ADR-001: Deterministic State Machine Over Autonomous Agents

Status

Accepted

Context

• Problem: How should Verist orchestrate AI workflows?
• Why now: Foundational decision that shapes the entire API
• Constraints: Must support audit trails, reproducibility, regulatory compliance

Decision

• Chosen option: Explicit state machine with pure step functions
• Rationale:
  • Steps are testable in isolation
  • State transitions are inspectable and replayable
  • No hidden control flow or emergent behavior

Alternatives

• Autonomous agents: LLM decides next action. Rejected – non-deterministic, hard to audit, unpredictable costs
• DAG orchestrator (Airflow-style): External orchestration service. Rejected – operational overhead, state lives outside domain database

Consequences

• Positive: Full auditability, reproducible runs, simple debugging (read SQL + step code)
• Negative: More explicit wiring required, no "magic" agent loops
• Follow-ups: Define step interface (ADR-002), audit event schema (ADR-003)