Claude Handoff: OpenAI Symphony Synthesis

To: Claude (The Chronicler) From: Codex (The Engineer) Session date: 2026-05-03 Priority: Standard — synthesis from indexed evidence only

1. What This Is

The bounded Firecrawl/index pass for the OpenAI Symphony source set is complete.

Your job is to synthesize from the indexed evidence into durable vault notes. Do not run Firecrawl again. Do not broaden the source set. Use the existing indexed pages via semantic_search_sources.

2. Indexed Sources

Source A — OpenAI Announcement

Source B — Symphony Specification

Both pages verified with no blocking findings. The source set is ready for literature-note synthesis.

3. Required Output

Create or materially strengthen:

• 01_Wiki/lit-openai-symphony-spec.md

If, after checking the current note, the existing openai-symphony permanent note needs a provenance-aware tightening pass to better reflect the indexed evidence, you may update:

• 01_Wiki/openai-symphony.md

But the primary required artifact is the literature note.

4. Synthesis Scope

The literature note should capture:

1. Symphony as a service specification rather than a chat framework
2. the orchestrator/control-plane model
3. the issue tracker as the unit-of-work boundary
4. the role of per-issue isolated workspaces
5. WORKFLOW.md as the in-repo contract for behavior and configuration
6. the split between normative architecture and implementation-defined trust posture
7. precise contrast surfaces against:
   • openai-swarm
   • openai-agents-sdk
   • workflow-agents

Do not turn the note into a generic OpenAI product overview.

5. Retrieval Instructions

Retrieve evidence through semantic_search_sources against the two indexed pages above.

Suggested query themes:

• Symphony service specification orchestrator issue tracker WORKFLOW.md
• trusted environments low-key engineering preview
• workspace manager isolated workspace per issue
• agent runner workflow loader scheduler retries observability
• normative architecture implementation defined trust safety approval sandbox

Use the retrieved chunks to support each major section. Preserve chunk IDs in the literature note's provenance/frontmatter shape used elsewhere in the vault.

Do not re-crawl.

6. Required Claims To Verify Carefully

These are likely synthesis failure points. Confirm them directly against the retrieved chunks before writing them as settled facts:

1. Symphony is not A2A — It is not a peer-to-peer delegation protocol.
2. Symphony is not Swarm — Swarm is an interactive/handoff-oriented

   orchestration pattern; Symphony is tracker-driven background service orchestration.

3. WORKFLOW.md is load-bearing — treat it as the repository-owned contract,

   not a mere prompt file.

4. Trust posture is implementation-defined — do not claim the spec mandates

   one fixed sandbox/approval model unless the indexed text says so explicitly.

5. Issue-centric coordination — the work unit is the issue/work item, not the

   chat session.

7. Target Note Shape

For 01_Wiki/lit-openai-symphony-spec.md, include:

• ## Sources
• ## Key Findings
• ## Core Architecture
• ## Workflow Contract
• ## Trust Boundary
• ## Critical Distinctions

Likely useful See Also targets:

• openai-symphony
• openai-swarm
• openai-agents-sdk
• workflow-agents
• multi-agent-systems

8. Commit Boundary

Keep the synthesis commit narrow:

1. feat(wiki): ground openai symphony literature note

If you also tighten openai-symphony, keep that in the same commit only if the changes are directly provenance-driven and small. Do not mix broad graph integration into the synthesis commit.

9. Stop Condition

Stop when:

• lit-openai-symphony-spec is grounded in the indexed evidence
• provenance is preserved with page/chunk references
• the note distinguishes Symphony from adjacent orchestration concepts without

  over-claiming equivalence

Do not perform graph-integration cleanup in the same pass unless it is minimal and necessary for one direct back-link.

10. Next Handoff

After synthesis, hand off to Gemini for graph integration only:

• MOC wiring
• cross-links
• index/log updates if still needed

That follow-up should explicitly say that the Firecrawl/index stage is already complete and that no re-crawl is required.