returning to
the phase named on the right. The key in brackets names it, and that name
belongs in the code.
7. A phase whose `after:` reads like "X or Y, whichever could not finish" is an
exception edge: it is entered when those phases FAIL, not when they succeed.
Do not wire it as an ordinary successor.
8. Anything in angle brackets is a blank the adopting organization fills in.
Leave each one as a named constant at the top of the file with a TODO. Do not
invent a value, a threshold or a date.
9. Record the document's `from:` line at the top of the file, so it says which
reference process and which version it was generated from.
10. Run-scoped lines under `run-scoped:` are work that runs alongside the whole
process rather than at one point in it, and a run may not close while one is
unfinished. Say in the code what you did about them, including if the answer
is that the runtime has nowhere to put them.
HOW THAT LOOKS IN LANGGRAPH
11. A phase is a node added with `add_node`, under the phase's own name.
12. The state is a TypedDict. Each handoff key is one field on it.
13. A join is the trap. `add_edge(["a", "b"], "c")` looks right and releases
once: when a backward edge re-enters ONE arm, the joined node never runs
again, and the run ends early reporting success rather than raising. Mark the
joined node `defer=True` and re-check inside it that both inbound handoffs
exist.
14. A gate is `interrupt()` inside the node, resumed with `Command(resume=...)`.
The platform lets anything at all call resume, so require the resumed value to
name a person and a date and refuse anything else. Say in the fidelity note
that this proves only that whoever resumed typed a name, because
`Command(resume=True)` from a scheduled job is indistinguishable from a person
signing.
15. A deviation is `add_conditional_edges` with a routing function named after
the key in brackets.
16. Pass a durable checkpointer rather than taking the in-memory default. The
gates wait days, and the default loses every paused run on restart.
17. Leave every phase body unimplemented, raising until somebody registers an
implementation. The automation level is a blank, so writing a body would
answer on the adopter's behalf whether an agent may do that work.
Produce a second file alongside it, `FIDELITY.md`, and treat it as the more
important of the two. The code is for whoever builds this. The fidelity note
is for whoever has to decide whether this platform suits the process at all,
and that is usually a different person who will never read the code.
It has three parts.
**What came across.** Briefly: how many phases became steps, how many handoff
keys became state fields, which gates stop the run, which deviations became
edges. Counts and names, not reassurance.
**What did not, and what was done instead.** One entry per gap. For each one,
say what the document requires, what the platform can actually express, what
you did in its place, and what breaks if somebody later removes your
workaround. This last part matters most: a workaround nobody understands is a
workaround somebody deletes.
**What a person still has to decide.** The blanks are not a translation
failure, they are the point of a reference process, so list what has to be
filled in before this could run against anything real, and say which of those
choices the platform constrains.
Write it in plain English for somebody who has not read the specification, and
do not soften it. A translation of a reference process is a draft to argue
with, not a build artifact, and the honest account of what was lost is the most
useful thing you will produce.
Here is the process document.
```
PROCESS: run a first deal together id: <team>/run-a-first-deal-together v1
from: ref/prt/run-a-first-deal-together v1
owner: <who> effective: <date>
trigger: a certified partner brings its first opportunity or its first
delivery into <your deal registration system>
watch: record=<deal registration>
system=<your deal registration system>
change=<a certified partner registers its first
opportunity or its first delivery>
concurrency: runs may overlap - <how many> first deals open at once, and
one partner walks one first deal at a time
goal: the partner leads a real deal or a real delivery end to end with a
named escort, the customer gets what was sold, and a person signs
whether the partner may do it again alone
phases:
take-in-deal - runs collect-and-report: the customer, what the
partner thinks they are selling or delivering, the
size, the dates and how the partner found it
owner: partner-manager after: trigger
by: <days> automation: <level>
agree-the-one - convenes decide-and-announce: whether this is the
deal to learn on, judged on size, risk, customer
and how much of it the partner can actually do
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: take-in-deal
by: <days> automation: never
name-the-escort - convenes decide-and-announce: the named person from
our side for each stage, what they will do and what
they will deliberately not do
owner: partner-manager after: agree-the-one
by: <days> automation: never
register-deal - system: the deal registered against the partner
with a protection period of <days>, so it cannot be
worked twice or claimed later
owner: portal-keeper after: agree-the-one
automation: <level>
agree-front - convenes decide-and-announce: who leads each
customer conversation, who supports, and who says
nothing unless asked a direct question
owner: partner-manager
after: name-the-escort + register-deal
automation: <level>
plan-together - convenes briefing: the steps, the dates, the
decisions the customer has to make, and the name
against every one of them
owner: partner-manager after: agree-front
by: <days> automation: <level>
rehearse - human: the pitch, the demo and the answers to the
questions this customer will actually ask, run
through with the partner before the customer sees it
owner: curriculum-manager after: plan-together
by: <days> automation: <level>
joint-meetings - human: the partner leads the customer conversations
and our escort stays in the room, answering only
what the partner hands to them
owner: partner-manager after: rehearse
automation: <level>
price-and-quote - human: the partner builds the quote at partner
pricing, and <your deal desk role> checks the
numbers, the discount and the terms behind them
owner: partner-manager after: joint-meetings
by: <days> automation: <level>
review-output - convenes approval: the proposal, the statement of
work and anything else the customer will read,
signed off by both sides before it is sent
owner: <your legal role> after: price-and-quote
by: <days> automation: never
do-the-work - human: the partner runs the close or the delivery,
our escort watches, and every place the escort had
to take over is written down as it happens
owner: partner-manager after: review-output
automation: <level>
step-in - human: <who> decides that we take a stage back, the
customer is told who is now doing it, and the
handback conditions are written down
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: do-the-work, when it slips
by: <hours> automation: never
confirm-customer - human: the customer confirms they got what was
sold, in writing, and says who they dealt with
owner: partner-manager after: do-the-work
by: <days> automation: <level>
debrief-partner - convenes debrief: what the partner did alone, what
the escort did for them, and what the partner would
do differently on the next one
owner: partner-manager after: confirm-customer
by: <days> automation: <level>
decide-unaided - convenes approval: a named signer records whether
the partner may run the next one without an escort,
per role, with the reason either way
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: debrief-partner
by: <days> automation: never
hand-to-manager - convenes decide-and-announce: the partner moves to
whoever owns the relationship from here, with the
escort's notes and the signed decision
owner: partner-manager after: decide-unaided
automation: <level>
run-scoped:
escort-time - runs allocate-and-reconcile owner: partner-manager
from: name-the-escort until: run close
deal-health - runs collect-and-report owner: partner-monitor
every: <cadence>
from: joint-meetings until: confirm-customer
status - runs roll-call owner: partner-manager
every: <cadence>
from: plan-together until: decide-unaided
handoffs:
take-in-deal -> agree-the-one [opportunity-as-described]: the
opportunity as the partner described it, with what we can already
see about the customer
agree-the-one -> name-the-escort [deal-chosen]: the decision to walk
this one, and what makes it the right size to learn on
agree-the-one -> register-deal [customer-and-scope]: the customer,
the partner and the scope, so the registration covers what was
agreed
name-the-escort -> agree-front [escort-by-stage]: who from our side
covers which stage, and what they will not do
register-deal -> agree-front [registration]: the registration, its
date and the day protection runs out
agree-front -> plan-together [customer-facing-roles]: who leads each
conversation, so the plan puts the right name against each step
plan-together -> rehearse [questions-and-decisions]: the questions
