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The dispatcher is the only place an agent run starts ​

Context ​

Once commands became a registry that every surface derives from (0008), it was tempting to register "run the agent" as just another command. A run command with an exec action would have been symmetrical and short.

But the permission gate that decides whether an actor may run a given agent lives in one function, dispatch(). It resolves directives, the layered configuration, thread stickiness and admission, assembles history, and only then starts the run. A second entry point that reaches the runner is a second authorization surface, and the two drift the first time one of them changes.

Decision ​

dispatch() in src/core/dispatcher.ts is the only orchestrator. Channels are transports: they turn a platform event into an IncomingMessage, call dispatch(), and render what comes back. No registry command starts an agent run, and the action vocabulary deliberately has no class that authorizes one. A handler that reaches for the runner is a bug.

The two places a surface does start a run on purpose, the CLI's ask and the MCP dispatch tool, are channel built-ins that sit beside the derived commands and call dispatch() themselves. They are not registrations.

Consequences ​

  • The resolved-agent permission gate is asked in exactly one place, so it cannot be bypassed by adding a command.
  • Everything a run needs to be consistent across surfaces, from directive parsing to thread admission, is written once.
  • The dispatcher is the largest module in the core, and its layered resolution and gating are candidates for a split into a pipeline of stages; that split keeps one entry point and is tracked separately.
  • A contributor who wants a new way to start work must express it as a new channel or a new directive, never as a command handler.

Alternatives rejected ​

  • A run command in the registry. Symmetrical, but it makes the authorization check a property of a handler instead of the one gate every run passes.
  • Letting channels orchestrate. Each adapter would carry its own copy of directive parsing and gating; the Slack adapter and the HTTP ingress would disagree within a week.

Pattern ​

Registry for commands, with orchestration deliberately kept outside the registry. The future split of dispatch() is a Pipeline (Chain of Responsibility) behind the same single entry point.