docs: refresh planner priorities for 4473

Co-authored-by: Codex <codex@openai.com>

.github/loop/PRIORITIES.md

@@ -21,9 +21,8 @@ changes, architectural rewrites. Those go to the human.
 
 ## Work queue (ranked)
 
-1. **Resume durable agent runs from checkpoints** ([#4202](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/issues/4202)) — the installed first-agent on-ramp shipped in #4207, AtlasCloud guarded-delegate conformance closed in #4211, and retry side-effect dedupe closed in #4215. With the highest Now-phase provider-failure risk resolved, the next most valuable gap is the durable-agent-loop promise from the roadmap and blog: long-running agents should recover like flows, checkpoint progress, and avoid replaying completed tool side effects after interruption.
-2. **Broaden provider streaming coverage through chat and A2A** ([#4217](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/issues/4217)) — after durable resume, improve the interactive inner loop: `ai.Stream`, `micro chat`, and A2A streaming should preserve token order, cancellation, and error semantics end to end so a developer can move from local chat to interop without learning separate transport behavior.
-3. **Emit OpenTelemetry spans from agent run history** ([#4218](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/issues/4218)) — once durable runs and streaming are guarded, close the observability seam called out by the roadmap and blog: `RunInfo`/history and production traces should tell the same story for model steps, tool calls, retries, delegation, and failures.
+1. **Fix AtlasCloud tool streaming capability mismatch** ([#4438](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/issues/4438)) — With the offline `micro new` 0→1 contract shipped, the top open risk is the provider capability/implementation seam: AtlasCloud still advertises streaming capability beyond its tool-streaming implementation, causing live agent streaming conformance to run an unsupported assertion. Fixing this keeps provider-backed chat and agent streaming honest without re-opening the no-secret adoption path.
+2. **Broaden provider streaming conformance** ([#4386](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/issues/4386)) — Once the provider-specific AtlasCloud mismatch is resolved, expand the broader streaming matrix so chat, agent RPC, and A2A streaming regressions are caught across keyed providers while local CI continues to skip cleanly without secrets.
 
 _Seeded by Claude Code from the roadmap + open issues; thereafter maintained by the
 architecture-review pass._

.github/workflows/loop-release.yml

@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 name: "Loop: Release"
 
-# Generated by `micro loop init`. Cuts the next PATCH tag
-# (vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH+1) when the default branch has new commits
-# since the latest such tag, and pushes it with a PAT (CODEX_TRIGGER_TOKEN) so any
-# tag-triggered release workflow fires. Minor/major bumps stay with a human.
+# Generated by `micro loop init`. Cuts the next tag when the default branch has
+# new commits since the latest one, and pushes it with a PAT (CODEX_TRIGGER_TOKEN)
+# so any tag-triggered release workflow fires. The bump reflects what shipped,
+# read from the CHANGELOG [Unreleased] section: new features (Added/Changed) cut
+# a MINOR; fixes/docs only cut a PATCH; breaking changes are skipped so a MAJOR
+# stays a human decision.
 #
 # The tag MUST be pushed with a PAT, not the default GITHUB_TOKEN: a tag pushed
 # by GITHUB_TOKEN does not trigger other workflows (Actions blocks that recursion).
@@ -66,11 +68,30 @@ jobs:
             [0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*) ;;
             *) echo "unexpected tag shape: $LATEST" ; exit 1 ;;
           esac
-          NEXT="v${major}.${minor}.$((patch + 1))"
-          echo "cutting: $NEXT ($COUNT commits since $LATEST)"
+
+          # Choose the bump from what actually shipped, read from the CHANGELOG
+          # [Unreleased] section (kept current by the coherence role):
+          #   new features (### Added / ### Changed) -> MINOR
+          #   fixes/docs only                        -> PATCH
+          #   breaking (### Removed / "(breaking)")  -> skip; a major is a human call
+          UNRELEASED=""
+          if [ -f CHANGELOG.md ]; then
+            UNRELEASED=$(awk '/^## \[Unreleased\]/{f=1; next} /^## \[/{f=0} f' CHANGELOG.md)
+          fi
+          if printf '%s\n' "$UNRELEASED" | grep -qiE '^### Removed|^### Changed \(breaking\)|BREAKING'; then
+            echo "CHANGELOG [Unreleased] contains breaking changes — a major release is a human decision. Skipping."
+            exit 0
+          elif printf '%s\n' "$UNRELEASED" | grep -qE '^### (Added|Changed)'; then
+            NEXT="v${major}.$((minor + 1)).0"
+            KIND="minor (new features)"
+          else
+            NEXT="v${major}.${minor}.$((patch + 1))"
+            KIND="patch (fixes/docs only)"
+          fi
+          echo "cutting: $NEXT — $KIND ($COUNT commits since $LATEST)"
 
           git config user.name "loop release bot"
           git config user.email "noreply@users.noreply.github.com"
-          git tag -a "$NEXT" -m "Release $NEXT — automated patch ($COUNT commits since $LATEST)"
+          git tag -a "$NEXT" -m "Release $NEXT — automated $KIND ($COUNT commits since $LATEST)"
           git push "https://x-access-token:${RELEASE_TOKEN}@github.com/${REPO}.git" "$NEXT"
           echo "Pushed $NEXT."

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@ All notable changes to Go Micro are documented here.
 Format follows [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/) and versions
 follow [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/), matching the git tags and
 [GitHub releases](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/releases) (`v6.MINOR.PATCH`).
-Patch releases are cut automatically as the loop merges improvements; the
-`[Unreleased]` section below is kept current between tags and rolled into the
-next version when it ships.
+Releases are cut automatically as the loop merges improvements — a **minor**
+bump when new features land (`### Added`/`### Changed`), a **patch** when it's
+fixes/docs only; major bumps stay a human decision. The `[Unreleased]` section
+below is kept current between tags and rolled into the next version when it ships.
 
 > Earlier `2026.0x` headings are historical calendar-style markers from before
 > v6 tagging; they are kept for continuity and not reused.
@@ -16,17 +17,88 @@ next version when it ships.
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+- **Agent stream provider conformance** — provider conformance now covers agent streaming behavior so streaming-capable providers stay aligned with the harness contract. (`agent/`, `internal/harness/`)
+
+### Changed
+- **Provider model call timeouts** — model call timeout enforcement now wraps provider calls more defensively, reducing hangs in agent and harness paths. (`agent/`, `ai/`)
+- **First-agent harness diagnostics** — getting-started harness logs now make first-run and 0→hero failures easier to locate. (`internal/harness/`)
+
+### Fixed
+- **Partial text tool calls** — text tool-call recovery now repairs partial function-style calls more reliably before fallback parsing continues. (`agent/`)
+- **Retry timeout test stability** — retry timeout coverage is less race-prone. (`agent/`)
+- **Checkpointed tool-call resume** — resumed agent runs now preserve checkpointed tool calls across startup resume paths. (`agent/`)
+
+### Documentation
+- **Roadmap agent status** — public roadmap docs now reflect the current agent lifecycle status more consistently. (`internal/website/docs/`)
+- **Agent resume limits** — docs now describe checkpoint resume boundaries for agent runs. (`internal/website/docs/`)
+
+---
+
+## [6.4.0] - July 2026
+
+### Added
+- **Provider HTTP retry signals** — provider failures now preserve HTTP status and `Retry-After` details so retry classification and backoff can respond to rate limits and unavailable providers. (`ai/`)
+- **Zero-to-hero deploy dry-run verification** — the maintained 0→hero harness now covers deploy dry-run boundaries for the services → agents → workflows lifecycle. (`internal/harness/`)
+- **First-agent CLI wayfinding verification** — the harness now checks that first-agent CLI wayfinding stays discoverable. (`internal/harness/`)
+- **Agent startup resume verification** — agent startup resume now has focused checkpoint coverage. (`agent/`, `internal/harness/`)
+- **Direct first-agent chat prompts** — first-agent flows can accept direct chat prompts, reducing friction in the first useful conversation. (`cmd/micro/`, `agent/`)
+- **Workflow run info on tool spans** — agent tool spans now include workflow run details for easier trace correlation. (`agent/`, `flow/`)
+
+### Fixed
+- **Stream fallback memory** — unsupported streaming attempts no longer leave stale duplicate user turns before fallback paths continue with non-streaming agent calls. (`agent/`)
+- **Function-style text tool calls** — agent fallback parsing now recognizes provider replies that render tools as function-style calls, including nested JSON arguments. (`agent/`)
+- **Plan/delegate notify recovery** — plan-delegate recovery now waits for recovered notify side effects and routes retries through the communications agent that owns the notification. (`internal/harness/`)
+- **Onboarding side-effect enforcement** — the agent-flow harness now fails when required onboarding side effects are missing, making lifecycle regressions visible. (`internal/harness/`)
+- **Plan/delegate notify stability** — notify recovery is more deterministic across retry and replay paths. (`agent/`, `internal/harness/`)
+- **AtlasCloud MiniMax tool fallback** — AtlasCloud MiniMax service-tool fallback now handles 400 responses and follow-up retries more reliably. (`ai/atlascloud/`, `agent/`)
+
+### Documentation
+- **First-agent docs wayfinding guard** — the local harness now includes a focused no-network check for first-agent and 0→hero docs links. (`Makefile`, `internal/harness/`)
+
+---
+
+## [6.3.18] - July 2026
+
+### Added
+- **StreamAsk close cancellation** — agent streaming calls now cancel promptly when their runner closes, avoiding orphaned stream work. (`agent/`)
+- **Agent resume pending helper** — agent durability now has a focused helper for resuming pending checkpointed runs. (`agent/`)
+- **Agent tool retry tracing** — agent traces now include tool retry attempts for easier debugging of retry/fallback behavior. (`agent/`)
+- **Shared-broker universe harness** — the universe harness now runs against the shared broker path, improving coverage of the same runtime wiring used by services, agents, and workflows. (`internal/harness/`)
+
+### Fixed
+- **Plan/delegate retry idempotency** — agent retries now preserve side-effect and notification dedupe across conformance retry paths, including completion and owner-notification edge cases. (`agent/`, `internal/harness/`)
+- **AtlasCloud text tool calls** — AtlasCloud fallback handling now recovers more text-rendered tool calls from OpenAI-compatible responses. (`ai/atlascloud/`, `agent/`)
+- **OpenAI-compatible text tool calls** — OpenAI-compatible providers now recover text-rendered tool calls more reliably. (`agent/`)
+- **AtlasCloud multi-step follow-ups** — AtlasCloud tool fallback handling now continues multi-step tool follow-up paths more reliably. (`ai/atlascloud/`, `agent/`)
+
+### Documentation
+- **Agent debugging quickcheck** — docs now include a focused quickcheck path for first-agent debugging. (`internal/website/docs/`)
+- **Website first-agent examples map** — website docs now link the maintained examples wayfinding map for the first-agent route. (`internal/website/docs/`)
+- **Examples wayfinding index** — examples docs now provide a central map for first-agent, support, and interop examples. (`examples/`, `internal/website/docs/`)
+
+---
+
+## [6.3.17] - July 2026
+
 ### Added
 - **First-agent examples CLI wayfinding** — `micro examples` now prints the maintained provider-free first-agent examples in copy/paste order. (`cmd/micro/`)
 - **0→hero CLI entrypoint** — `micro zero-to-hero` now points developers at the maintained no-secret services → agents → workflows harness and runnable examples. (`cmd/micro/`)
+- **First-agent tutorial smoke harness** — the first-agent tutorial path now has smoke coverage to keep the no-secret on-ramp runnable. (`internal/harness/`)
+- **No-secret agent debugging smoke** — the no-secret agent debugging path now has smoke coverage for the first-agent troubleshooting flow. (`internal/harness/`)
+- **Durable checkpoint resume smoke coverage** — durable agent resume after checkpointing now has focused smoke coverage. (`agent/`, `internal/harness/`)
 
 ### Fixed
 - **Plan/delegate notify replays** — duplicate and replayed plan-delegate notifications are now idempotent, so resumed runs do not duplicate completed notifications. (`agent/`, `internal/harness/`)
 - **Provider conformance scheduling** — provider conformance workflow dispatches now guard their scheduling path more reliably. (`.github/workflows/`)
+- **Plan/delegate notification completion** — delegated notifications now preserve plan completion state more reliably, including duplicate, paraphrased, and delegated-owner notification paths. (`agent/`, `internal/harness/`)
+- **AtlasCloud tool fallback** — AtlasCloud built-in tool schemas and follow-up tool fallback handling now recover conformance delegate retries more reliably. (`ai/atlascloud/`, `agent/`)
+- **Agent conformance retry completion** — conformance retry prompts and completion handling are more deterministic for delegated agent runs. (`agent/`, `internal/harness/`)
 
 ### Documentation
 - **First-agent quickstart numbering** — the first-agent on-ramp numbering is consistent across the README and website docs. (`README.md`, `internal/website/docs/`)
 - **First-agent inspect command** — docs now use the maintained `micro inspect agent <name>` form. (`README.md`, `internal/website/docs/`)
+- **`micro loop` quickstart wayfinding** — docs now surface the loop quickstart from the public docs index and README wayfinding. (`README.md`, `internal/website/docs/`)
 