this customer will ask, and the decisions they have to make
rehearse -> joint-meetings [rehearsal-result]: what the partner could
answer alone and what they could not, written down before the first
meeting
joint-meetings -> price-and-quote [customer-need]: what the customer
said they need, at the version the customer agreed to
price-and-quote -> review-output [quote-and-discount]: the quote, the
discount and the approval behind any discount outside the standard
schedule
review-output -> do-the-work [signed-off-proposal]: the signed-off
proposal at a version. A later change voids the sign-off and the
review runs again
do-the-work -> confirm-customer [work-as-done]: the work as delivered
or the deal as closed, and every point the escort had to take over
do-the-work -> step-in [what-is-slipping]: what is slipping, since
when, and what the customer has already been told
step-in -> do-the-work [handback-terms]: the stage we took back, what
we did with it, and the conditions under which the partner gets it
back
confirm-customer -> debrief-partner [customer-confirmation]: the
customer's dated confirmation, and who they say they dealt with
debrief-partner -> decide-unaided [what-partner-did-alone]: the list
of what the partner did alone and what we did for them, agreed by
both sides
decide-unaided -> hand-to-manager [unaided-decision]: the signed
decision per role, with the reason and anything the partner still
needs
deviations:
agree-the-one -> take-in-deal [wrong-deal-to-learn-on]: the deal is
too big or too risky to learn on, so the run goes back to intake
and waits for one that fits
register-deal -> agree-the-one [already-registered]: the deal is
already registered to somebody else, so which deal to walk is
decided again
joint-meetings -> rehearse [not-ready-to-lead]: the partner is not
ready to lead the room, so the rehearsal runs again before the next
customer meeting
review-output -> price-and-quote [quote-must-change]: the quote or
the wording has to change, so it is priced and written again before
anything is sent
confirm-customer -> do-the-work [customer-says-not-landed]: the
customer says they did not get what was sold, so the work goes back
to be put right before the debrief
decide-unaided -> take-in-deal [not-yet-unaided]: the signer says not
yet, so the partner walks another deal from intake
bindings:
roster: <who holds each role - agents claiming the abstract agents
above, and named people for the partner lead, the sales
leader, the delivery lead, the deal desk, the legal reviewer
and the partner's sales lead and practice lead>
systems: deal registration (write), the CRM (read), the CRM (write),
the quoting system (write, cap: <n> discount without
approval), the contract repository (read), the contract repository (write),
the delivery system (write), the partner portal (write),
the calendar (write)
data: <your partner price list> <version>, <your discount schedule>
<version>, <your statement of work template> <version>,
the partner agreement and its tier, the certification record
policy:
a first deal is walked, never taken over quietly. Every stage the
escort performs is recorded as performed by us
the partner leads the customer conversation unless <who> has decided
otherwise and the customer has been told
nothing reaches the customer without both sides signing off on the
version that goes
a deal is registered before the first joint customer meeting, and an
unregistered deal is not walked
taking a stage back is a decision by <who>, is written down with the
reason, and comes with the conditions for handing it back
the customer is told who is doing what, and is never left believing
the partner did work we did
the decision that a partner may work unaided is a human gate, is made
per role, and is never inferred from the deal closing
a partner who has not run one unaided by <weeks> after the signed
decision is walked again rather than assumed competent
measures:
cycle time: <target> from the first opportunity to the customer's
confirmation
independence: <target> share of the plan's steps the partner ran with
no escort involvement
step-in rate: <target> for stages taken back per first deal
volume: <first deals per period>
quality gate: no run closes without the customer's dated confirmation
and a signed decision on working unaided
```
Take it somewhere
Use this process in Microsoft Agent Framework
close
Paste this into an assistant that can read the web, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. It reads the specification and the current Agent Framework documentation, then writes two files: the workflow, and a note on what did not survive the translation. Read the note first. What a runtime cannot express is the part worth arguing about, and this process is a draft to argue with.
copy the prompt
385 lines · the document is inside it, so nothing else is needed
Convert the business process below into a runnable Microsoft Agent Framework workflow:
one Python file with Executor classes, a WorkflowBuilder, typed edges,
request_info gates and durable checkpoint storage.
The document is a reference process written to the Agent Processes
specification. Read the specification before you start, because it defines
terms that look ordinary and are not:
https://agentcatalog.com/spec/agent-processes
Sections 6 (the phase graph), 6.5.1 (exception edges), 6.7.1 (deviations),
7 (automation) and 8 (handoffs) are the ones this conversion turns on.
Then read the current documentation for the primitives you will need, rather
than relying on what you remember of the API:
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/agent-framework/workflows/human-in-the-loop
ctx.request_info, @response_handler, and answering a parked run later
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/agent-framework/workflows/checkpoints
what a checkpoint holds, and allowed_checkpoint_types
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/agent-framework/concepts/workflows/edges
add_edge with condition, add_fan_in_edges, add_switch_case_edge_group
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/agent-framework/concepts/workflows/state
ctx.set_state and ctx.get_state as they actually are today
WHAT THE DOCUMENT ASKS FOR
These hold wherever the process lands, and they matter more than style.
1. Each phase under `phases:` becomes one step, and keeps its name.
2. `after:` gives the edges. `after: a + b` is a join and waits for BOTH.
Reading it as "either" is the defect the specification calls out by name.
3. Every handoff carries a key in square brackets. Each key becomes one field
on the run's state, named exactly as the key with hyphens turned into
underscores, and the sentence beside it becomes that field's comment. The key
is the stable name; the sentence is prose that may be rewritten.
4. A phase MUST NOT begin before its inbound handoff exists. Where that is
checkable, check it in the step rather than assuming it.
5. `automation: never` is a gate a person signs. The run stops there and does
not continue until a person's decision comes back. Do not turn one into a
notification, a log line, or an automatic transition, whatever the queue
looks like.
6. Each line under `deviations:` is a backward or sideways edge, returning to
the phase named on the right. The key in brackets names it, and that name
belongs in the code.
7. A phase whose `after:` reads like "X or Y, whichever could not finish" is an
exception edge: it is entered when those phases FAIL, not when they succeed.
Do not wire it as an ordinary successor.
8. Anything in angle brackets is a blank the adopting organization fills in.
Leave each one as a named constant at the top of the file with a TODO. Do not
invent a value, a threshold or a date.
9. Record the document's `from:` line at the top of the file, so it says which
reference process and which version it was generated from.
10. Run-scoped lines under `run-scoped:` are work that runs alongside the whole
process rather than at one point in it, and a run may not close while one is
unfinished. Say in the code what you did about them, including if the answer
is that the runtime has nowhere to put them.
HOW THAT LOOKS IN MICROSOFT AGENT FRAMEWORK
11. Write for Python, and read those pages before writing a line. This API has
moved: `set_shared_state`, `RequestInfoExecutor`, `RequestInfoMessage` and
`send_responses_streaming` are all in the training data and none of them exist
any more. The .NET workflow API differs in kind rather than in spelling, so a
file written for one does not port by renaming.
12. A phase is a class deriving from `Executor` whose `super().__init__(id=...)`
takes the phase name verbatim. The id is not cosmetic: a checkpoint stores a
signature over the topology and the executor ids, so an id built from a run, a
timestamp or a counter cannot be resumed into.
13. Give each phase a `@handler` method and move work on with
`await ctx.send_message(...)`. A handler that returns without sending is a dead
end: the branch stops, the run converges, and it reports success. So a phase
you are deliberately leaving unimplemented must still send a placeholder
onward. Do not stub with `raise NotImplementedError`, which fails the run
instead of leaving it runnable.
