P12 — Concurrent Coding + Housekeeping

Problem

Product work and maintenance happen together, but maintenance must not disturb active coding Runs.

Context

Interactive coders, dependency maintainers, and resource housekeepers may use the same System Workspace context. A caller or external orchestrator owns roles, goals, and schedules; every role receives its own bounded Run and managed-repository worktree.

Pattern

Share System context and coordination signals. Give each role a separate Task, Run, worktree, Runtime Resource set, and Candidate lifecycle. Do not make ws the scheduler or runtime authority.

Diagram

                 shared durable context
                 /                  \
interactive Run /                    \ housekeeper Run
 isolated env /                      \ isolated env
       Candidate ───── integration ─── Candidate

Example

The coding agent changes a feature in one worktree while the housekeeper audits stale resources in another. Both publish evidence; neither edits the control repository, the other Run’s checkout, or a context-only repository.

Trade-offs

Maintenance becomes continuous without blocking product work. Shared context and runtime resources still need explicit ownership.

Failure modes

The housekeeper treats active resources as stale, or a maintenance Candidate changes assumptions the coding Run relied on.

Extension points

Add priority queues, resource leases, integration windows, or stronger sandbox providers.

When not to use

Do not run housekeeping concurrently when the repository is undergoing a migration that makes all other work unsafe.