 ---
 

Makefile

@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ LDFLAGS = -X $(GIT_IMPORT).BuildDate=$(BUILD_DATE) -X $(GIT_IMPORT).GitCommit=$(
 # GORELEASER_DOCKER_IMAGE = ghcr.io/goreleaser/goreleaser-cross:v1.25.7
 GORELEASER_DOCKER_IMAGE = ghcr.io/goreleaser/goreleaser:latest
 
-.PHONY: test test-race test-coverage harness install-smoke provider-conformance-mock provider-conformance lint fmt install-tools proto clean help gorelease-dry-run gorelease-dry-run-docker
+.PHONY: test test-race test-coverage harness cli-wayfinding docs-wayfinding install-smoke provider-conformance-mock provider-conformance lint fmt install-tools proto clean help gorelease-dry-run gorelease-dry-run-docker
 
 # Default target
 help:
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ help:
 	@echo "  make test-coverage - Run tests with coverage"
 	@echo "  make lint          - Run linter"
 	@echo "  make harness       - Run deterministic getting-started and end-to-end harnesses"
+	@echo "  make cli-wayfinding - Verify installed first-agent CLI wayfinding commands"
+	@echo "  make docs-wayfinding - Verify first-agent docs wayfinding links resolve locally"
 	@echo "  make install-smoke - Verify the local install.sh and first-run CLI smoke path"
 	@echo "  make provider-conformance-mock - Run cross-provider harness with deterministic mock provider"
 	@echo "  make provider-conformance - Run harnesses against configured live providers"
@@ -49,12 +51,26 @@ test-coverage:
 # This mirrors the default CI path so local dogfooding catches scaffold,
 # run/chat/inspect, and 0→hero regressions before a PR is opened.
 harness:
-	$(MAKE) install-smoke
+	$(MAKE) cli-wayfinding
 	go test ./cmd/micro/cli/new -run TestZeroToOne -count=1
 	./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci/run.sh
 	go run ./internal/harness/agent-flow
 	$(MAKE) provider-conformance-mock
 
+# Verify the installed CLI keeps the first-agent on-ramp commands discoverable.
+# This guards the no-secret commands README/docs recommend (`micro agent demo`,
+# `micro examples`, and `micro zero-to-hero`) as a CI contract.
+cli-wayfinding:
+	go test ./cmd/micro -run 'TestFirstAgentWalkthroughCLIBoundaries|TestExamplesWayfindingIndexStaysLinked|TestExamplesCommandPointsAtWayfindingIndex|TestZeroToHeroCommandPrintsMaintainedNoSecretPath' -count=1
+	$(MAKE) docs-wayfinding
+	$(MAKE) install-smoke
+
+# Verify the README and website first-agent/0→hero wayfinding links resolve to
+# maintained local docs and examples. This is a focused no-network guard for the
+# developer-adoption on-ramp.
+docs-wayfinding:
+	go test ./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci -run 'TestFirstAgentWayfindingDocs|TestFirstAgentWayfindingLinkTargetsResolve' -count=1
+
 # Verify the documented install script and first-run CLI command boundaries without
 # provider keys or network access.
 install-smoke:
@@ -110,4 +126,3 @@ gorelease-dry-run:
 		-w /$(NAME) \
 		$(GORELEASER_DOCKER_IMAGE) \
 		--clean --verbose --skip=publish,validate --snapshot
-

README.md

@@ -94,15 +94,16 @@ walkable agent path in this order:
 2. `micro agent demo` — print the provider-free first-agent demo command and next docs steps from the installed CLI.
 3. `micro examples` — print the maintained provider-free runnable examples in copy/paste order.
 4. `micro zero-to-hero` — print the maintained one-command no-secret lifecycle harness and runnable examples.
-5. [Smallest first-agent example](examples/first-agent/) — run one service-backed agent with a mock model and no provider key.
-6. [No-secret first-agent transcript](internal/website/docs/guides/no-secret-first-agent.md) — run the
+5. [Examples wayfinding index](examples/INDEX.md) — choose the smallest no-secret first-agent, maintained [0→hero support reference](examples/support/), and next interop examples from one map.
+6. [Smallest first-agent example](examples/first-agent/) — run one service-backed agent with a mock model and no provider key.
+7. [No-secret first-agent transcript](internal/website/docs/guides/no-secret-first-agent.md) — run the
    maintained support agent with a mock model and see services → agents → workflows succeed without a key.
-7. [Your First Agent](internal/website/docs/guides/your-first-agent.md) — build a
+8. [Your First Agent](internal/website/docs/guides/your-first-agent.md) — build a
    service-backed agent and talk to it with `micro chat`.
-8. [Debugging your agent](internal/website/docs/guides/debugging-agents.md) — use
+9. [Debugging your agent](internal/website/docs/guides/debugging-agents.md) — use
    `micro inspect agent <name>`, run history, memory, and provider checks when the first
    conversation does something unexpected.
-9. [0→hero Reference](internal/website/docs/guides/zero-to-hero.md) — complete the
+10. [0→hero Reference](internal/website/docs/guides/zero-to-hero.md) — complete the
    services → agents → workflows loop with scaffold, run, chat, inspect, flow
    history, and deploy dry-run commands that match the maintained harness.
 

ROADMAP.md

@@ -14,8 +14,9 @@ The full, current roadmap lives at **[go-micro.dev/docs/roadmap](https://go-micr
 
 ## Where we are (v6)
 
-Services, agents (`plan`/`delegate`, guardrails, memory, tool middleware), durable
-flows, the MCP and A2A gateways (both directions, including A2A streaming,
+Services, agents (`plan`/`delegate`, guardrails, memory, tool middleware,
+checkpoint/resume, and OpenTelemetry run spans), durable flows, the MCP and A2A
+gateways (both directions, including A2A streaming,
 push notifications, and multi-turn continuation), x402 paid tools, secure by
 default.
 
@@ -39,11 +40,24 @@ default.
   propagation, retry/backoff.
 - **Getting-started contract** — define and CI-verify the 0→1 and 0→hero flows.
 
+## Shipped agent depth
+
+- **Durable agent loop** — opt-in `Checkpoint` support lets agent `Ask` and
+  streaming runs persist, list pending work, and resume without replaying completed
+  tool calls. Human-input pauses resume through explicit input helpers.
+- **Agent observability** — agent `RunInfo` now feeds OpenTelemetry spans/events
+  across runs, model turns, tool calls, retries, delegation lineage, and resume
+  checkpoints.
+
 ## Next — agentic depth
 
-- **Durable agent loop** — resume a long run via `Checkpoint` (flows already do).
 - **Streaming** — broaden provider-backed `ai.Stream` coverage and keep chat/A2A streaming end to end.
-- **Agent observability** — `RunInfo` → OpenTelemetry spans.
+- **Resume operations polish** — keep improving CLI/docs breadcrumbs for finding
+  pending agent runs and deciding whether to call resume, resume-input, or stream
+  resume in production.
+- **Observability hardening** — keep span attributes and run inspection coherent
+  across agents, flows, and gateways as more providers and workflow paths are
+  exercised.
 
 ## Later
 

agent/agent.go

@@ -99,6 +99,12 @@ type agentImpl struct {
 	// holding mu. Tool execution updates it so resumed runs can reuse
 	// completed tool results without replaying side effects.
 	currentRun *flow.Run
+
+	// delegateCalls collapses concurrent equivalent delegate tool calls so a
+	// provider replay cannot fan out duplicate delegated side effects before the
+	// durable delegate-result cache is written.
+	delegateMu    sync.Mutex
+	delegateCalls map[string]*delegateCall
 }
 
 // New creates a new Agent.
@@ -221,16 +227,18 @@ func (a *agentImpl) Stream(ctx context.Context, message string) (ai.Stream, erro
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("discover tools: %w", err)
 	}
-	a.mem.Add("user", message)
+	messages := append([]ai.Message(nil), a.mem.Messages()...)
+	messages = append(messages, ai.Message{Role: "user", Content: message})
 	stream, err := a.model.Stream(ctx, &ai.Request{
 		Prompt:       message,
 		SystemPrompt: a.buildPrompt(),
 		Tools:        toolList,
-		Messages:     a.mem.Messages(),
+		Messages:     messages,
 	})
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, err
 	}
+	a.mem.Add("user", message)
 	return &memoryRecordingStream{stream: stream, memory: a.mem}, nil
 }
 
@@ -244,6 +252,31 @@ func Pending(ctx context.Context, ag Agent) ([]flow.Run, error) {
 	return a.pending(ctx)
 }
 
+// ResumePending resumes every checkpointed agent run that has not completed
+// yet, in the same oldest-first order returned by Pending.
+//
+// It is a convenience for service startup and recovery loops: after recreating
+// an agent with the same checkpoint store, call ResumePending to drain the
+// durable backlog without listing and resuming each run manually. If any run
+// fails again, ResumePending stops and returns that run id with the error so
+// callers can log, alert, or retry later without hiding the failing run.
+func ResumePending(ctx context.Context, ag Agent) (string, error) {
+	a, ok := ag.(*agentImpl)
+	if !ok {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("agent resume pending: unsupported agent implementation %T", ag)
+	}
+	runs, err := a.pending(ctx)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", err
+	}
+	for _, run := range runs {
+		if _, err := a.resume(ctx, run.ID); err != nil {
+			return run.ID, err
+		}
+	}
+	return "", nil
+}
+
 func (a *agentImpl) ask(ctx context.Context, message, parentRunID string) (*Response, error) {
 	a.mu.Lock()
 	defer a.mu.Unlock()
@@ -381,6 +414,15 @@ func (a *agentImpl) askLocked(ctx context.Context, runID, message, parentRunID s
 				continue
 			}
 		}
+		if toolName := partialTextToolCallName(resp.Reply, toolList); len(resp.ToolCalls) == 0 && toolName != "" && planCompletionTurn < maxPlanCompletionTurns {
+			if resp.Reply != "" {
+				a.mem.Add("assistant", resp.Reply)
+			}
+			message = fmt.Sprintf("Your previous response started a %q tool call but did not finish valid tool-call markup or JSON arguments, so no tool was executed. Retry the same step now by emitting one complete valid tool call for %q. Do not describe the action in prose, and do not claim completion until the tool call succeeds.", toolName, toolName)
+			a.mem.Add("user", message)
+			messages = a.mem.Messages()
+			continue
+		}
 		break
 	}
 
@@ -399,9 +441,13 @@ func (a *agentImpl) askLocked(ctx context.Context, runID, message, parentRunID s
 		reply += resp.Answer
 	}
 
+	completedToolCalls := checkpointToolCalls(run.Steps)
+	if a.currentRun != nil {
+		completedToolCalls = checkpointToolCalls(a.currentRun.Steps)
+	}
 	res := &Response{
 		Reply:     reply,
-		ToolCalls: resp.ToolCalls,
+		ToolCalls: mergeCheckpointToolCalls(completedToolCalls, resp.ToolCalls),
 		Agent:     a.opts.Name,
 		RunID:     a.runID,
 		ParentID:  parentRunID,

agent/builtin.go

@@ -27,6 +27,11 @@ const (
 	toolHumanInput = "request_input"
 )
 
+type delegateCall struct {
+	done chan struct{}
+	res  ai.ToolResult
+}
+
 // builtinTools returns the tool definitions exposed to the model in
 // addition to the agent's scoped service tools.
 func builtinTools() []ai.Tool {
@@ -585,7 +590,7 @@ func (a *agentImpl) handleHumanInput(call ai.ToolCall) ai.ToolResult {
 // if 'to' names a registered agent, it is called via RPC. Otherwise an
 // ephemeral sub-agent is created with a fresh, isolated context, asked
 // the subtask, and its reply returned.
-func (a *agentImpl) handleDelegate(ctx context.Context, call ai.ToolCall) ai.ToolResult {
+func (a *agentImpl) handleDelegate(ctx context.Context, call ai.ToolCall) (res ai.ToolResult) {
 	input := call.Input
 	task, _ := input["task"].(string)
 	if task == "" {
@@ -596,6 +601,12 @@ func (a *agentImpl) handleDelegate(ctx context.Context, call ai.ToolCall) ai.Too
 		return cached
 	}
 
+	key := delegateResultKey(to, task)
+	if cached, ok := a.joinDelegateCall(ctx, call.ID, key); ok {
+		return cached
+	}
+	defer func() { a.finishDelegateCall(key, res) }()
+
 	// An external agent on another framework, addressed by A2A URL.
 	if strings.HasPrefix(to, "http://") || strings.HasPrefix(to, "https://") {
 		reply, err := a2a.NewClient(to).Send(ctx, task)
@@ -647,6 +658,38 @@ func (a *agentImpl) handleDelegate(ctx context.Context, call ai.ToolCall) ai.Too
 	return a.storeDelegateResult(call.ID, to, task, map[string]any{"reply": resp.Reply})
 }
 