14. `after: a` is `builder.add_edge(a, b)`. `after: a + b` is
`builder.add_fan_in_edges([a, b], target)`, and the target's handler must be
annotated `list[T]`, because a fan-in delivers one aggregated list rather than
the separate messages. A handler typed for the single value is dropped as a
mismatch with nothing raised.
15. The join is the trap here, and it is the opposite of LangGraph's. The
barrier re-arms: it clears its buffer when it fires and then demands a fresh
message from every source. So a deviation that re-enters ONE arm parks the
run forever waiting for an arm that will not run again, and the workflow ends
IDLE reporting success. Wherever a deviation re-enters one arm of a join,
replace the barrier with an ordinary edge from each arm into a small executor
that records each arrival with `ctx.set_state` and only forwards when every
expected key is present, and say in a comment that putting `add_fan_in_edges`
back reintroduces the stall.
16. A phase that is both a join target and a deviation target needs two
handlers, one annotated `list[T]` for the barrier and one annotated `T` for the
backward message. Write only the list handler and every backward edge into it
is discarded as a type mismatch, silently.
17. `automation: never` is `await ctx.request_info(request_data=...,
response_type=...)` inside the phase, answered by a `@response_handler` on the
same executor whose annotations match those exact types. The run parks at
`IDLE_WITH_PENDING_REQUESTS` and the host answers with
`workflow.run(stream=True, responses={request_id: value})`. If no handler
matches the pair, the framework logs a warning and parks anyway, so the gate
reads as working right up until somebody asks why the approval did not take.
18. A gate is only a gate if the wait survives a restart, so pass
`checkpoint_storage=FileCheckpointStorage(...)` to the builder. Checkpointing
is off by default and `InMemoryCheckpointStorage` reads as configured while
persisting nothing. Register every handoff payload type in
`allowed_checkpoint_types`, or the first restore raises. Anything an executor
keeps as an instance attribute is absent after a restore unless you export it
from `on_checkpoint_save` and read it back in `on_checkpoint_restore`, and it
comes back empty rather than missing.
19. Each line under `deviations:` is `builder.add_edge(source, earlier,
condition=fn)` with `fn` named after the key. Cycles are legal and unchecked,
but raise `max_iterations` well above its default of 100, because several live
cycles will exhaust a budget sized for a straight line and fail with a message
about convergence that reads like a broken graph. Keep the ordinary forward
edge unconditional and add each deviation beside it: a condition that returns
false is dropped with no event, so a forward path expressed as a condition
dies silently on every normal run, which is most of them.
20. Handoff values go in `ctx.set_state(key, value)` and come back from
`ctx.get_state(key)`, untyped and unchecked. A write is visible to its writer
at once and to everyone else only in the next superstep, and two writers of one
key in a superstep keep the last write. Never read a key in the same superstep
another phase wrote it.
21. There are no timers, no deadlines and no scheduled wakes. Nothing in
`run-scoped:` becomes an executor and `by:` has no expression at all, so write
them as comments naming where they start and stop, and say plainly in the
fidelity note that a run can close over an unfinished run-scoped line. Do not
fake a deadline with a sleep inside a handler, which blocks the whole superstep
barrier, and never let an expiring wait release a gate.
Produce a second file alongside it, `FIDELITY.md`, and treat it as the more
important of the two. The code is for whoever builds this. The fidelity note
is for whoever has to decide whether this platform suits the process at all,
and that is usually a different person who will never read the code.
It has three parts.
**What came across.** Briefly: how many phases became steps, how many handoff
keys became state fields, which gates stop the run, which deviations became
edges. Counts and names, not reassurance.
**What did not, and what was done instead.** One entry per gap. For each one,
say what the document requires, what the platform can actually express, what
you did in its place, and what breaks if somebody later removes your
workaround. This last part matters most: a workaround nobody understands is a
workaround somebody deletes.
**What a person still has to decide.** The blanks are not a translation
failure, they are the point of a reference process, so list what has to be
filled in before this could run against anything real, and say which of those
choices the platform constrains.
Write it in plain English for somebody who has not read the specification, and
do not soften it. A translation of a reference process is a draft to argue
with, not a build artifact, and the honest account of what was lost is the most
useful thing you will produce.
Here is the process document.
```
PROCESS: run a first deal together id: <team>/run-a-first-deal-together v1
from: ref/prt/run-a-first-deal-together v1
owner: <who> effective: <date>
trigger: a certified partner brings its first opportunity or its first
delivery into <your deal registration system>
watch: record=<deal registration>
system=<your deal registration system>
change=<a certified partner registers its first
opportunity or its first delivery>
concurrency: runs may overlap - <how many> first deals open at once, and
one partner walks one first deal at a time
goal: the partner leads a real deal or a real delivery end to end with a
named escort, the customer gets what was sold, and a person signs
whether the partner may do it again alone
phases:
take-in-deal - runs collect-and-report: the customer, what the
partner thinks they are selling or delivering, the
size, the dates and how the partner found it
owner: partner-manager after: trigger
by: <days> automation: <level>
agree-the-one - convenes decide-and-announce: whether this is the
deal to learn on, judged on size, risk, customer
and how much of it the partner can actually do
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: take-in-deal
by: <days> automation: never
name-the-escort - convenes decide-and-announce: the named person from
our side for each stage, what they will do and what
they will deliberately not do
owner: partner-manager after: agree-the-one
by: <days> automation: never
register-deal - system: the deal registered against the partner
with a protection period of <days>, so it cannot be
worked twice or claimed later
owner: portal-keeper after: agree-the-one
automation: <level>
agree-front - convenes decide-and-announce: who leads each
customer conversation, who supports, and who says
nothing unless asked a direct question
owner: partner-manager
after: name-the-escort + register-deal
automation: <level>
plan-together - convenes briefing: the steps, the dates, the
decisions the customer has to make, and the name
against every one of them
owner: partner-manager after: agree-front
by: <days> automation: <level>
rehearse - human: the pitch, the demo and the answers to the
questions this customer will actually ask, run
through with the partner before the customer sees it
owner: curriculum-manager after: plan-together
by: <days> automation: <level>
joint-meetings - human: the partner leads the customer conversations
and our escort stays in the room, answering only
what the partner hands to them
owner: partner-manager after: rehearse
automation: <level>
price-and-quote - human: the partner builds the quote at partner
pricing, and <your deal desk role> checks the
numbers, the discount and the terms behind them
owner: partner-manager after: joint-meetings
by: <days> automation: <level>
review-output - convenes approval: the proposal, the statement of
work and anything else the customer will read,
signed off by both sides before it is sent
owner: <your legal role> after: price-and-quote
by: <days> automation: never
do-the-work - human: the partner runs the close or the delivery,
our escort watches, and every place the escort had
to take over is written down as it happens
owner: partner-manager after: review-output
automation: <level>
step-in - human: <who> decides that we take a stage back, the
customer is told who is now doing it, and the
handback conditions are written down
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: do-the-work, when it slips
by: <hours> automation: never
confirm-customer - human: the customer confirms they got what was
sold, in writing, and says who they dealt with
owner: partner-manager after: do-the-work
by: <days> automation: <level>
debrief-partner - convenes debrief: what the partner did alone, what
the escort did for them, and what the partner would
do differently on the next one
owner: partner-manager after: confirm-customer
by: <days> automation: <level>
decide-unaided - convenes approval: a named signer records whether
the partner may run the next one without an escort,
per role, with the reason either way
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: debrief-partner
by: <days> automation: never