+func (a *agentImpl) joinDelegateCall(ctx context.Context, id, key string) (ai.ToolResult, bool) {
+	a.delegateMu.Lock()
+	if a.delegateCalls == nil {
+		a.delegateCalls = map[string]*delegateCall{}
+	}
+	if inFlight := a.delegateCalls[key]; inFlight != nil {
+		a.delegateMu.Unlock()
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return errResult(id, ctx.Err().Error()), true
+		case <-inFlight.done:
+			return withToolResultID(inFlight.res, id), true
+		}
+	}
+	a.delegateCalls[key] = &delegateCall{done: make(chan struct{})}
+	a.delegateMu.Unlock()
+	return ai.ToolResult{}, false
+}
+
+func (a *agentImpl) finishDelegateCall(key string, res ai.ToolResult) {
+	a.delegateMu.Lock()
+	inFlight := a.delegateCalls[key]
+	if inFlight == nil {
+		a.delegateMu.Unlock()
+		return
+	}
+	inFlight.res = res
+	delete(a.delegateCalls, key)
+	close(inFlight.done)
+	a.delegateMu.Unlock()
+}
+
 func (a *agentImpl) cachedDelegateResult(id, to, task string) (ai.ToolResult, bool) {
 	recs, err := a.stateStore().Read(delegateResultKey(to, task))
 	if err != nil || len(recs) == 0 {
@@ -666,6 +709,11 @@ func (a *agentImpl) storeDelegateResult(id, to, task string, out map[string]any)
 	return ai.ToolResult{ID: id, Value: out, Content: string(b)}
 }
 
+func withToolResultID(res ai.ToolResult, id string) ai.ToolResult {
+	res.ID = id
+	return res
+}
+
 func delegateResultKey(to, task string) string {
 	fp := normalizeDelegateTarget(to) + "\x00" + normalizeDelegateTask(task)
 	sum := sha256.Sum256([]byte(fp))

agent/builtin_test.go

@@ -3,7 +3,9 @@ package agent
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"sync"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"go-micro.dev/v6/ai"
 	"go-micro.dev/v6/registry"
@@ -207,6 +209,44 @@ func TestDelegateResultCacheReusesLaunchReadinessParaphrases(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestDelegateInFlightReplaysShareFirstResult(t *testing.T) {
+	a := New(Name("planner"), WithStore(store.NewMemoryStore())).(*agentImpl)
+	key := delegateResultKey("comms", "Notify owner@acme.com that the launch plan is ready")
+	if _, joined := a.joinDelegateCall(context.Background(), "delegate-1", key); joined {
+		t.Fatal("first delegate call unexpectedly joined an existing in-flight call")
+	}
+
+	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	wg.Add(1)
+	results := make(chan ai.ToolResult, 1)
+	go func() {
+		defer wg.Done()
+		res, joined := a.joinDelegateCall(context.Background(), "delegate-2", key)
+		if !joined {
+			t.Error("replayed delegate call did not join the in-flight call")
+			return
+		}
+		results <- res
+	}()
+
+	select {
+	case res := <-results:
+		t.Fatalf("replayed delegate returned before first call finished: %+v", res)
+	case <-time.After(25 * time.Millisecond):
+	}
+
+	first := ai.ToolResult{ID: "delegate-1", Content: `{"reply":"Notified owner@acme.com."}`}
+	a.finishDelegateCall(key, first)
+	wg.Wait()
+	replayed := <-results
+	if replayed.ID != "delegate-2" {
+		t.Fatalf("replayed result ID = %q, want delegate-2", replayed.ID)
+	}
+	if replayed.Content != first.Content {
+		t.Fatalf("replayed content = %q, want %q", replayed.Content, first.Content)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestIsAgent(t *testing.T) {
 	reg := registry.NewMemoryRegistry()
 

agent/checkpoint.go

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"strings"
 	"time"
 
 	"go-micro.dev/v6/ai"
@@ -288,3 +289,56 @@ func upsertStep(steps *[]flow.StepRecord, rec flow.StepRecord) int {
 	*steps = append(*steps, rec)
 	return len(*steps) - 1
 }
+
+func checkpointToolCalls(steps []flow.StepRecord) []ai.ToolCall {
+	calls := make([]ai.ToolCall, 0, len(steps))
+	for _, step := range steps {
+		call, ok := checkpointToolCall(step)
+		if !ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		calls = append(calls, call)
+	}
+	return calls
+}
+
+func checkpointToolCall(step flow.StepRecord) (ai.ToolCall, bool) {
+	if step.Status != "done" || !strings.HasPrefix(step.Name, "tool:") {
+		return ai.ToolCall{}, false
+	}
+	parts := strings.SplitN(strings.TrimPrefix(step.Name, "tool:"), ":", 2)
+	if len(parts) != 2 || parts[0] == "" {
+		return ai.ToolCall{}, false
+	}
+	input := map[string]any{}
+	if parts[1] != "null" && parts[1] != "" {
+		if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(parts[1]), &input); err != nil {
+			return ai.ToolCall{}, false
+		}
+	}
+	return ai.ToolCall{Name: parts[0], Input: input, Result: step.Result}, true
+}
+
+func mergeCheckpointToolCalls(checkpointed, current []ai.ToolCall) []ai.ToolCall {
+	if len(checkpointed) == 0 {
+		return current
+	}
+	seen := make(map[string]struct{}, len(current))
+	for _, call := range current {
+		seen[toolCallKey(call.Name, call.Input)] = struct{}{}
+	}
+	merged := make([]ai.ToolCall, 0, len(checkpointed)+len(current))
+	for _, call := range checkpointed {
+		if _, ok := seen[toolCallKey(call.Name, call.Input)]; ok {
+			continue
+		}
+		merged = append(merged, call)
+	}
+	merged = append(merged, current...)
+	return merged
+}
+
+func toolCallKey(name string, input map[string]any) string {
+	b, _ := json.Marshal(input)
+	return name + ":" + string(b)
+}

agent/checkpoint_test.go

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"go-micro.dev/v6/ai"
 	"go-micro.dev/v6/client"
@@ -20,7 +21,7 @@ func TestResumeCompletedCheckpointDoesNotReplayModel(t *testing.T) {
 	calls := 0
 	fakeGen = func(ctx context.Context, opts ai.Options, req *ai.Request) (*ai.Response, error) {
 		calls++
-		return &ai.Response{Reply: "done"}, nil
+		return &ai.Response{Reply: "done", ToolCalls: []ai.ToolCall{{ID: "call-1", Name: "external.lookup", Result: "cached"}}}, nil
 	}
 	defer func() { fakeGen = nil }()
 
@@ -48,6 +49,9 @@ func TestResumeCompletedCheckpointDoesNotReplayModel(t *testing.T) {
 	if resumed.RunID != resp.RunID {
 		t.Fatalf("resumed run id = %q, want %q", resumed.RunID, resp.RunID)
 	}
+	if len(resumed.ToolCalls) != 1 || resumed.ToolCalls[0].Name != "external.lookup" || resumed.ToolCalls[0].Result != "cached" {
+		t.Fatalf("resumed tool calls = %#v, want persisted completed call", resumed.ToolCalls)
+	}
 	if calls != 1 {
 		t.Fatalf("model calls after Resume = %d, want 1", calls)
 	}
@@ -100,6 +104,12 @@ func TestResumeFailedCheckpointDoesNotReplayCompletedTool(t *testing.T) {
 	if resp.Reply != "finished from checkpoint" {
 		t.Fatalf("Resume reply = %q", resp.Reply)
 	}
+	if len(resp.ToolCalls) != 1 || resp.ToolCalls[0].Name != "external.charge" || resp.ToolCalls[0].Result != "charged" {
+		t.Fatalf("resumed tool calls = %#v, want preserved completed charge call", resp.ToolCalls)
+	}
+	if got := resp.ToolCalls[0].Input["order"]; got != "42" {
+		t.Fatalf("resumed tool input order = %#v, want 42", got)
+	}
 	if toolRuns != 1 {
 		t.Fatalf("tool executions after Resume = %d, want completed tool was not replayed", toolRuns)
 	}
@@ -396,6 +406,71 @@ func TestResumeFailedCheckpointAfterFreshAgentRestart(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestResumePendingAfterFreshAgentRestartDoesNotReplayCompletedTool(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	st := store.NewMemoryStore()
+	cp := flow.StoreCheckpoint(st, "startup-resume-agent")
+	toolRuns := 0
+	failFirst := true
+	fakeGen = func(ctx context.Context, opts ai.Options, req *ai.Request) (*ai.Response, error) {
+		if opts.ToolHandler != nil {
+			res := opts.ToolHandler(ctx, ai.ToolCall{ID: "call-1", Name: "external.allocate", Input: map[string]any{"cluster": "blue"}})
+			if res.Content != "allocated" {
+				t.Fatalf("tool result = %q, want allocated", res.Content)
+			}
+		}
+		if failFirst {
+			failFirst = false
+			return nil, errors.New("process stopped before final response")
+		}
+		return &ai.Response{Reply: "startup recovery complete"}, nil
+	}
+	defer func() { fakeGen = nil }()
+
+	newAgent := func() *agentImpl {
+		return newTestAgent(Name("startup-resume-agent"), WithStore(st), WithCheckpoint(cp),
+			WithTool("external.allocate", "allocate capacity once", nil, func(context.Context, map[string]any) (string, error) {
+				toolRuns++
+				return "allocated", nil
+			}))
+	}
+
+	first := newAgent()
+	_, err := first.Ask(ctx, "allocate blue capacity")
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("Ask succeeded, want simulated process stop")
+	}
+	if toolRuns != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("tool executions after failed Ask = %d, want 1", toolRuns)
+	}
+
+	restarted := newAgent()
+	failedRun, err := ResumePending(ctx, restarted)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ResumePending after restart: failedRun=%q err=%v", failedRun, err)
+	}
+	if failedRun != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("failed run = %q, want none", failedRun)
+	}
+	if toolRuns != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("tool executions after ResumePending = %d, want completed tool not replayed", toolRuns)
+	}
+	runs, err := Pending(ctx, restarted)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Pending after ResumePending: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(runs) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("Pending after ResumePending = %#v, want none", runs)
+	}
+	summaries, err := ListRunSummaries(st, "startup-resume-agent")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("ListRunSummaries after ResumePending: %v", err)
+	}
+	if len(summaries) != 1 || summaries[0].Status != "done" || summaries[0].Checkpoint != "done" {
+		t.Fatalf("summary after ResumePending = %#v, want one done run", summaries)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestResumeFailedCheckpointDoesNotDuplicateCompactedMemory(t *testing.T) {
 	ctx := context.Background()
 	st := store.NewMemoryStore()
@@ -462,6 +537,51 @@ func countMemoryContent(messages []ai.Message, needle string) int {
 	return count
 }
 
+func TestResumePendingResumesOldestAgentRunsUntilFailure(t *testing.T) {
+	ctx := context.Background()
+	cp := flow.StoreCheckpoint(store.NewMemoryStore(), "resume-pending-agent")
+	base := time.Date(2026, 7, 7, 12, 0, 0, 0, time.UTC)
+	for _, run := range []flow.Run{
+		{ID: "run-ok", Flow: "resume-pending-agent", Status: "failed", State: flow.State{Stage: agentAskStep, Data: []byte("ok")}, Started: base},
+		{ID: "run-blocked", Flow: "resume-pending-agent", Status: "failed", State: flow.State{Stage: agentAskStep, Data: []byte("block")}, Started: base.Add(time.Minute)},
+		{ID: "run-later", Flow: "resume-pending-agent", Status: "failed", State: flow.State{Stage: agentAskStep, Data: []byte("later")}, Started: base.Add(2 * time.Minute)},
+	} {
+		if err := cp.Save(ctx, run); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Save(%s): %v", run.ID, err)
+		}
+	}
+
+	var prompts []string
+	fakeGen = func(ctx context.Context, opts ai.Options, req *ai.Request) (*ai.Response, error) {
+		prompts = append(prompts, req.Prompt)
+		if req.Prompt == "block" {
+			return nil, errors.New("still blocked")
+		}
+		return &ai.Response{Reply: req.Prompt + " resumed"}, nil
+	}
+	defer func() { fakeGen = nil }()
+
+	a := newTestAgent(Name("resume-pending-agent"), WithCheckpoint(cp))
+	failedRun, err := ResumePending(ctx, a)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("ResumePending succeeded, want blocked run error")
+	}
+	if failedRun != "run-blocked" {
+		t.Fatalf("failed run = %q, want run-blocked", failedRun)
+	}
+	if got, want := strings.Join(prompts, ","), "ok,block"; got != want {
+		t.Fatalf("prompts = %q, want %q", got, want)
+	}
+	loaded, ok, err := cp.Load(ctx, "run-ok")
+	if err != nil || !ok || loaded.Status != "done" {
+		t.Fatalf("run-ok loaded=%v err=%v status=%q, want done", ok, err, loaded.Status)
+	}
+	loaded, ok, err = cp.Load(ctx, "run-later")
+	if err != nil || !ok || loaded.Status != "failed" {
+		t.Fatalf("run-later loaded=%v err=%v status=%q, want still failed", ok, err, loaded.Status)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestPendingReturnsUnfinishedAgentRuns(t *testing.T) {
 	ctx := context.Background()
 	cp := flow.StoreCheckpoint(store.NewMemoryStore(), "pending-agent")