hand-to-manager - convenes decide-and-announce: the partner moves to
whoever owns the relationship from here, with the
escort's notes and the signed decision
owner: partner-manager after: decide-unaided
automation: <level>
run-scoped:
escort-time - runs allocate-and-reconcile owner: partner-manager
from: name-the-escort until: run close
deal-health - runs collect-and-report owner: partner-monitor
every: <cadence>
from: joint-meetings until: confirm-customer
status - runs roll-call owner: partner-manager
every: <cadence>
from: plan-together until: decide-unaided
handoffs:
take-in-deal -> agree-the-one [opportunity-as-described]: the
opportunity as the partner described it, with what we can already
see about the customer
agree-the-one -> name-the-escort [deal-chosen]: the decision to walk
this one, and what makes it the right size to learn on
agree-the-one -> register-deal [customer-and-scope]: the customer,
the partner and the scope, so the registration covers what was
agreed
name-the-escort -> agree-front [escort-by-stage]: who from our side
covers which stage, and what they will not do
register-deal -> agree-front [registration]: the registration, its
date and the day protection runs out
agree-front -> plan-together [customer-facing-roles]: who leads each
conversation, so the plan puts the right name against each step
plan-together -> rehearse [questions-and-decisions]: the questions
this customer will ask, and the decisions they have to make
rehearse -> joint-meetings [rehearsal-result]: what the partner could
answer alone and what they could not, written down before the first
meeting
joint-meetings -> price-and-quote [customer-need]: what the customer
said they need, at the version the customer agreed to
price-and-quote -> review-output [quote-and-discount]: the quote, the
discount and the approval behind any discount outside the standard
schedule
review-output -> do-the-work [signed-off-proposal]: the signed-off
proposal at a version. A later change voids the sign-off and the
review runs again
do-the-work -> confirm-customer [work-as-done]: the work as delivered
or the deal as closed, and every point the escort had to take over
do-the-work -> step-in [what-is-slipping]: what is slipping, since
when, and what the customer has already been told
step-in -> do-the-work [handback-terms]: the stage we took back, what
we did with it, and the conditions under which the partner gets it
back
confirm-customer -> debrief-partner [customer-confirmation]: the
customer's dated confirmation, and who they say they dealt with
debrief-partner -> decide-unaided [what-partner-did-alone]: the list
of what the partner did alone and what we did for them, agreed by
both sides
decide-unaided -> hand-to-manager [unaided-decision]: the signed
decision per role, with the reason and anything the partner still
needs
deviations:
agree-the-one -> take-in-deal [wrong-deal-to-learn-on]: the deal is
too big or too risky to learn on, so the run goes back to intake
and waits for one that fits
register-deal -> agree-the-one [already-registered]: the deal is
already registered to somebody else, so which deal to walk is
decided again
joint-meetings -> rehearse [not-ready-to-lead]: the partner is not
ready to lead the room, so the rehearsal runs again before the next
customer meeting
review-output -> price-and-quote [quote-must-change]: the quote or
the wording has to change, so it is priced and written again before
anything is sent
confirm-customer -> do-the-work [customer-says-not-landed]: the
customer says they did not get what was sold, so the work goes back
to be put right before the debrief
decide-unaided -> take-in-deal [not-yet-unaided]: the signer says not
yet, so the partner walks another deal from intake
bindings:
roster: <who holds each role - agents claiming the abstract agents
above, and named people for the partner lead, the sales
leader, the delivery lead, the deal desk, the legal reviewer
and the partner's sales lead and practice lead>
systems: deal registration (write), the CRM (read), the CRM (write),
the quoting system (write, cap: <n> discount without
approval), the contract repository (read), the contract repository (write),
the delivery system (write), the partner portal (write),
the calendar (write)
data: <your partner price list> <version>, <your discount schedule>
<version>, <your statement of work template> <version>,
the partner agreement and its tier, the certification record
policy:
a first deal is walked, never taken over quietly. Every stage the
escort performs is recorded as performed by us
the partner leads the customer conversation unless <who> has decided
otherwise and the customer has been told
nothing reaches the customer without both sides signing off on the
version that goes
a deal is registered before the first joint customer meeting, and an
unregistered deal is not walked
taking a stage back is a decision by <who>, is written down with the
reason, and comes with the conditions for handing it back
the customer is told who is doing what, and is never left believing
the partner did work we did
the decision that a partner may work unaided is a human gate, is made
per role, and is never inferred from the deal closing
a partner who has not run one unaided by <weeks> after the signed
decision is walked again rather than assumed competent
measures:
cycle time: <target> from the first opportunity to the customer's
confirmation
independence: <target> share of the plan's steps the partner ran with
no escort involvement
step-in rate: <target> for stages taken back per first deal
volume: <first deals per period>
quality gate: no run closes without the customer's dated confirmation
and a signed decision on working unaided
```
Take it somewhere
Use this process in CrewAI Flows
close
Paste this into an assistant that can read the web, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. It reads the specification and the current CrewAI documentation, then writes two files: the flow, and a note on what did not survive the translation. Read the note first. What a runtime cannot express is the part worth arguing about, and this process is a draft to argue with.
copy the prompt
390 lines · the document is inside it, so nothing else is needed
Convert the business process below into a runnable CrewAI Flow:
one Python file with a Pydantic state model, one Flow subclass, @start,
@listen, @router and a durable human feedback provider.
The document is a reference process written to the Agent Processes
specification. Read the specification before you start, because it defines
terms that look ordinary and are not:
https://agentcatalog.com/spec/agent-processes
Sections 6 (the phase graph), 6.5.1 (exception edges), 6.7.1 (deviations),
7 (automation) and 8 (handoffs) are the ones this conversion turns on.
Then read the current documentation for the primitives you will need, rather
than relying on what you remember of the API:
https://docs.crewai.com/en/concepts/flows
Flow, @start, @listen, @router, and_, or_, state, kickoff, plot
https://docs.crewai.com/en/learn/human-feedback-in-flows
@human_feedback, the provider protocol, from_pending and resume
https://docs.crewai.com/en/guides/flows/mastering-flow-state
@persist and what persistence actually promises, which is less than it sounds
WHAT THE DOCUMENT ASKS FOR
These hold wherever the process lands, and they matter more than style.
1. Each phase under `phases:` becomes one step, and keeps its name.
2. `after:` gives the edges. `after: a + b` is a join and waits for BOTH.
Reading it as "either" is the defect the specification calls out by name.
3. Every handoff carries a key in square brackets. Each key becomes one field
on the run's state, named exactly as the key with hyphens turned into
underscores, and the sentence beside it becomes that field's comment. The key
is the stable name; the sentence is prose that may be rewritten.
4. A phase MUST NOT begin before its inbound handoff exists. Where that is
checkable, check it in the step rather than assuming it.
5. `automation: never` is a gate a person signs. The run stops there and does
not continue until a person's decision comes back. Do not turn one into a
notification, a log line, or an automatic transition, whatever the queue
looks like.
6. Each line under `deviations:` is a backward or sideways edge, returning to
the phase named on the right. The key in brackets names it, and that name
belongs in the code.
7. A phase whose `after:` reads like "X or Y, whichever could not finish" is an
exception edge: it is entered when those phases FAIL, not when they succeed.
Do not wire it as an ordinary successor.
8. Anything in angle brackets is a blank the adopting organization fills in.
Leave each one as a named constant at the top of the file with a TODO. Do not
invent a value, a threshold or a date.
9. Record the document's `from:` line at the top of the file, so it says which
reference process and which version it was generated from.
10. Run-scoped lines under `run-scoped:` are work that runs alongside the whole
process rather than at one point in it, and a run may not close while one is
unfinished. Say in the code what you did about them, including if the answer
is that the runtime has nowhere to put them.
HOW THAT LOOKS IN CREWAI FLOWS
11. Build a Flow, not a Crew. A Crew is a team of roles with no graph, no join,
no persistence handle and no gate, and cannot express this document at all.
Each phase is one method on a single `Flow` subclass, keeping its name with
hyphens turned into underscores. A phase that genuinely needs role-based agents
builds its own Crew inside its own method body, and the Flow stays the graph.
12. Declare the state as a Pydantic model bound as the type parameter,
`class NegotiateTheAgreement(Flow[NegotiationState])`, and read and write
`self.state.field`. Never use the untyped dict form: the handoff keys are this
process's memory, and an untyped dict turns a misspelt key into a handoff that
is silently absent. Keep the auto-injected `id` field, which is what every
resume depends on.
13. `after: a` is `@listen(a)`. `after: a + b` is `@listen(and_(a, b))`. Never
write `or_` where the document writes `+`.
14. Check every inbound handoff at the top of the method and raise if one is
missing. `@listen` says when a method may run and says nothing about what is
in hand when it does.
15. The join is the trap, and it is proven rather than theoretical. `and_()`
empties its accumulator the moment it fires, so re-entering BOTH arms works
forever, and re-entering ONE arm after it has fired leaves it holding a single
trigger and waiting for the other for good. The cascade drains, CrewAI prints
that the flow completed, and `kickoff()` returns normally. So for any joining
phase that a deviation can send work back into, do not use `and_()` at all:
make the join a `@router` that both arms trigger, which reads the state fields
and emits its label only when every inbound handoff is present. A router is
re-evaluated against durable state every time and is never suppressed by the
once-fired set.
16. Do not write a phase as `@listen(or_(and_(a, b), "some_label"))`. There is
one accumulator per listener, shared across every branch of its condition and
wiped when any branch satisfies, so the label firing while the join is half
full erases the arm that had already arrived.
17. `automation: never` is `@human_feedback(message=..., provider=...)` stacked
under the method's `@listen`, with a provider whose `request_feedback` raises
`HumanFeedbackPending`. The run then persists, returns that object from
`kickoff()`, and a different process answers later with `from_pending(flow_id,
persistence)` and `resume(text)`. Do not take the default `ConsoleProvider`,
which calls `input()`: that gate exists only while somebody is watching a
terminal, and a run started by a scheduler either hangs or takes an empty
string.
18. Silence must not approve, and the platform's default is that it does. With
`emit=[...]` set, an empty resume collapses to `default_outcome`, or to the
first label when that is unset, with no model consulted and nobody named. Treat
an empty or unrecognised answer as a refusal in your own router. And write the
approver's name and the time onto the state yourself, because
`HumanFeedbackResult` carries the text, the outcome and a timestamp but has no
field for the person, which the specification requires.
19. Each line under `deviations:` is a `@router` named after the key, returning
a label named after the same key, with the target subscribing as
`@listen(or_(normal_trigger, "the_label"))`. Route rather than listen
directly, because a router is re-evaluated on every cycle while a top-level
`or_` listener is suppressed after it first fires.
20. An exception edge is a `try` and `except` around the failing phase's body,
recording the failure on the state and emitting an exception label from a
router. Wiring it as `@listen(or_(x, y))` fires when those phases SUCCEED, so
the clearing phase would run on every healthy run.
21. An unimplemented phase is a method with the document's own sentence as its
docstring and a bare `pass`, which is safe because listeners still fire on a
`None` return. An unimplemented `@router` is not safe: returning `None` emits
no label, every phase below it disappears from the run including the gates, and
the flow reports success. A stub router must return a hard-coded label with a
TODO beside it, or raise.
22. Turn persistence on with `@persist(SQLiteFlowPersistence(...))`, then treat
every phase that performs a real act as something that will run twice.
Persistence saves the state fields and nothing else, so a restart rehydrates
the data and runs the graph again from `@start`: a flow that had already sent a
written refusal sends a second one. Guard each acting phase with a state field
it checks and sets.
23. There are no timers, no deadlines and no cadences, and `run-scoped:` has no
counterpart at all. Put each `by:` value as a named constant, name the
run-scoped lines in the module docstring as unimplemented obligations, and say
in the fidelity note that no deadline in this document is enforced by anything.
These absences produce no diagnostic whatsoever, which is exactly why they have
to be written down.
Produce a second file alongside it, `FIDELITY.md`, and treat it as the more
important of the two. The code is for whoever builds this. The fidelity note
is for whoever has to decide whether this platform suits the process at all,
and that is usually a different person who will never read the code.
It has three parts.
**What came across.** Briefly: how many phases became steps, how many handoff
keys became state fields, which gates stop the run, which deviations became
edges. Counts and names, not reassurance.
**What did not, and what was done instead.** One entry per gap. For each one,
say what the document requires, what the platform can actually express, what
you did in its place, and what breaks if somebody later removes your
workaround. This last part matters most: a workaround nobody understands is a
workaround somebody deletes.
**What a person still has to decide.** The blanks are not a translation
failure, they are the point of a reference process, so list what has to be
filled in before this could run against anything real, and say which of those
choices the platform constrains.
Write it in plain English for somebody who has not read the specification, and
do not soften it. A translation of a reference process is a draft to argue
with, not a build artifact, and the honest account of what was lost is the most
useful thing you will produce.
Here is the process document.
```
PROCESS: run a first deal together id: <team>/run-a-first-deal-together v1
from: ref/prt/run-a-first-deal-together v1
owner: <who> effective: <date>
trigger: a certified partner brings its first opportunity or its first
delivery into <your deal registration system>
watch: record=<deal registration>
system=<your deal registration system>
change=<a certified partner registers its first
opportunity or its first delivery>
concurrency: runs may overlap - <how many> first deals open at once, and
one partner walks one first deal at a time
goal: the partner leads a real deal or a real delivery end to end with a
named escort, the customer gets what was sold, and a person signs
whether the partner may do it again alone
phases:
take-in-deal - runs collect-and-report: the customer, what the
partner thinks they are selling or delivering, the
size, the dates and how the partner found it
owner: partner-manager after: trigger
by: <days> automation: <level>
agree-the-one - convenes decide-and-announce: whether this is the
deal to learn on, judged on size, risk, customer
and how much of it the partner can actually do
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: take-in-deal
by: <days> automation: never
name-the-escort - convenes decide-and-announce: the named person from
our side for each stage, what they will do and what
they will deliberately not do
owner: partner-manager after: agree-the-one
by: <days> automation: never
register-deal - system: the deal registered against the partner
with a protection period of <days>, so it cannot be
worked twice or claimed later
owner: portal-keeper after: agree-the-one
automation: <level>
agree-front - convenes decide-and-announce: who leads each
customer conversation, who supports, and who says
nothing unless asked a direct question
owner: partner-manager
after: name-the-escort + register-deal
automation: <level>
plan-together - convenes briefing: the steps, the dates, the
decisions the customer has to make, and the name
against every one of them
owner: partner-manager after: agree-front
by: <days> automation: <level>
rehearse - human: the pitch, the demo and the answers to the
questions this customer will actually ask, run
through with the partner before the customer sees it
owner: curriculum-manager after: plan-together
by: <days> automation: <level>
joint-meetings - human: the partner leads the customer conversations
and our escort stays in the room, answering only
what the partner hands to them
owner: partner-manager after: rehearse
automation: <level>
price-and-quote - human: the partner builds the quote at partner
pricing, and <your deal desk role> checks the
numbers, the discount and the terms behind them
owner: partner-manager after: joint-meetings
by: <days> automation: <level>
review-output - convenes approval: the proposal, the statement of