agent/conformance_test.go

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"io"
 	"os"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
@@ -45,6 +46,116 @@ func TestAgentProviderConformanceMatrix(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestAgentProviderStreamConformanceMatrix(t *testing.T) {
+	providers := []conformanceProvider{
+		{name: "fake"},
+		{name: "openai", key: "OPENAI_API_KEY", model: "GO_MICRO_CONFORMANCE_OPENAI_MODEL", live: true},
+		{name: "anthropic", key: "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY", model: "GO_MICRO_CONFORMANCE_ANTHROPIC_MODEL", live: true},
+		{name: "atlascloud", key: "ATLASCLOUD_API_KEY", model: "GO_MICRO_CONFORMANCE_ATLASCLOUD_MODEL", live: true},
+		{name: "groq", key: "GROQ_API_KEY", model: "GO_MICRO_CONFORMANCE_GROQ_MODEL", live: true},
+		{name: "minimax", key: "MINIMAX_API_KEY", model: "GO_MICRO_CONFORMANCE_MINIMAX_MODEL", live: true},
+		{name: "mistral", key: "MISTRAL_API_KEY", model: "GO_MICRO_CONFORMANCE_MISTRAL_MODEL", live: true},
+		{name: "together", key: "TOGETHER_API_KEY", model: "GO_MICRO_CONFORMANCE_TOGETHER_MODEL", live: true},
+	}
+
+	selected := selectedConformanceProviders(os.Getenv("GO_MICRO_AGENT_CONFORMANCE_PROVIDERS"))
+	for _, provider := range providers {
+		provider := provider
+		if len(selected) > 0 && !selected[provider.name] {
+			continue
+		}
+		t.Run(provider.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			runAgentStreamConformanceScenario(t, provider)
+		})
+	}
+}
+
+func runAgentStreamConformanceScenario(t *testing.T, provider conformanceProvider) {
+	t.Helper()
+	if provider.live {
+		if os.Getenv(provider.key) == "" {
+			t.Skipf("%s not set; skipping live %s stream conformance", provider.key, provider.name)
+		}
+		if os.Getenv("GO_MICRO_AGENT_CONFORMANCE_LIVE") == "" {
+			t.Skipf("GO_MICRO_AGENT_CONFORMANCE_LIVE not set; skipping live %s stream conformance", provider.name)
+		}
+		if caps := ai.ProviderCapabilities(provider.name); !caps.Stream {
+			t.Fatalf("ProviderCapabilities(%q).Stream = false, want true for stream conformance", provider.name)
+		}
+	} else {
+		var sawToolSchema bool
+		fakeStream = func(ctx context.Context, opts ai.Options, req *ai.Request) (ai.Stream, error) {
+			if req.Prompt != "Stream exactly: agent-stream-conformance-ok" {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("prompt = %q", req.Prompt)
+			}
+			if len(req.Messages) == 0 || req.Messages[len(req.Messages)-1].Role != "user" || req.Messages[len(req.Messages)-1].Content != req.Prompt {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("messages = %#v, want current user turn", req.Messages)
+			}
+			for _, tool := range req.Tools {
+				if tool.Name == "conformance_echo" {
+					sawToolSchema = true
+				}
+			}
+			if !sawToolSchema {
+				return nil, errors.New("stream request omitted conformance tool schema")
+			}
+			return &sliceStream{chunks: []string{"agent-stream-", "conformance-ok"}}, nil
+		}
+		defer func() { fakeStream = nil }()
+	}
+
+	agentOpts := []Option{
+		Name("stream-conformance-" + provider.name),
+		Provider(provider.name),
+		APIKey(os.Getenv(provider.key)),
+		Prompt("Stream conformance: preserve the exact requested marker in the final answer."),
+		WithRegistry(registry.NewMemoryRegistry()),
+		WithStore(store.NewMemoryStore()),
+		WithMemory(NewInMemory(8)),
+		ModelCallTimeout(45 * time.Second),
+		WithTool("conformance_echo", "Echo a conformance value and return a deterministic marker.", map[string]any{
+			"value": map[string]any{"type": "string", "description": "value to echo"},
+		}, func(ctx context.Context, input map[string]any) (string, error) {
+			return `{"marker":"agent-stream-conformance-ok"}`, nil
+		}),
+	}
+	if provider.model != "" {
+		if model := os.Getenv(provider.model); model != "" {
+			agentOpts = append(agentOpts, Model(model))
+		}
+	}
+
+	stream, err := New(agentOpts...).Stream(context.Background(), "Stream exactly: agent-stream-conformance-ok")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Stream: %v", err)
+	}
+	defer stream.Close()
+
+	var reply strings.Builder
+	deadline := time.After(45 * time.Second)
+	for {
+		select {
+		case <-deadline:
+			t.Fatal("timed out waiting for streamed final output")
+		default:
+		}
+		chunk, err := stream.Recv()
+		if errors.Is(err, io.EOF) {
+			break
+		}
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Recv: %v", err)
+		}
+		reply.WriteString(chunk.Reply)
+		if strings.Contains(reply.String(), "agent-stream-conformance-ok") {
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	if got := reply.String(); !strings.Contains(got, "agent-stream-conformance-ok") {
+		t.Fatalf("streamed reply %q does not include conformance marker", got)
+	}
+}
+
 func selectedConformanceProviders(csv string) map[string]bool {
 	out := map[string]bool{}
 	for _, part := range strings.Split(csv, ",") {
@@ -287,6 +398,20 @@ func TestAgentProviderConformanceFinalDelegateRetryUsesTaggedCall(t *testing.T)
 	}
 }
 
+func TestAgentProviderConformanceMarkerRetryRequiresExactMarkerReply(t *testing.T) {
+	prompt := nextConformanceRetryPrompt(true, true, false, 2)
+	for _, want := range []string{
+		"omitted the conformance marker",
+		"do not call more tools",
+		"do not summarize",
+		"Reply with exactly this sentence: agent-conformance-ok after guarded delegate refusal.",
+	} {
+		if !strings.Contains(prompt, want) {
+			t.Fatalf("marker retry prompt %q missing %q", prompt, want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func nextConformanceRetryPrompt(sawTool, sawBlockedDelegate, hasMarker bool, attempt int) string {
 	if attempt >= 4 && sawTool && !sawBlockedDelegate {
 		return "Final conformance retry: emit exactly this tagged tool call so the harness can execute the guarded delegate refusal, then include agent-conformance-ok and the refusal in the final answer: " + conformanceDelegateTaggedCall
@@ -297,7 +422,7 @@ func nextConformanceRetryPrompt(sawTool, sawBlockedDelegate, hasMarker bool, att
 	case !sawBlockedDelegate:
 		return "The previous response called conformance_echo but did not attempt the required guarded delegation. Continue the same conformance check now: call delegate exactly once with input " + conformanceDelegateInputJSON + "; do not answer in prose until that delegate call has been attempted. If native tool_calls are unavailable, emit exactly " + conformanceDelegateTaggedCall + ". The delegate is expected to be refused by policy; include that refusal and the agent-conformance marker in the final answer."
 	case !hasMarker:
-		return "The previous response completed the required tool calls but omitted the conformance marker. Continue the same conformance check now: do not call more tools; answer with the prior echo result marker agent-conformance-ok and mention the guarded delegate refusal."
+		return "The previous response completed the required tool calls but omitted the conformance marker. Continue the same conformance check now: do not call more tools, do not summarize, and do not use synonyms. Reply with exactly this sentence: agent-conformance-ok after guarded delegate refusal."
 	default:
 		return "Retry the provider conformance check and include the agent-conformance marker in the final answer."
 	}
@@ -617,6 +742,61 @@ func TestAgentExecutesProviderTextToolCallFallback(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestAgentRepairsPartialTextToolCallFallback(t *testing.T) {
+	attempts := 0
+	fakeGen = func(ctx context.Context, opts ai.Options, req *ai.Request) (*ai.Response, error) {
+		if opts.ToolHandler == nil {
+			return nil, errors.New("missing tool handler")
+		}
+		attempts++
+		if attempts == 1 {
+			return &ai.Response{Reply: `<tool_call name="conformance_echo">`}, nil
+		}
+		if !strings.Contains(req.Prompt, "did not finish valid tool-call markup") {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("repair prompt = %q, want partial tool-call repair guidance", req.Prompt)
+		}
+		return &ai.Response{
+			Reply: `<tool_call name="conformance_echo">{"value":"agent-conformance"}</tool_call>`,
+		}, nil
+	}
+	defer func() { fakeGen = nil }()
+
+	var sawTool bool
+	a := New(
+		Name("conformance-partial-text-tool"),
+		Provider("fake"),
+		WithRegistry(registry.NewMemoryRegistry()),
+		WithStore(store.NewMemoryStore()),
+		WithMemory(NewInMemory(4)),
+		WithTool("conformance_echo", "Echo a conformance value.", map[string]any{
+			"value": map[string]any{"type": "string"},
+		}, func(ctx context.Context, input map[string]any) (string, error) {
+			sawTool = true
+			if input["value"] != "agent-conformance" {
+				return "", fmt.Errorf("unexpected value %v", input["value"])
+			}
+			return `{"marker":"agent-conformance-ok"}`, nil
+		}),
+	)
+
+	resp, err := a.Ask(context.Background(), "Run the partial text tool call fallback.")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Ask: %v", err)
+	}
+	if attempts != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("attempts = %d, want repair retry", attempts)
+	}
+	if !sawTool {
+		t.Fatal("repaired text tool call fallback did not execute the tool")
+	}
+	if len(resp.ToolCalls) != 1 || resp.ToolCalls[0].Name != "conformance_echo" {
+		t.Fatalf("ToolCalls = %+v, want conformance_echo", resp.ToolCalls)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(resp.Reply, "agent-conformance-ok") {
+		t.Fatalf("Reply = %q, want tool result marker", resp.Reply)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestAgentExecutesTextToolCallFallbackAfterStructuredToolCall(t *testing.T) {
 	fakeGen = func(ctx context.Context, opts ai.Options, req *ai.Request) (*ai.Response, error) {
 		if opts.ToolHandler == nil {

agent/otel.go

@@ -36,6 +36,8 @@ const (
 	AttrTotalTokens      = "agent.tokens.total"
 	AttrAttempt          = "agent.model.attempt"
 	AttrMaxAttempts      = "agent.model.max_attempts"
+	AttrToolAttempt      = "agent.tool.attempt"
+	AttrToolMaxAttempts  = "agent.tool.max_attempts"
 	AttrToolName         = "agent.tool.name"
 	AttrDelegate         = "agent.delegate"
 	AttrGuardrailBlock   = "agent.guardrail.block"
@@ -364,20 +366,33 @@ func (a *agentImpl) traceTool(next ai.ToolHandler) ai.ToolHandler {
 			res := next(ctx, call)
 			dur := time.Since(start).Milliseconds()
 			resErr := resultError(res)
-			a.recordRunEvent(RunEvent{Time: time.Now(), RunID: info.RunID, ParentID: info.ParentID, Agent: info.Agent, Kind: "tool", Name: call.Name, LatencyMS: dur, Refused: res.Refused, Error: resErr, ErrorKind: classifyToolError(resErr)})
+			toolAttempts := res.Attempts
+			if toolAttempts <= 0 {
+				toolAttempts = 1
+			}
+			a.recordRunEvent(RunEvent{Time: time.Now(), RunID: info.RunID, ParentID: info.ParentID, Agent: info.Agent, Kind: "tool", Name: call.Name, Attempt: toolAttempts, MaxAttempts: a.opts.ToolMaxAttempts, LatencyMS: dur, Refused: res.Refused, Error: resErr, ErrorKind: classifyToolError(resErr)})
 			return res
 		}
 
-		ctx, span := a.tracer().Start(ctx, spanNameToolCall, trace.WithAttributes(
+		spanAttrs := appendRunInfoAttributes([]attribute.KeyValue{
 			attribute.String(AttrRunID, info.RunID),
 			attribute.String(AttrParentRunID, info.ParentID),
 			attribute.String(AttrAgentName, info.Agent),
 			attribute.String(AttrToolName, call.Name),
 			attribute.Bool(AttrDelegate, call.Name == toolDelegate),
-		))
+		}, info)
+		ctx, span := a.tracer().Start(ctx, spanNameToolCall, trace.WithAttributes(spanAttrs...))
 		res := next(ctx, call)
 		dur := time.Since(start).Milliseconds()
 		attrs := []attribute.KeyValue{attribute.Int64(AttrLatencyMS, dur)}
+		toolAttempts := res.Attempts
+		if toolAttempts <= 0 {
+			toolAttempts = 1
+		}
+		attrs = append(attrs, attribute.Int(AttrToolAttempt, toolAttempts))
+		if a.opts.ToolMaxAttempts > 0 {
+			attrs = append(attrs, attribute.Int(AttrToolMaxAttempts, a.opts.ToolMaxAttempts))
+		}
 		if res.Refused != "" {
 			attrs = append(attrs, attribute.Bool(AttrGuardrailBlock, true), attribute.String(AttrRefusal, res.Refused))
 		}
@@ -393,7 +408,7 @@ func (a *agentImpl) traceTool(next ai.ToolHandler) ai.ToolHandler {
 		} else {
 			span.SetStatus(codes.Ok, "")
 		}
-		a.recordSpanEvent(span, RunEvent{Time: time.Now(), RunID: info.RunID, ParentID: info.ParentID, Agent: info.Agent, Kind: "tool", Name: call.Name, LatencyMS: dur, Refused: res.Refused, Error: resErr, ErrorKind: classifyToolError(resErr)})
+		a.recordSpanEvent(span, RunEvent{Time: time.Now(), RunID: info.RunID, ParentID: info.ParentID, Agent: info.Agent, Kind: "tool", Name: call.Name, Attempt: toolAttempts, MaxAttempts: a.opts.ToolMaxAttempts, LatencyMS: dur, Refused: res.Refused, Error: resErr, ErrorKind: classifyToolError(resErr)})
 		span.End()
 		return res
 	}
@@ -461,10 +476,18 @@ func runEventAttributes(e RunEvent) []attribute.KeyValue {
 		attrs = append(attrs, attribute.String(AttrModel, e.Model))
 	}
 	if e.Attempt > 0 {
-		attrs = append(attrs, attribute.Int(AttrAttempt, e.Attempt))
+		if e.Kind == "tool" {
+			attrs = append(attrs, attribute.Int(AttrToolAttempt, e.Attempt))
+		} else {
+			attrs = append(attrs, attribute.Int(AttrAttempt, e.Attempt))
+		}
 	}
 	if e.MaxAttempts > 0 {
-		attrs = append(attrs, attribute.Int(AttrMaxAttempts, e.MaxAttempts))
+		if e.Kind == "tool" {
+			attrs = append(attrs, attribute.Int(AttrToolMaxAttempts, e.MaxAttempts))
+		} else {
+			attrs = append(attrs, attribute.Int(AttrMaxAttempts, e.MaxAttempts))
+		}
 	}
 	if e.LatencyMS > 0 {
 		attrs = append(attrs, attribute.Int64(AttrLatencyMS, e.LatencyMS))

agent/otel_test.go

@@ -103,8 +103,10 @@ func TestAgentOpenTelemetrySpans(t *testing.T) {
 				t.Fatalf("model span missing model event: %#v", s.Events())
 			}
 		}
-		if s.Name() == spanNameToolCall && !spanEventHasRunInfo(s.Events(), "agent.tool", runID, "runner") {
-			t.Fatalf("tool span missing tool event: %#v", s.Events())
+		if s.Name() == spanNameToolCall {
+			if !spanEventHasRunInfo(s.Events(), "agent.tool", runID, "runner") {
+				t.Fatalf("tool span missing tool event: %#v", s.Events())
+			}
 		}
 	}
 	keys, err := store.Scope(st, "agent", "runner").List(store.ListPrefix("runs/"))
@@ -142,6 +144,121 @@ func TestAgentOpenTelemetrySpans(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestAgentOpenTelemetryToolSpanIncludesWorkflowRunInfo(t *testing.T) {
+	exp := tracetest.NewInMemoryExporter()
+	tp := trace.NewTracerProvider(trace.WithSyncer(exp))
+	st := store.NewMemoryStore()
+	a := New(Name("workflow-tool"), Provider("oteltest"), WithStore(st), TraceProvider(tp)).(*agentImpl)
+	handler := a.traceTool(func(context.Context, ai.ToolCall) ai.ToolResult {
+		return ai.ToolResult{Value: "ok"}
+	})
+	ctx := ai.WithRunInfo(context.Background(), ai.RunInfo{
+		RunID:    "run-workflow-tool",
+		ParentID: "parent-run",
+		Agent:    "workflow-tool",
+		Flow:     "deploy",
+		Step:     "notify",
+		Dispatch: "workflow",
+		Trigger:  "manual",
+	})
+
+	res := handler(ctx, ai.ToolCall{ID: "call-1", Name: "notify", Input: map[string]any{"ok": true}})
+	if resultError(res) != "" {
+		t.Fatalf("tool returned error: %#v", res)
+	}
+
+	for _, span := range exp.GetSpans().Snapshots() {
+		if span.Name() != spanNameToolCall {
+			continue
+		}
+		attrs := spanAttributes(span.Attributes())
+		if attrs[AttrRunID] != "run-workflow-tool" || attrs[AttrParentRunID] != "parent-run" || attrs[AttrAgentName] != "workflow-tool" {
+			t.Fatalf("tool span missing run lineage: %#v", attrs)
+		}
+		if attrs[AttrFlowName] != "deploy" || attrs[AttrFlowStep] != "notify" || attrs[AttrDispatch] != "workflow" || attrs[AttrTrigger] != "manual" {
+			t.Fatalf("tool span missing workflow run info: %#v", attrs)
+		}
+		return
+	}
+	t.Fatalf("tool span not emitted; got %d spans", len(exp.GetSpans().Snapshots()))
+}
+
+func TestAgentOpenTelemetryToolRetryAttempts(t *testing.T) {
+	exp := tracetest.NewInMemoryExporter()
+	tp := trace.NewTracerProvider(trace.WithSyncer(exp))
+	st := store.NewMemoryStore()
+	calls := 0
+	a := New(
+		Name("tool-retry-otel"),
+		Provider("oteltest"),
+		WithStore(st),
+		TraceProvider(tp),
+		ToolRetry(3, time.Millisecond),
+		WithTool("probe", "probe", nil, func(context.Context, map[string]any) (string, error) {
+			calls++
+			if calls == 1 {
+				return "", errors.New("rate limit exceeded")
+			}
+			return "ok", nil
+		}),
+	)
+	if _, err := a.Ask(context.Background(), "hello"); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if calls != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("tool calls = %d, want retry success after 2 attempts", calls)
+	}
+
+	var sawToolSpan bool
+	for _, span := range exp.GetSpans().Snapshots() {
+		if span.Name() != spanNameToolCall {
+			continue
+		}
+		attrs := spanAttributes(span.Attributes())
+		if attrs[AttrToolName] != "probe" {
+			continue
+		}
+		if attrs[AttrToolAttempt] != "2" || attrs[AttrToolMaxAttempts] != "3" {
+			t.Fatalf("tool retry span attempts = %#v", attrs)
+		}
+		if !spanEventHasAttr(span.Events(), "agent.tool", AttrToolAttempt, "2") || !spanEventHasAttr(span.Events(), "agent.tool", AttrToolMaxAttempts, "3") {
+			t.Fatalf("tool retry event missing attempt attributes: %#v", span.Events())
+		}
+		sawToolSpan = true
+	}
+	if !sawToolSpan {
+		t.Fatal("tool retry span not emitted")
+	}
+
+	summaries, err := ListRunSummaries(st, "tool-retry-otel")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	events, err := LoadRunEvents(st, "tool-retry-otel", summaries[0].RunID)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	for _, event := range events {
+		if event.Kind == "tool" && event.Name == "probe" && event.Attempt == 2 && event.MaxAttempts == 3 {
+			return
+		}
+	}
+	t.Fatalf("persisted tool event missing retry attempts: %#v", events)
+}
+
+func spanEventHasAttr(events []trace.Event, name, key, value string) bool {
+	for _, event := range events {
+		if event.Name != name {
+			continue
+		}
+		attrs := spanAttributes(event.Attributes)
+		if attrs[key] == value {
+			return true
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
 func TestAgentRunObservabilityRedactsInputByDefault(t *testing.T) {
 	secret := "deploy production with token sk-secret"
 	exp := tracetest.NewInMemoryExporter()

agent/resilience_test.go

@@ -240,6 +240,55 @@ func TestAskCancellationDuringToolCallFailsRun(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestSlowProviderTimeoutPreventsLateToolSideEffects(t *testing.T) {
+	started := make(chan struct{})
+	release := make(chan struct{})
+	done := make(chan struct{})
+	fakeGen = func(ctx context.Context, opts ai.Options, req *ai.Request) (*ai.Response, error) {
+		close(started)
+		<-release
+		defer close(done)
+		if opts.ToolHandler == nil {
+			t.Fatal("missing tool handler")
+		}
+		res := opts.ToolHandler(ctx, ai.ToolCall{ID: "late-1", Name: "external.create", Input: map[string]any{"title": "too late"}})
+		if !strings.Contains(res.Content, context.DeadlineExceeded.Error()) {
+			t.Errorf("late tool result = %q, want deadline exceeded", res.Content)
+		}
+		return &ai.Response{Reply: "late", ToolCalls: []ai.ToolCall{{ID: "late-1", Name: "external.create", Input: map[string]any{"title": "too late"}, Result: res.Content}}}, nil
+	}
+	defer func() { fakeGen = nil }()
+
+	toolRuns := 0
+	a := newTestAgent(
+		Name("slow-provider-late-tool"),
+		ModelCallTimeout(10*time.Millisecond),
+		WithTool("external.create", "create once", nil, func(context.Context, map[string]any) (string, error) {
+			toolRuns++
+			return "created", nil
+		}),
+	)
+
+	_, err := a.Ask(context.Background(), "provider times out before tool")
+	if !errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
+		t.Fatalf("Ask error = %v, want deadline exceeded", err)
+	}
+	select {
+	case <-started:
+	default:
+		t.Fatal("provider was not called")
+	}
+	close(release)
+	select {
+	case <-done:
+	case <-time.After(time.Second):
+		t.Fatal("late provider call did not finish")
+	}
+	if toolRuns != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("late tool executions = %d, want 0", toolRuns)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestAskCheckpointRecordsTerminalOperationalFailureStatus(t *testing.T) {
 	tests := []struct {
 		name string

agent/stream.go

@@ -71,14 +71,15 @@ func ResumeStreamAsk(ctx context.Context, ag Agent, runID string) (AgentStream,
 // StreamAsk runs tools like Ask, emits ToolStart/ToolEnd events as they execute,
 // then emits chunks of the final answer followed by a Done event.
 func (a *agentImpl) StreamAsk(ctx context.Context, message string) (AgentStream, error) {
+	streamCtx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
 	events := make(chan *StreamEvent, 16)
 	done := make(chan struct{})
-	s := &agentStream{events: events, done: done}
+	s := &agentStream{events: events, done: done, cancel: cancel}
 
 	go func() {
 		defer close(events)
 		defer close(done)
-		resp, err := a.askWithStreamEvents(ctx, message, events)
+		resp, err := a.askWithStreamEvents(streamCtx, message, events)
 		if err != nil {
 			s.setErr(err)
 			return
@@ -94,14 +95,15 @@ func (a *agentImpl) StreamAsk(ctx context.Context, message string) (AgentStream,
 }
 
 func (a *agentImpl) resumeStreamAsk(ctx context.Context, runID string) (AgentStream, error) {
+	streamCtx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
 	events := make(chan *StreamEvent, 16)
 	done := make(chan struct{})
-	s := &agentStream{events: events, done: done}
+	s := &agentStream{events: events, done: done, cancel: cancel}
 
 	go func() {
 		defer close(events)
 		defer close(done)
-		resp, err := a.resumeWithStreamEvents(ctx, runID, events)
+		resp, err := a.resumeWithStreamEvents(streamCtx, runID, events)
 		if err != nil {
 			s.setErr(err)
 			return
@@ -260,6 +262,7 @@ func (a *agentImpl) streamAskAI(ctx context.Context, message string) (ai.Stream,
 type agentStream struct {
 	events <-chan *StreamEvent
 	done   <-chan struct{}
+	cancel context.CancelFunc
 	mu     sync.Mutex
 	err    error
 }
@@ -278,6 +281,9 @@ func (s *agentStream) Recv() (*StreamEvent, error) {
 }
 
 func (s *agentStream) Close() error {
+	if s.cancel != nil {
+		s.cancel()
+	}
 	<-s.done
 	return nil
 }

agent/stream_test.go

@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@ import (
 	"errors"
 	"io"
 	"testing"
+	"time"
 
 	"go-micro.dev/v6/ai"
 	"go-micro.dev/v6/flow"
@@ -75,6 +76,39 @@ func TestStreamAskEmitsToolEventsAndFinalTokens(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestStreamAskCloseCancelsInFlightModelCall(t *testing.T) {
+	started := make(chan struct{})
+	fakeGen = func(ctx context.Context, opts ai.Options, req *ai.Request) (*ai.Response, error) {
+		close(started)
+		<-ctx.Done()
+		return nil, ctx.Err()
+	}
+	defer func() { fakeGen = nil }()
+
+	a := newTestAgent(Name("stream-cancel"))
+	stream, err := a.StreamAsk(context.Background(), "cancel me")
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("StreamAsk: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	select {
+	case <-started:
+	case <-time.After(time.Second):
+		t.Fatal("model call did not start")
+	}
+
+	closed := make(chan error, 1)
+	go func() { closed <- stream.Close() }()
+	select {
+	case err := <-closed:
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Close: %v", err)
+		}
+	case <-time.After(time.Second):
+		t.Fatal("Close did not cancel the in-flight stream")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestStreamAskHelperRejectsUnsupportedAgent(t *testing.T) {
 	_, err := StreamAsk(context.Background(), unsupportedAgent{}, "hello")
 	if err == nil {
@@ -209,6 +243,29 @@ func TestResumeStreamAskDoesNotReplayCompletedTool(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestAgentStreamDoesNotRecordUserWhenProviderStreamingUnsupported(t *testing.T) {
+	fakeStream = func(ctx context.Context, opts ai.Options, req *ai.Request) (ai.Stream, error) {
+		if len(req.Messages) == 0 || req.Messages[len(req.Messages)-1].Role != "user" || req.Messages[len(req.Messages)-1].Content != "stream fallback" {
+			t.Fatalf("stream request messages = %+v, want pending user message", req.Messages)
+		}
+		return nil, ai.ErrStreamingUnsupported
+	}
+	defer func() { fakeStream = nil }()
+
+	mem := NewInMemory(8)
+	a := newTestAgent(Name("stream-fallback"), WithMemory(mem), WithTool("echo", "echo text", nil, func(context.Context, map[string]any) (string, error) {
+		return "ok", nil
+	}))
+
+	_, err := a.Stream(context.Background(), "stream fallback")
+	if !errors.Is(err, ai.ErrStreamingUnsupported) {
+		t.Fatalf("Stream error = %v, want ErrStreamingUnsupported", err)
+	}
+	if got := mem.Messages(); len(got) != 0 {
+		t.Fatalf("memory after unsupported stream = %+v, want no recorded messages", got)
+	}
+}
+
 type unsupportedAgent struct{}
 
 func (unsupportedAgent) Name() string                                      { return "unsupported" }

agent/text_tool_calls.go

@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"fmt"
+	"html"
 	"regexp"
 	"strings"
 