work and anything else the customer will read,
signed off by both sides before it is sent
owner: <your legal role> after: price-and-quote
by: <days> automation: never
do-the-work - human: the partner runs the close or the delivery,
our escort watches, and every place the escort had
to take over is written down as it happens
owner: partner-manager after: review-output
automation: <level>
step-in - human: <who> decides that we take a stage back, the
customer is told who is now doing it, and the
handback conditions are written down
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: do-the-work, when it slips
by: <hours> automation: never
confirm-customer - human: the customer confirms they got what was
sold, in writing, and says who they dealt with
owner: partner-manager after: do-the-work
by: <days> automation: <level>
debrief-partner - convenes debrief: what the partner did alone, what
the escort did for them, and what the partner would
do differently on the next one
owner: partner-manager after: confirm-customer
by: <days> automation: <level>
decide-unaided - convenes approval: a named signer records whether
the partner may run the next one without an escort,
per role, with the reason either way
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: debrief-partner
by: <days> automation: never
hand-to-manager - convenes decide-and-announce: the partner moves to
whoever owns the relationship from here, with the
escort's notes and the signed decision
owner: partner-manager after: decide-unaided
automation: <level>
run-scoped:
escort-time - runs allocate-and-reconcile owner: partner-manager
from: name-the-escort until: run close
deal-health - runs collect-and-report owner: partner-monitor
every: <cadence>
from: joint-meetings until: confirm-customer
status - runs roll-call owner: partner-manager
every: <cadence>
from: plan-together until: decide-unaided
handoffs:
take-in-deal -> agree-the-one [opportunity-as-described]: the
opportunity as the partner described it, with what we can already
see about the customer
agree-the-one -> name-the-escort [deal-chosen]: the decision to walk
this one, and what makes it the right size to learn on
agree-the-one -> register-deal [customer-and-scope]: the customer,
the partner and the scope, so the registration covers what was
agreed
name-the-escort -> agree-front [escort-by-stage]: who from our side
covers which stage, and what they will not do
register-deal -> agree-front [registration]: the registration, its
date and the day protection runs out
agree-front -> plan-together [customer-facing-roles]: who leads each
conversation, so the plan puts the right name against each step
plan-together -> rehearse [questions-and-decisions]: the questions
this customer will ask, and the decisions they have to make
rehearse -> joint-meetings [rehearsal-result]: what the partner could
answer alone and what they could not, written down before the first
meeting
joint-meetings -> price-and-quote [customer-need]: what the customer
said they need, at the version the customer agreed to
price-and-quote -> review-output [quote-and-discount]: the quote, the
discount and the approval behind any discount outside the standard
schedule
review-output -> do-the-work [signed-off-proposal]: the signed-off
proposal at a version. A later change voids the sign-off and the
review runs again
do-the-work -> confirm-customer [work-as-done]: the work as delivered
or the deal as closed, and every point the escort had to take over
do-the-work -> step-in [what-is-slipping]: what is slipping, since
when, and what the customer has already been told
step-in -> do-the-work [handback-terms]: the stage we took back, what
we did with it, and the conditions under which the partner gets it
back
confirm-customer -> debrief-partner [customer-confirmation]: the
customer's dated confirmation, and who they say they dealt with
debrief-partner -> decide-unaided [what-partner-did-alone]: the list
of what the partner did alone and what we did for them, agreed by
both sides
decide-unaided -> hand-to-manager [unaided-decision]: the signed
decision per role, with the reason and anything the partner still
needs
deviations:
agree-the-one -> take-in-deal [wrong-deal-to-learn-on]: the deal is
too big or too risky to learn on, so the run goes back to intake
and waits for one that fits
register-deal -> agree-the-one [already-registered]: the deal is
already registered to somebody else, so which deal to walk is
decided again
joint-meetings -> rehearse [not-ready-to-lead]: the partner is not
ready to lead the room, so the rehearsal runs again before the next
customer meeting
review-output -> price-and-quote [quote-must-change]: the quote or
the wording has to change, so it is priced and written again before
anything is sent
confirm-customer -> do-the-work [customer-says-not-landed]: the
customer says they did not get what was sold, so the work goes back
to be put right before the debrief
decide-unaided -> take-in-deal [not-yet-unaided]: the signer says not
yet, so the partner walks another deal from intake
bindings:
roster: <who holds each role - agents claiming the abstract agents
above, and named people for the partner lead, the sales
leader, the delivery lead, the deal desk, the legal reviewer
and the partner's sales lead and practice lead>
systems: deal registration (write), the CRM (read), the CRM (write),
the quoting system (write, cap: <n> discount without
approval), the contract repository (read), the contract repository (write),
the delivery system (write), the partner portal (write),
the calendar (write)
data: <your partner price list> <version>, <your discount schedule>
<version>, <your statement of work template> <version>,
the partner agreement and its tier, the certification record
policy:
a first deal is walked, never taken over quietly. Every stage the
escort performs is recorded as performed by us
the partner leads the customer conversation unless <who> has decided
otherwise and the customer has been told
nothing reaches the customer without both sides signing off on the
version that goes
a deal is registered before the first joint customer meeting, and an
unregistered deal is not walked
taking a stage back is a decision by <who>, is written down with the
reason, and comes with the conditions for handing it back
the customer is told who is doing what, and is never left believing
the partner did work we did
the decision that a partner may work unaided is a human gate, is made
per role, and is never inferred from the deal closing
a partner who has not run one unaided by <weeks> after the signed
decision is walked again rather than assumed competent
measures:
cycle time: <target> from the first opportunity to the customer's
confirmation
independence: <target> share of the plan's steps the partner ran with
no escort involvement
step-in rate: <target> for stages taken back per first deal
volume: <first deals per period>
quality gate: no run closes without the customer's dated confirmation
and a signed decision on working unaided
```
Take it somewhere
Use this process in Google ADK
close
Paste this into an assistant that can read the web, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor. It reads the specification and the current ADK documentation, then writes two files: the workflow, and a note on what did not survive the translation. Read the note first. What a runtime cannot express is the part worth arguing about, and this process is a draft to argue with.
copy the prompt
381 lines · the document is inside it, so nothing else is needed
Convert the business process below into a runnable Google ADK workflow:
one Python file with a Workflow, nodes, routed edges, a JoinNode,
RequestInput gates and a persisting session service.
The document is a reference process written to the Agent Processes
specification. Read the specification before you start, because it defines
terms that look ordinary and are not:
https://agentcatalog.com/spec/agent-processes
Sections 6 (the phase graph), 6.5.1 (exception edges), 6.7.1 (deviations),
7 (automation) and 8 (handoffs) are the ones this conversion turns on.
Then read the current documentation for the primitives you will need, rather
than relying on what you remember of the API:
https://adk.dev/graphs/routes/
nodes, tuple chains, Event(route=), JoinNode, back-edges
https://adk.dev/graphs/human-input/
RequestInput and the rerun_on_resume handoff
https://adk.dev/runtime/resume/
ResumabilityConfig, resuming by invocation id, at-least-once tools
https://adk.dev/graphs/data-handling/
Event.output against state, and the selector syntax in instructions
WHAT THE DOCUMENT ASKS FOR
These hold wherever the process lands, and they matter more than style.
1. Each phase under `phases:` becomes one step, and keeps its name.
2. `after:` gives the edges. `after: a + b` is a join and waits for BOTH.
Reading it as "either" is the defect the specification calls out by name.
3. Every handoff carries a key in square brackets. Each key becomes one field
on the run's state, named exactly as the key with hyphens turned into
underscores, and the sentence beside it becomes that field's comment. The key
is the stable name; the sentence is prose that may be rewritten.