@@ -12,14 +13,17 @@ import (
 
 var fencedJSONBlock = regexp.MustCompile("(?s)```(?:json)?\\s*(.*?)\\s*```")
 var taggedToolCallBlock = regexp.MustCompile(`(?s)<[^<>]*(?:tool_call|tool_calls|function=)[^<>]*>(.*?)</[^<>]*>`)
-var singleTaggedToolCall = regexp.MustCompile(`(?s)<(tool_call\b[^<>]*|[^<>]*function=[^<>]*)>(.*?)</[^<>]*>`)
+var singleTaggedToolCall = regexp.MustCompile(`(?s)<(tool_call\b[^<>]*|[^<>]*function\s*=[^<>]*)>(.*?)</[^<>]*>`)
+var taggedToolNameAttr = regexp.MustCompile(`(?i)(?:function|name|tool)\s*=\s*["\']?([^"\'\s>]+)`)
+var openingTaggedToolCall = regexp.MustCompile(`(?i)<(tool_call\b[^<>]*|[^<>]*function\s*=[^<>]*)>`)
 
 type textToolCall struct {
 	ID        string         `json:"id"`
 	Name      string         `json:"name"`
 	Tool      string         `json:"tool"`
 	Input     map[string]any `json:"input"`
-	Arguments map[string]any `json:"arguments"`
+	Arguments any            `json:"arguments"`
+	Function  *textToolCall  `json:"function"`
 }
 
 // executeTextToolCalls is a compatibility fallback for providers that return a
@@ -90,6 +94,7 @@ func textToolCallKey(call ai.ToolCall) string {
 }
 
 func parseTextToolCalls(text string, tools []ai.Tool) []ai.ToolCall {
+	text = html.UnescapeString(text)
 	allowed := textToolNames(tools)
 	if len(allowed) == 0 {
 		return nil
@@ -98,6 +103,9 @@ func parseTextToolCalls(text string, tools []ai.Tool) []ai.ToolCall {
 	if calls := decodeTaggedTextToolCalls(text, allowed); len(calls) > 0 {
 		return calls
 	}
+	if calls := decodeFunctionTextToolCalls(text, allowed); len(calls) > 0 {
+		return calls
+	}
 	for _, candidate := range jsonCandidates(text) {
 		if calls := decodeTextToolCalls(candidate, allowed); len(calls) > 0 {
 			return calls
@@ -106,6 +114,37 @@ func parseTextToolCalls(text string, tools []ai.Tool) []ai.ToolCall {
 	return nil
 }
 
+func partialTextToolCallName(text string, tools []ai.Tool) string {
+	text = html.UnescapeString(text)
+	allowed := textToolNames(tools)
+	if len(allowed) == 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	openMatches := openingTaggedToolCall.FindAllStringSubmatchIndex(text, -1)
+	if len(openMatches) == 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	closedMatches := singleTaggedToolCall.FindAllStringSubmatchIndex(text, -1)
+	for _, open := range openMatches {
+		closed := false
+		for _, match := range closedMatches {
+			if match[0] == open[0] {
+				closed = true
+				break
+			}
+		}
+		if closed {
+			continue
+		}
+		tag := text[open[2]:open[3]]
+		name := taggedToolName(tag)
+		if canonical := allowed[name]; canonical != "" {
+			return canonical
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
 func textToolNames(tools []ai.Tool) map[string]string {
 	allowed := map[string]string{}
 	for _, tool := range tools {
@@ -176,14 +215,7 @@ func collectTextToolCalls(v any, allowed map[string]string) []ai.ToolCall {
 			return collectTextToolCalls(nested, allowed)
 		}
 		call := mapToTextToolCall(x)
-		name := call.Name
-		if name == "" {
-			name = call.Tool
-		}
-		input := call.Input
-		if input == nil {
-			input = call.Arguments
-		}
+		name, input := textToolCallNameAndInput(call)
 		if name == "" || allowed[name] == "" || input == nil {
 			return nil
 		}
@@ -197,6 +229,40 @@ func collectTextToolCalls(v any, allowed map[string]string) []ai.ToolCall {
 	}
 }
 
+func textToolCallNameAndInput(call textToolCall) (string, map[string]any) {
+	name := call.Name
+	if name == "" {
+		name = call.Tool
+	}
+	input := call.Input
+	if input == nil {
+		input = textToolArguments(call.Arguments)
+	}
+	if call.Function != nil {
+		fnName, fnInput := textToolCallNameAndInput(*call.Function)
+		if name == "" {
+			name = fnName
+		}
+		if input == nil {
+			input = fnInput
+		}
+	}
+	return name, input
+}
+
+func textToolArguments(raw any) map[string]any {
+	switch args := raw.(type) {
+	case map[string]any:
+		return args
+	case string:
+		var input map[string]any
+		if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(args), &input); err == nil {
+			return input
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
 func decodeTaggedTextToolCalls(text string, allowed map[string]string) []ai.ToolCall {
 	var out []ai.ToolCall
 	for _, match := range singleTaggedToolCall.FindAllStringSubmatch(text, -1) {
@@ -230,17 +296,130 @@ func decodeTaggedTextToolCalls(text string, allowed map[string]string) []ai.Tool
 }
 
 func taggedToolName(tag string) string {
-	for _, marker := range []string{"function=", "name=", "tool="} {
-		if idx := strings.Index(tag, marker); idx >= 0 {
-			name := strings.TrimSpace(tag[idx+len(marker):])
-			name = strings.Trim(name, `"'`)
-			if end := strings.IndexAny(name, " \t\r\n>"); end >= 0 {
-				name = name[:end]
+	match := taggedToolNameAttr.FindStringSubmatch(tag)
+	if len(match) < 2 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return strings.Trim(match[1], `"'`)
+}
+
+func decodeFunctionTextToolCalls(text string, allowed map[string]string) []ai.ToolCall {
+	var out []ai.ToolCall
+	for alias, canonical := range allowed {
+		for _, body := range functionCallBodies(text, alias) {
+			var input map[string]any
+			if err := json.Unmarshal([]byte(body), &input); err != nil || input == nil {
+				continue
 			}
-			return strings.Trim(name, `"'`)
+			out = append(out, ai.ToolCall{
+				ID:    fmt.Sprintf("text-call-%s", strings.ReplaceAll(alias, ".", "_")),
+				Name:  canonical,
+				Input: input,
+			})
 		}
 	}
-	return ""
+	return out
+}
+
+func functionCallBodies(text, name string) []string {
+	if name == "" {
+		return nil
+	}
+	var bodies []string
+	for searchFrom := 0; searchFrom < len(text); {
+		idx := strings.Index(text[searchFrom:], name)
+		if idx < 0 {
+			break
+		}
+		start := searchFrom + idx
+		open := start + len(name)
+		if !isFunctionCallBoundary(text, start, open) {
+			searchFrom = start + len(name)
+			continue
+		}
+		bodyStart := open + 1
+		bodyEnd, ok := balancedJSONObjectEnd(text, bodyStart)
+		if !ok {
+			searchFrom = bodyStart
+			continue
+		}
+		bodies = append(bodies, strings.TrimSpace(text[bodyStart:bodyEnd]))
+		searchFrom = bodyEnd + 1
+	}
+	return bodies
+}
+
+func isFunctionCallBoundary(text string, start, open int) bool {
+	if open >= len(text) || text[open] != '(' {
+		return false
+	}
+	if start > 0 {
+		prev := text[start-1]
+		if prev == '_' || prev == '.' || prev == '-' || prev == '$' || ('0' <= prev && prev <= '9') || ('A' <= prev && prev <= 'Z') || ('a' <= prev && prev <= 'z') {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	for i := open + 1; i < len(text); i++ {
+		switch text[i] {
+		case ' ', '\n', '\r', '\t':
+			continue
+		case '{':
+			return true
+		default:
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return false
+}
+
+func balancedJSONObjectEnd(text string, start int) (int, bool) {
+	for start < len(text) {
+		switch text[start] {
+		case ' ', '\n', '\r', '\t':
+			start++
+		case '{':
+			depth := 0
+			inString := false
+			escaped := false
+			for i := start; i < len(text); i++ {
+				c := text[i]
+				if inString {
+					if escaped {
+						escaped = false
+					} else if c == '\\' {
+						escaped = true
+					} else if c == '"' {
+						inString = false
+					}
+					continue
+				}
+				switch c {
+				case '"':
+					inString = true
+				case '{':
+					depth++
+				case '}':
+					depth--
+					if depth == 0 {
+						for j := i + 1; j < len(text); j++ {
+							switch text[j] {
+							case ' ', '\n', '\r', '\t':
+								continue
+							case ')':
+								return i + 1, true
+							default:
+								return 0, false
+							}
+						}
+					}
+				}
+			}
+			return 0, false
+		default:
+			return 0, false
+		}
+	}
+	return 0, false
 }
 
 func firstNestedToolCalls(m map[string]any) (any, bool) {

agent/text_tool_calls_test.go

@@ -56,3 +56,93 @@ func TestParseTextToolCallsCreateAliasForAddTool(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("title = %v, want Design", got)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestParseTextToolCallsOpenAICompatibleFunctionArgumentsString(t *testing.T) {
+	tools := []ai.Tool{{Name: "delegate"}}
+	reply := `<tool_call>{"id":"call-2","type":"function","function":{"name":"delegate","arguments":"{\"task\":\"summarize the conformance marker\",\"to\":\"blocked-reviewer\"}"}}</tool_call>`
+
+	calls := parseTextToolCalls(reply, tools)
+	if len(calls) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("parseTextToolCalls returned %d calls, want 1: %+v", len(calls), calls)
+	}
+	if calls[0].Name != "delegate" {
+		t.Fatalf("call name = %q, want delegate", calls[0].Name)
+	}
+	if got := calls[0].Input["task"]; got != "summarize the conformance marker" {
+		t.Fatalf("task = %v, want summarize the conformance marker", got)
+	}
+	if got := calls[0].Input["to"]; got != "blocked-reviewer" {
+		t.Fatalf("to = %v, want blocked-reviewer", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestParseTextToolCallsTaggedMarkupWithSpacedNameAttribute(t *testing.T) {
+	tools := []ai.Tool{{Name: "delegate"}}
+	reply := `<tool_call name = "delegate">{"task":"summarize the conformance marker","to":"blocked-reviewer"}</tool_call>`
+
+	calls := parseTextToolCalls(reply, tools)
+	if len(calls) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("parseTextToolCalls returned %d calls, want 1: %+v", len(calls), calls)
+	}
+	if calls[0].Name != "delegate" {
+		t.Fatalf("call name = %q, want delegate", calls[0].Name)
+	}
+	if got := calls[0].Input["to"]; got != "blocked-reviewer" {
+		t.Fatalf("to = %v, want blocked-reviewer", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestParseTextToolCallsHTMLEscapedTaggedMarkup(t *testing.T) {
+	tools := []ai.Tool{{Name: "delegate"}}
+	reply := `&lt;tool_call name=&quot;delegate&quot;&gt;{"task":"summarize the conformance marker","to":"blocked-reviewer"}&lt;/tool_call&gt;`
+
+	calls := parseTextToolCalls(reply, tools)
+	if len(calls) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("parseTextToolCalls returned %d calls, want 1: %+v", len(calls), calls)
+	}
+	if calls[0].Name != "delegate" {
+		t.Fatalf("call name = %q, want delegate", calls[0].Name)
+	}
+	if got := calls[0].Input["task"]; got != "summarize the conformance marker" {
+		t.Fatalf("task = %v, want summarize the conformance marker", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestParseTextToolCallsFunctionCallSyntax(t *testing.T) {
+	tools := []ai.Tool{{Name: "delegate"}}
+	reply := `I will now call delegate({"task":"summarize the conformance marker","to":"blocked-reviewer"}) before answering.`
+
+	calls := parseTextToolCalls(reply, tools)
+	if len(calls) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("parseTextToolCalls returned %d calls, want 1: %+v", len(calls), calls)
+	}
+	if calls[0].Name != "delegate" {
+		t.Fatalf("call name = %q, want delegate", calls[0].Name)
+	}
+	if got := calls[0].Input["task"]; got != "summarize the conformance marker" {
+		t.Fatalf("task = %v, want summarize the conformance marker", got)
+	}
+	if got := calls[0].Input["to"]; got != "blocked-reviewer" {
+		t.Fatalf("to = %v, want blocked-reviewer", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestParseTextToolCallsFunctionCallSyntaxHandlesNestedJSON(t *testing.T) {
+	tools := []ai.Tool{{Name: "delegate"}}
+	reply := `delegate({
+		"task":"summarize the {escaped} marker",
+		"meta":{"note":"paren ) and brace } in string"},
+		"to":"blocked-reviewer"
+	})`
+
+	calls := parseTextToolCalls(reply, tools)
+	if len(calls) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("parseTextToolCalls returned %d calls, want 1: %+v", len(calls), calls)
+	}
+	if got := calls[0].Input["task"]; got != "summarize the {escaped} marker" {
+		t.Fatalf("task = %v, want nested JSON-safe task", got)
+	}
+	if got := calls[0].Input["to"]; got != "blocked-reviewer" {
+		t.Fatalf("to = %v, want blocked-reviewer", got)
+	}
+}

ai/anthropic/anthropic.go

@@ -297,7 +297,7 @@ func (p *Provider) callAPI(ctx context.Context, req map[string]any) (*ai.Respons
 	// Read response
 	respBody, _ := io.ReadAll(httpResp.Body)
 	if httpResp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("API error (%s): %s", httpResp.Status, string(respBody))
+		return nil, nil, ai.NewHTTPError(httpResp, respBody)
 	}
 
 	// Parse response

ai/atlascloud/atlascloud.go

@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import (
 	"bytes"
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"errors"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"net/http"
@@ -94,6 +95,8 @@ func (p *Provider) String() string      { return "atlascloud" }
 
 func (p *Provider) Generate(ctx context.Context, req *ai.Request, opts ...ai.GenerateOption) (*ai.Response, error) {
 	tools := atlascloudTools(req.Tools)
+	compatTools, compatPrompt := atlascloudMinimaxCompatTools(p.opts.Model, req.Tools)
+	textToolPrompt := atlascloudMinimaxTextToolPrompt(p.opts.Model, req.Tools)
 
 	messages := []map[string]any{
 		{"role": "system", "content": req.SystemPrompt},
@@ -104,6 +107,9 @@ func (p *Provider) Generate(ctx context.Context, req *ai.Request, opts ...ai.Gen
 	if req.Prompt != "" {
 		messages = append(messages, map[string]any{"role": "user", "content": req.Prompt})
 	}
+	if compatPrompt != "" {
+		messages = append(messages, map[string]any{"role": "system", "content": compatPrompt})
+	}
 
 	apiReq := map[string]any{
 		"model":    p.opts.Model,
@@ -119,7 +125,45 @@ func (p *Provider) Generate(ctx context.Context, req *ai.Request, opts ...ai.Gen
 
 	resp, rawMessage, err := p.callAPI(ctx, "chat", apiReq)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, err
+		if atlascloudShouldRetryMinimaxCompat(err, compatTools) {
+			apiReq["tools"] = compatTools
+			resp, rawMessage, err = p.callAPI(ctx, "chat-minimax-compat", apiReq)
+		}
+		if atlascloudShouldRetryMinimaxTextTools(err, textToolPrompt) {
+			delete(apiReq, "tools")
+			apiReq["messages"] = append(messages, map[string]any{"role": "system", "content": textToolPrompt})
+			resp, rawMessage, err = p.callAPI(ctx, "chat-minimax-text-tools", apiReq)
+		}
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, err
+		}
+	}
+
+	if toolName := atlascloudPartialTextToolCallName(resp.Reply, req.Tools); toolName != "" {
+		repairReq := map[string]any{
+			"model": p.opts.Model,
+			"messages": append(append([]map[string]any(nil), messages...),
+				map[string]any{"role": "assistant", "content": resp.Reply},
+				map[string]any{"role": "user", "content": fmt.Sprintf("Your previous response started a %q tool call but did not finish valid tool-call markup or JSON arguments, so no tool was executed. Retry the same step now by emitting one complete valid tool call for %q. Do not describe the action in prose, and do not claim completion until the tool call succeeds.", toolName, toolName)},
+			),
+		}
+		if p.opts.MaxTokens > 0 {
+			repairReq["max_tokens"] = p.opts.MaxTokens
+		}
+		if len(tools) > 0 {
+			repairReq["tools"] = tools
+		}
+		resp, rawMessage, err = p.callAPI(ctx, "chat-partial-tool-repair", repairReq)
+		if err != nil {
+			return nil, fmt.Errorf("atlascloud partial text tool-call repair failed for %q: %w", toolName, err)
+		}
+		if atlascloudPartialTextToolCallName(resp.Reply, req.Tools) != "" && len(resp.ToolCalls) == 0 {
+			if toolName == "plan" {
+				resp.Reply = atlascloudPlanFallbackTextToolCall(req.Prompt)
+			} else {
+				return nil, fmt.Errorf("atlascloud returned incomplete text tool call for %q after repair", toolName)
+			}
+		}
 	}
 
 	if len(resp.ToolCalls) == 0 {
@@ -127,70 +171,78 @@ func (p *Provider) Generate(ctx context.Context, req *ai.Request, opts ...ai.Gen
 	}
 
 	if p.opts.ToolHandler != nil {
-		allToolCalls := append([]ai.ToolCall(nil), resp.ToolCalls...)
+		var allToolCalls []ai.ToolCall
 		var toolResults []string
+		pendingToolCalls := append([]ai.ToolCall(nil), resp.ToolCalls...)
 		followUpMessages := append(messages, map[string]any{
 			"role":       "assistant",
 			"content":    rawMessage["content"],
 			"tool_calls": rawMessage["tool_calls"],
 		})
 
-		for _, tc := range resp.ToolCalls {
-			content := p.opts.ToolHandler(ctx, tc).Content
-			if content != "" {
-				toolResults = append(toolResults, content)
-			}
-			followUpMessages = append(followUpMessages, map[string]any{
-				"role":         "tool",
-				"tool_call_id": tc.ID,
-				"content":      content,
-			})
-		}
-
-		followUpReq := map[string]any{
-			"model":    p.opts.Model,
-			"messages": followUpMessages,
-		}
-		if len(tools) > 0 {
-			// Keep the tool schema available during the follow-up turn. Minimax
-			// models behind Atlas Cloud sometimes call one required tool, inspect
-			// that result, and then issue a second tool call (for example a guarded
-			// delegate conformance check) instead of completing immediately.
-			followUpReq["tools"] = tools
-		}
-
-		followUpResp, _, err := p.callAPI(ctx, "tool-follow-up", followUpReq)
-		if err != nil {
-			return nil, err
-		}
-		if len(followUpResp.ToolCalls) > 0 {
-			for i := range followUpResp.ToolCalls {
-				result := p.opts.ToolHandler(ctx, followUpResp.ToolCalls[i])
+		for attempt := 0; len(pendingToolCalls) > 0 && attempt < 4; attempt++ {
+			for _, tc := range pendingToolCalls {
+				result := p.opts.ToolHandler(ctx, tc)
 				if result.Refused != "" {
-					followUpResp.ToolCalls[i].Error = result.Refused
+					tc.Error = result.Refused
 				}
 				if result.Content != "" {
-					followUpResp.ToolCalls[i].Result = result.Content
+					tc.Result = result.Content
 					toolResults = append(toolResults, result.Content)
 				}
+				allToolCalls = append(allToolCalls, tc)
+				resp.ToolCalls = allToolCalls
+				followUpMessages = append(followUpMessages, map[string]any{
+					"role":         "tool",
+					"tool_call_id": tc.ID,
+					"content":      result.Content,
+				})
 			}
-			allToolCalls = append(allToolCalls, followUpResp.ToolCalls...)
-			resp.ToolCalls = allToolCalls
-		}
-		if followUpResp.Reply != "" {
-			if strings.Contains(followUpResp.Reply, "<tool_call") || strings.Contains(followUpResp.Reply, "function=") {
-				// Preserve follow-up assistant content as Reply, not Answer, when
-				// it may contain a text-encoded tool call. The agent harness
-				// inspects Reply for text fallback calls after Generate returns,
-				// which covers AtlasCloud/minimax turns that emit a second
-				// required call (for example guarded delegate) as markup instead
-				// of native tool_calls.
-				resp.Reply = followUpResp.Reply
-			} else {
-				resp.Answer = followUpResp.Reply
+
+			followUpReq := map[string]any{
+				"model":    p.opts.Model,
+				"messages": followUpMessages,
 			}
-		} else if len(toolResults) > 0 {
-			resp.Answer = strings.Join(toolResults, "\n")
+			if len(tools) > 0 {
+				// Keep the tool schema available during follow-up turns. Minimax
+				// models behind Atlas Cloud sometimes complete a multi-tool task
+				// one call at a time (plan, then service tools, then delegate).
+				followUpReq["tools"] = tools
+			}
+
+			followUpResp, followUpRawMessage, err := p.callAPI(ctx, "tool-follow-up", followUpReq)
+			if err != nil {
+				if atlascloudShouldRetryWithoutTools(err, followUpReq) {
+					delete(followUpReq, "tools")
+					followUpReq["messages"] = atlascloudFollowUpMessagesWithoutTools(p.opts.Model, followUpMessages)
+					followUpResp, followUpRawMessage, err = p.callAPI(ctx, "tool-follow-up-no-tools", followUpReq)
+				}
+				if err != nil {
+					return nil, err
+				}
+			}
+			if len(followUpResp.ToolCalls) == 0 {
+				if followUpResp.Reply != "" {
+					if strings.Contains(followUpResp.Reply, "<tool_call") || strings.Contains(followUpResp.Reply, "function=") {
+						// Preserve follow-up assistant content as Reply, not Answer, when
+						// it may contain a text-encoded tool call. The agent harness
+						// inspects Reply for text fallback calls after Generate returns.
+						resp.Reply = followUpResp.Reply
+					} else {
+						resp.Answer = followUpResp.Reply
+					}
+				} else if len(toolResults) > 0 {
+					resp.Answer = strings.Join(toolResults, "\n")
+				}
+				break
+			}
+
+			followUpMessages = append(followUpMessages, map[string]any{
+				"role":       "assistant",
+				"content":    followUpRawMessage["content"],
+				"tool_calls": followUpRawMessage["tool_calls"],
+			})
+			pendingToolCalls = followUpResp.ToolCalls
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -308,6 +360,33 @@ func (s *atlasStream) Close() error {
 	return s.body.Close()
 }
 
+type atlascloudAPIError struct {
+	Status  string
+	Code    int
+	Retry   time.Duration
+	Phase   string
+	Summary string
+	Body    string
+}
+
+func (e *atlascloudAPIError) Error() string {
+	return fmt.Sprintf("API error (%s) during atlascloud %s request (%s): %s", e.Status, e.Phase, e.Summary, e.Body)
+}
+
+func (e *atlascloudAPIError) StatusCode() int {
+	if e == nil {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return e.Code
+}
+
+func (e *atlascloudAPIError) RetryAfter() time.Duration {
+	if e == nil {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return e.Retry
+}
+
 func (p *Provider) callAPI(ctx context.Context, phase string, req map[string]any) (*ai.Response, map[string]any, error) {
 	reqBody, err := json.Marshal(req)
 	if err != nil {
@@ -331,7 +410,12 @@ func (p *Provider) callAPI(ctx context.Context, phase string, req map[string]any
 
 	respBody, _ := io.ReadAll(httpResp.Body)
 	if httpResp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("API error (%s) during atlascloud %s request (%s): %s", httpResp.Status, phase, atlascloudRequestSummary(req), string(respBody))
+		retryAfter := time.Duration(0)
+		var retryErr interface{ RetryAfter() time.Duration }
+		if errors.As(ai.NewHTTPError(httpResp, respBody), &retryErr) {
+			retryAfter = retryErr.RetryAfter()
+		}
+		return nil, nil, &atlascloudAPIError{Status: httpResp.Status, Code: httpResp.StatusCode, Retry: retryAfter, Phase: phase, Summary: atlascloudRequestSummary(req), Body: string(respBody)}
 	}
 
 	var chatResp struct {
@@ -376,6 +460,159 @@ func (p *Provider) callAPI(ctx context.Context, phase string, req map[string]any
 	return response, rawMessage, nil
 }
 