4. A phase MUST NOT begin before its inbound handoff exists. Where that is
checkable, check it in the step rather than assuming it.
5. `automation: never` is a gate a person signs. The run stops there and does
not continue until a person's decision comes back. Do not turn one into a
notification, a log line, or an automatic transition, whatever the queue
looks like.
6. Each line under `deviations:` is a backward or sideways edge, returning to
the phase named on the right. The key in brackets names it, and that name
belongs in the code.
7. A phase whose `after:` reads like "X or Y, whichever could not finish" is an
exception edge: it is entered when those phases FAIL, not when they succeed.
Do not wire it as an ordinary successor.
8. Anything in angle brackets is a blank the adopting organization fills in.
Leave each one as a named constant at the top of the file with a TODO. Do not
invent a value, a threshold or a date.
9. Record the document's `from:` line at the top of the file, so it says which
reference process and which version it was generated from.
10. Run-scoped lines under `run-scoped:` are work that runs alongside the whole
process rather than at one point in it, and a run may not close while one is
unfinished. Say in the code what you did about them, including if the answer
is that the runtime has nowhere to put them.
HOW THAT LOOKS IN GOOGLE ADK
11. Build a `Workflow` from `google.adk.workflow`, and pin `google-adk>=2.0` in
a comment. Do not use `SequentialAgent`, `ParallelAgent` or `LoopAgent`: they
are deprecated in favour of the graph, and they carry their own defects around
state and control flow. The documentation moved to adk.dev, and anything you
remember about nesting agents rather than drawing a graph is out of date.
12. Each phase is one node keeping its name. Take the node kind from how the
phase resolves rather than from taste: a `human:` or `system:` phase is a plain
Python function node, and a `runs` or `convenes` phase is an `Agent`.
13. `after:` gives the edges, written as tuple chains in `edges=[...]`, and the
trigger is the `"START"` keyword. Take the order only from `after:` lines and
never from the order the phases are listed in.
14. `after: a + b` is a `JoinNode`, and it must be guarded, because this is the
worst trap of any runtime here. The join fires when every static predecessor is
marked COMPLETED, nothing ever un-completes a node, and stored outputs are
never cleared. So after a deviation re-runs one arm, the join fires the instant
that arm finishes and hands the next phase LAST PASS'S value for every arm that
did not re-run. It does not stall, it proceeds with stale data, and nothing
logs. Stamp each arm's output with a pass counter or a content hash, and have
the phase after the join compare the stamps and refuse to run when they
disagree.
15. Each line under `deviations:` is a routed back-edge: a router after the
phase on the left returning `Event(route=...)`, named after the key in
brackets, with one arm going back to the phase on the right and one going
forward. An unconditional cycle raises at construction, which is the one place
this model checks your work. Nothing budgets a routed cycle, so add your own
count and stop rather than looping forever.
16. Give every router an explicit `DEFAULT_ROUTE` arm, and route it to a phase
that stops and asks a person. A route value matching no key writes a log
warning, ends that branch, and lets the run finish reporting success with the
rest of the process never having happened.
17. `automation: never` is a `RequestInput` node of its own, never an `Agent`
asking a question. Decorate it `@node(rerun_on_resume=False)` and yield
`RequestInput(message=..., payload=..., response_schema=...)`, so the run
stops, persists, and delivers the person's answer to the node's successor as
its typed input. A resumed workflow runs its tools at least once, so any
irreversible act needs its own duplicate guard.
18. Make the gates durable or say plainly that they are not. Wrap the graph in
`App(..., resumability_config=ResumabilityConfig(is_resumable=True))` and pass
a persisting session service, never the in-memory one. Note in the file that
the command line and the web UI cannot resume a run, so whoever releases these
gates needs an operator surface that somebody has to write.
19. Every `Agent` in the graph gets `mode="single_turn"` and no `sub_agents`.
A non-empty `sub_agents` list silently adds a transfer tool, and a model that
uses it runs a different agent in this node's place while the graph's outgoing
edge fires on schedule regardless: the topology is honoured perfectly and the
work belongs to somebody else.
20. Model failure as a route, not as an exception. A node that raises does not
propagate: the failure is caught, recorded, and shuts the workflow down without
raising to the caller. So a phase that can fail catches its own failure and
returns `Event(route="could-not-finish")`, and the exception phase hangs off
that arm.
21. Keep every blank as a named module-level constant and never interpolate one
into an `instruction=` string. Angle brackets and curly braces are ADK's own
data selector syntax inside instructions, so a blank pasted verbatim stops
being a blank and becomes a selector.
22. `by:` and `not-before:` have no expression, and `@node(timeout=)` is not
one: it is an in-process wall clock that cancels the node and, because failures
are swallowed, ends the run silently rather than recording a missed deadline.
Nothing in `run-scoped:` has an expression either, and it must not be faked as
an ordinary node, because a node has to be reached and has to finish before
anything downstream starts, which is the opposite of what those lines mean.
Leave both out of the graph and name them in the fidelity note.
Produce a second file alongside it, `FIDELITY.md`, and treat it as the more
important of the two. The code is for whoever builds this. The fidelity note
is for whoever has to decide whether this platform suits the process at all,
and that is usually a different person who will never read the code.
It has three parts.
**What came across.** Briefly: how many phases became steps, how many handoff
keys became state fields, which gates stop the run, which deviations became
edges. Counts and names, not reassurance.
**What did not, and what was done instead.** One entry per gap. For each one,
say what the document requires, what the platform can actually express, what
you did in its place, and what breaks if somebody later removes your
workaround. This last part matters most: a workaround nobody understands is a
workaround somebody deletes.
**What a person still has to decide.** The blanks are not a translation
failure, they are the point of a reference process, so list what has to be
filled in before this could run against anything real, and say which of those
choices the platform constrains.
Write it in plain English for somebody who has not read the specification, and
do not soften it. A translation of a reference process is a draft to argue
with, not a build artifact, and the honest account of what was lost is the most
useful thing you will produce.
Here is the process document.
```
PROCESS: run a first deal together id: <team>/run-a-first-deal-together v1
from: ref/prt/run-a-first-deal-together v1
owner: <who> effective: <date>
trigger: a certified partner brings its first opportunity or its first
delivery into <your deal registration system>
watch: record=<deal registration>
system=<your deal registration system>
change=<a certified partner registers its first
opportunity or its first delivery>
concurrency: runs may overlap - <how many> first deals open at once, and
one partner walks one first deal at a time
goal: the partner leads a real deal or a real delivery end to end with a
named escort, the customer gets what was sold, and a person signs
whether the partner may do it again alone
phases:
take-in-deal - runs collect-and-report: the customer, what the
partner thinks they are selling or delivering, the
size, the dates and how the partner found it
owner: partner-manager after: trigger
by: <days> automation: <level>
agree-the-one - convenes decide-and-announce: whether this is the
deal to learn on, judged on size, risk, customer
and how much of it the partner can actually do
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: take-in-deal
by: <days> automation: never
name-the-escort - convenes decide-and-announce: the named person from
our side for each stage, what they will do and what
they will deliberately not do
owner: partner-manager after: agree-the-one
by: <days> automation: never
register-deal - system: the deal registered against the partner
with a protection period of <days>, so it cannot be
worked twice or claimed later
owner: portal-keeper after: agree-the-one
automation: <level>
agree-front - convenes decide-and-announce: who leads each
customer conversation, who supports, and who says
nothing unless asked a direct question
owner: partner-manager
after: name-the-escort + register-deal
automation: <level>
plan-together - convenes briefing: the steps, the dates, the
decisions the customer has to make, and the name
against every one of them
owner: partner-manager after: agree-front
by: <days> automation: <level>
rehearse - human: the pitch, the demo and the answers to the
questions this customer will actually ask, run
through with the partner before the customer sees it
owner: curriculum-manager after: plan-together
by: <days> automation: <level>
joint-meetings - human: the partner leads the customer conversations
and our escort stays in the room, answering only
what the partner hands to them
owner: partner-manager after: rehearse
automation: <level>
price-and-quote - human: the partner builds the quote at partner
pricing, and <your deal desk role> checks the
numbers, the discount and the terms behind them
owner: partner-manager after: joint-meetings
by: <days> automation: <level>
review-output - convenes approval: the proposal, the statement of
work and anything else the customer will read,
signed off by both sides before it is sent
owner: <your legal role> after: price-and-quote
by: <days> automation: never
do-the-work - human: the partner runs the close or the delivery,
our escort watches, and every place the escort had
to take over is written down as it happens
owner: partner-manager after: review-output
automation: <level>
step-in - human: <who> decides that we take a stage back, the
customer is told who is now doing it, and the
handback conditions are written down
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: do-the-work, when it slips
by: <hours> automation: never
confirm-customer - human: the customer confirms they got what was
sold, in writing, and says who they dealt with
owner: partner-manager after: do-the-work
by: <days> automation: <level>
debrief-partner - convenes debrief: what the partner did alone, what
the escort did for them, and what the partner would
do differently on the next one
owner: partner-manager after: confirm-customer
by: <days> automation: <level>
decide-unaided - convenes approval: a named signer records whether
the partner may run the next one without an escort,
per role, with the reason either way
owner: <your partner leadership role>
after: debrief-partner
by: <days> automation: never
hand-to-manager - convenes decide-and-announce: the partner moves to
whoever owns the relationship from here, with the
escort's notes and the signed decision
owner: partner-manager after: decide-unaided
automation: <level>
run-scoped:
escort-time - runs allocate-and-reconcile owner: partner-manager
from: name-the-escort until: run close
deal-health - runs collect-and-report owner: partner-monitor
every: <cadence>
from: joint-meetings until: confirm-customer
status - runs roll-call owner: partner-manager
every: <cadence>
from: plan-together until: decide-unaided
handoffs:
take-in-deal -> agree-the-one [opportunity-as-described]: the
opportunity as the partner described it, with what we can already
see about the customer
agree-the-one -> name-the-escort [deal-chosen]: the decision to walk
this one, and what makes it the right size to learn on
agree-the-one -> register-deal [customer-and-scope]: the customer,
the partner and the scope, so the registration covers what was
agreed
name-the-escort -> agree-front [escort-by-stage]: who from our side
covers which stage, and what they will not do
register-deal -> agree-front [registration]: the registration, its
date and the day protection runs out
agree-front -> plan-together [customer-facing-roles]: who leads each
conversation, so the plan puts the right name against each step
plan-together -> rehearse [questions-and-decisions]: the questions
this customer will ask, and the decisions they have to make
rehearse -> joint-meetings [rehearsal-result]: what the partner could
answer alone and what they could not, written down before the first
meeting
joint-meetings -> price-and-quote [customer-need]: what the customer
said they need, at the version the customer agreed to
price-and-quote -> review-output [quote-and-discount]: the quote, the
discount and the approval behind any discount outside the standard
schedule
review-output -> do-the-work [signed-off-proposal]: the signed-off
proposal at a version. A later change voids the sign-off and the
review runs again
do-the-work -> confirm-customer [work-as-done]: the work as delivered
or the deal as closed, and every point the escort had to take over
do-the-work -> step-in [what-is-slipping]: what is slipping, since
when, and what the customer has already been told
step-in -> do-the-work [handback-terms]: the stage we took back, what
we did with it, and the conditions under which the partner gets it
back
confirm-customer -> debrief-partner [customer-confirmation]: the
customer's dated confirmation, and who they say they dealt with
debrief-partner -> decide-unaided [what-partner-did-alone]: the list
of what the partner did alone and what we did for them, agreed by
both sides
decide-unaided -> hand-to-manager [unaided-decision]: the signed
decision per role, with the reason and anything the partner still
needs
deviations:
agree-the-one -> take-in-deal [wrong-deal-to-learn-on]: the deal is
too big or too risky to learn on, so the run goes back to intake
and waits for one that fits
register-deal -> agree-the-one [already-registered]: the deal is
already registered to somebody else, so which deal to walk is
decided again
joint-meetings -> rehearse [not-ready-to-lead]: the partner is not
ready to lead the room, so the rehearsal runs again before the next
customer meeting
review-output -> price-and-quote [quote-must-change]: the quote or
the wording has to change, so it is priced and written again before
anything is sent
confirm-customer -> do-the-work [customer-says-not-landed]: the
customer says they did not get what was sold, so the work goes back
to be put right before the debrief
decide-unaided -> take-in-deal [not-yet-unaided]: the signer says not
yet, so the partner walks another deal from intake
bindings:
roster: <who holds each role - agents claiming the abstract agents
above, and named people for the partner lead, the sales
leader, the delivery lead, the deal desk, the legal reviewer
and the partner's sales lead and practice lead>
systems: deal registration (write), the CRM (read), the CRM (write),
the quoting system (write, cap: <n> discount without
approval), the contract repository (read), the contract repository (write),
the delivery system (write), the partner portal (write),
the calendar (write)
data: <your partner price list> <version>, <your discount schedule>
<version>, <your statement of work template> <version>,
the partner agreement and its tier, the certification record
policy:
a first deal is walked, never taken over quietly. Every stage the
escort performs is recorded as performed by us
the partner leads the customer conversation unless <who> has decided
otherwise and the customer has been told
nothing reaches the customer without both sides signing off on the
version that goes
a deal is registered before the first joint customer meeting, and an
unregistered deal is not walked
taking a stage back is a decision by <who>, is written down with the
reason, and comes with the conditions for handing it back
the customer is told who is doing what, and is never left believing
the partner did work we did
the decision that a partner may work unaided is a human gate, is made
per role, and is never inferred from the deal closing
a partner who has not run one unaided by <weeks> after the signed
decision is walked again rather than assumed competent
measures:
cycle time: <target> from the first opportunity to the customer's
confirmation
independence: <target> share of the plan's steps the partner ran with
no escort involvement
step-in rate: <target> for stages taken back per first deal
volume: <first deals per period>
quality gate: no run closes without the customer's dated confirmation
and a signed decision on working unaided
```
One run
A simulation of one run
The activities are on the left, whoever is doing the active one is on the right, and the record of the run builds up as it goes.
This run is built from the same rows as the diagram above: the left column is the activity list, the captions are the activity lines, the cast is the roster, and the labels on the wires are what the handoffs say actually passes.
Adoption
What you fill in
52 blanks to fill. Everything else is the process.
this process
from: ref/prt/run-a-first-deal-together v1
Copy this line into your own document. It never claims this process is running anywhere; it records which draft yours started from, and it is what lets the catalog tell you when this one changes.
The header. Your own id, an owner, and the date it takes effect. One line records where it came from, and that line is what lets the catalog tell you when this reference process changes.
The roster. Which agent takes each activity, and which person takes each of the human ones. The process already names what it needs, so this is a lookup rather than a design exercise.
The numbers. Dates, budgets, cadences, and the targets in the measures block. Nothing here can be a reference value, because a target nobody chose is a target nobody meets.