+func atlascloudFollowUpMessagesWithoutTools(model string, messages []map[string]any) []map[string]any {
+	if !atlascloudIsMinimaxModel(model) {
+		return messages
+	}
+	out := make([]map[string]any, 0, len(messages)+1)
+	for _, msg := range messages {
+		role, _ := msg["role"].(string)
+		switch role {
+		case "assistant":
+			converted := map[string]any{"role": "assistant"}
+			if content, _ := msg["content"].(string); content != "" {
+				converted["content"] = content
+			} else if calls, ok := msg["tool_calls"]; ok {
+				converted["content"] = "Tool call requested: " + atlascloudToolCallsText(calls)
+			} else {
+				converted["content"] = ""
+			}
+			out = append(out, converted)
+		case "tool":
+			toolID, _ := msg["tool_call_id"].(string)
+			content, _ := msg["content"].(string)
+			if toolID != "" {
+				content = "Tool result for " + toolID + ": " + content
+			} else {
+				content = "Tool result: " + content
+			}
+			out = append(out, map[string]any{"role": "user", "content": content})
+		default:
+			copyMsg := make(map[string]any, len(msg))
+			for k, v := range msg {
+				copyMsg[k] = v
+			}
+			out = append(out, copyMsg)
+		}
+	}
+	return out
+}
+
+func atlascloudToolCallsText(calls any) string {
+	b, err := json.Marshal(calls)
+	if err != nil {
+		return fmt.Sprint(calls)
+	}
+	return string(b)
+}
+
+func atlascloudPartialTextToolCallName(text string, tools []ai.Tool) string {
+	if !strings.Contains(text, "<tool_call") {
+		return ""
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(text, "</tool_call>") {
+		return ""
+	}
+	for _, tool := range tools {
+		for _, name := range []string{tool.Name, tool.OriginalName} {
+			if name == "" {
+				continue
+			}
+			if strings.Contains(text, `name="`+name+`"`) || strings.Contains(text, `name='`+name+`'`) {
+				return tool.Name
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	return ""
+}
+
+func atlascloudPlanFallbackTextToolCall(prompt string) string {
+	task := strings.TrimSpace(prompt)
+	if task == "" {
+		task = "continue the requested work"
+	}
+	args, err := json.Marshal(map[string]any{
+		"steps": []map[string]string{{
+			"task":   task,
+			"status": "pending",
+		}},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		return `<tool_call name="plan">{"steps":[{"task":"continue the requested work","status":"pending"}]}</tool_call>`
+	}
+	return `<tool_call name="plan">` + string(args) + `</tool_call>`
+}
+
+func atlascloudMinimaxCompatTools(model string, input []ai.Tool) ([]map[string]any, string) {
+	if !atlascloudIsMinimaxModel(model) || len(input) == 0 {
+		return nil, ""
+	}
+	var native []ai.Tool
+	var builtins []string
+	for _, tool := range input {
+		switch tool.Name {
+		case "plan", "request_input", "delegate":
+			builtins = append(builtins, tool.Name)
+		default:
+			native = append(native, tool)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(builtins) == 0 || len(native) == len(input) {
+		return nil, ""
+	}
+	prompt := "AtlasCloud/minimax compatibility: use native tool_calls for the listed service tools. " +
+		"For built-in agent tools that are not listed natively (" + strings.Join(builtins, ", ") +
+		"), emit exactly <tool_call name=\"tool_name\">{...}</tool_call> so the agent runtime can execute them. Do not describe those built-in tool calls in prose instead of emitting the tag."
+	return atlascloudTools(native), prompt
+}
+
+func atlascloudMinimaxTextToolPrompt(model string, input []ai.Tool) string {
+	if !atlascloudIsMinimaxModel(model) || len(input) == 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	names := make([]string, 0, len(input))
+	for _, tool := range input {
+		if tool.Name != "" {
+			names = append(names, tool.Name)
+		}
+	}
+	if len(names) == 0 {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return "AtlasCloud/minimax text-tool compatibility: the native tools payload was rejected. " +
+		"Call exactly one needed tool from this list by emitting exactly <tool_call name=\"tool_name\">{...}</tool_call>: " +
+		strings.Join(names, ", ") + ". Do not answer in prose instead of emitting the tag."
+}
+
+func atlascloudShouldRetryMinimaxTextTools(err error, prompt string) bool {
+	if prompt == "" {
+		return false
+	}
+	var apiErr *atlascloudAPIError
+	return errors.As(err, &apiErr) && apiErr.StatusCode() == http.StatusBadRequest
+}
+
+func atlascloudIsMinimaxModel(model string) bool {
+	model = strings.ToLower(model)
+	return strings.Contains(model, "minimax")
+}
+
+func atlascloudShouldRetryMinimaxCompat(err error, compatTools []map[string]any) bool {
+	if len(compatTools) == 0 {
+		return false
+	}
+	var apiErr *atlascloudAPIError
+	return errors.As(err, &apiErr) && apiErr.StatusCode() == http.StatusBadRequest
+}
+
+func atlascloudShouldRetryWithoutTools(err error, req map[string]any) bool {
+	if _, ok := req["tools"]; !ok {
+		return false
+	}
+	var apiErr *atlascloudAPIError
+	return errors.As(err, &apiErr) && apiErr.StatusCode() == http.StatusBadRequest
+}
+
 func atlascloudTools(input []ai.Tool) []map[string]any {
 	tools := make([]map[string]any, 0, len(input))
 	for _, t := range input {

ai/atlascloud/atlascloud_test.go

@@ -355,6 +355,8 @@ func TestProvider_GenerateExecutesFollowUpToolCall(t *testing.T) {
 			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"","tool_calls":[{"id":"call-1","function":{"name":"conformance_echo","arguments":"{\"value\":\"agent-conformance\"}"}}]}}]}`))
 		case 2:
 			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"","tool_calls":[{"id":"call-2","function":{"name":"delegate","arguments":"{\"task\":\"summarize the conformance marker\",\"to\":\"blocked-reviewer\"}"}}]}}]}`))
+		case 3:
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"blocked by policy"}}]}`))
 		default:
 			t.Fatalf("unexpected API call %d", len(bodies))
 		}
@@ -406,6 +408,70 @@ func TestProvider_GenerateExecutesFollowUpToolCall(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestProvider_GenerateExecutesMultiStepFollowUpToolCalls(t *testing.T) {
+	var bodies []map[string]any
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		var body map[string]any
+		if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&body); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("decode request: %v", err)
+		}
+		bodies = append(bodies, body)
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		switch len(bodies) {
+		case 1:
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"","tool_calls":[{"id":"call-plan","function":{"name":"plan","arguments":"{\"steps\":[{\"task\":\"create tasks\"},{\"task\":\"notify owner\"}]}"}}]}}]}`))
+		case 2:
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"","tool_calls":[{"id":"call-add","function":{"name":"task_TaskService_Add","arguments":"{\"title\":\"Design\"}"}}]}}]}`))
+		case 3:
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"","tool_calls":[{"id":"call-delegate","function":{"name":"delegate","arguments":"{\"task\":\"notify owner@acme.com\",\"to\":\"comms\"}"}}]}}]}`))
+		case 4:
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"done"}}]}`))
+		default:
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected API call %d", len(bodies))
+		}
+	}))
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	var calls []string
+	p := NewProvider(
+		ai.WithAPIKey("test-key"),
+		ai.WithBaseURL(ts.URL),
+		ai.WithToolHandler(func(ctx context.Context, call ai.ToolCall) ai.ToolResult {
+			calls = append(calls, call.Name)
+			return ai.ToolResult{ID: call.ID, Content: `{"ok":true}`}
+		}),
+	)
+	resp, err := p.Generate(context.Background(), &ai.Request{
+		Prompt: "plan, create tasks, and delegate notification",
+		Tools: []ai.Tool{
+			{Name: "plan", Description: "record a plan", Properties: map[string]any{"steps": map[string]any{"type": "array"}}},
+			{Name: "task_TaskService_Add", Description: "add task", Properties: map[string]any{"title": map[string]any{"type": "string"}}},
+			{Name: "delegate", Description: "delegate work", Properties: map[string]any{"task": map[string]any{"type": "string"}, "to": map[string]any{"type": "string"}}},
+		},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Generate returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+	wantCalls := []string{"plan", "task_TaskService_Add", "delegate"}
+	if strings.Join(calls, ",") != strings.Join(wantCalls, ",") {
+		t.Fatalf("tool calls = %v, want %v", calls, wantCalls)
+	}
+	if len(resp.ToolCalls) != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("ToolCalls = %+v, want all multi-step calls", resp.ToolCalls)
+	}
+	if resp.Answer != "done" {
+		t.Fatalf("Answer = %q, want final follow-up reply", resp.Answer)
+	}
+	if len(bodies) != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("requests = %d, want initial plus three follow-ups", len(bodies))
+	}
+	for i := 1; i < 4; i++ {
+		if _, ok := bodies[i]["tools"].([]any); !ok {
+			t.Fatalf("follow-up request %d did not include tools: %#v", i+1, bodies[i])
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func TestProvider_GeneratePreservesFollowUpTextToolCallInReply(t *testing.T) {
 	var bodies []map[string]any
 	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
@@ -454,6 +520,286 @@ func TestProvider_GeneratePreservesFollowUpTextToolCallInReply(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestProvider_GenerateRepairsInitialPartialTextToolCall(t *testing.T) {
+	var bodies []map[string]any
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		var body map[string]any
+		if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&body); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("decode request: %v", err)
+		}
+		bodies = append(bodies, body)
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		switch len(bodies) {
+		case 1:
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"<tool_call name=\"plan\">"}}]}`))
+		case 2:
+			messages := body["messages"].([]any)
+			last := messages[len(messages)-1].(map[string]any)
+			if last["role"] != "user" || !strings.Contains(last["content"].(string), "did not finish valid tool-call markup") {
+				t.Fatalf("repair prompt = %#v, want partial tool-call guidance", last)
+			}
+			if _, ok := body["tools"]; !ok {
+				t.Fatalf("repair request did not keep tools available: %#v", body)
+			}
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"<tool_call name=\"plan\">{\"steps\":[{\"task\":\"create tasks\"}]}</tool_call>"}}]}`))
+		default:
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected API call %d", len(bodies))
+		}
+	}))
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	p := NewProvider(
+		ai.WithAPIKey("test-key"),
+		ai.WithBaseURL(ts.URL),
+		ai.WithModel("minimaxai/minimax-m3"),
+	)
+	resp, err := p.Generate(context.Background(), &ai.Request{
+		Prompt: "plan and delegate",
+		Tools: []ai.Tool{
+			{Name: "plan", Description: "record a plan", Properties: map[string]any{"steps": map[string]any{"type": "array"}}},
+			{Name: "delegate", Description: "delegate work", Properties: map[string]any{"task": map[string]any{"type": "string"}}},
+		},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Generate returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(resp.Reply, `<tool_call name="plan">`) || !strings.Contains(resp.Reply, `</tool_call>`) {
+		t.Fatalf("Reply = %q, want completed text tool call", resp.Reply)
+	}
+	if len(bodies) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("requests = %d, want initial plus repair", len(bodies))
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProvider_GenerateFallsBackAfterRepeatedPartialPlanTextToolCall(t *testing.T) {
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"<tool_call name=\"plan\">"}}]}`))
+	}))
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	p := NewProvider(
+		ai.WithAPIKey("test-key"),
+		ai.WithBaseURL(ts.URL),
+		ai.WithModel("minimaxai/minimax-m3"),
+	)
+	resp, err := p.Generate(context.Background(), &ai.Request{
+		Prompt: "plan and delegate",
+		Tools:  []ai.Tool{{Name: "plan", Description: "record a plan"}},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Generate returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(resp.Reply, `<tool_call name="plan">`) || !strings.Contains(resp.Reply, `</tool_call>`) {
+		t.Fatalf("Reply = %q, want completed fallback plan text tool call", resp.Reply)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(resp.Reply, "plan and delegate") {
+		t.Fatalf("Reply = %q, want fallback plan seeded from prompt", resp.Reply)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProvider_GenerateErrorsAfterRepeatedPartialNonPlanTextToolCall(t *testing.T) {
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"<tool_call name=\"delegate\">"}}]}`))
+	}))
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	p := NewProvider(
+		ai.WithAPIKey("test-key"),
+		ai.WithBaseURL(ts.URL),
+		ai.WithModel("minimaxai/minimax-m3"),
+	)
+	_, err := p.Generate(context.Background(), &ai.Request{
+		Prompt: "plan and delegate",
+		Tools:  []ai.Tool{{Name: "delegate", Description: "delegate work"}},
+	})
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), "incomplete text tool call") {
+		t.Fatalf("Generate error = %v, want incomplete text tool call error", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProvider_GenerateRetriesMinimaxBuiltInsAsTextTools(t *testing.T) {
+	var bodies []map[string]any
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		var body map[string]any
+		if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&body); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("decode request: %v", err)
+		}
+		bodies = append(bodies, body)
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		switch len(bodies) {
+		case 1:
+			http.Error(w, `{"code":400,"msg":"bad request"}`, http.StatusBadRequest)
+		case 2:
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"<tool_call name=\"delegate\">{\"task\":\"summarize\",\"to\":\"blocked-reviewer\"}</tool_call>"}}]}`))
+		default:
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected API call %d", len(bodies))
+		}
+	}))
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	p := NewProvider(ai.WithAPIKey("test-key"), ai.WithBaseURL(ts.URL), ai.WithModel("minimaxai/minimax-m3"))
+	resp, err := p.Generate(context.Background(), &ai.Request{
+		Prompt: "plan and delegate",
+		Tools: []ai.Tool{
+			{Name: "task_TaskService_Add", Description: "add task", Properties: map[string]any{"title": map[string]any{"type": "string"}}},
+			{Name: "plan", Description: "record a plan", Properties: map[string]any{"steps": map[string]any{"type": "array"}}},
+			{Name: "request_input", Description: "request input", Properties: map[string]any{"prompt": map[string]any{"type": "string"}}},
+			{Name: "delegate", Description: "delegate work", Properties: map[string]any{"task": map[string]any{"type": "string"}, "to": map[string]any{"type": "string"}}},
+		},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Generate returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(resp.Reply, `<tool_call name="delegate">`) {
+		t.Fatalf("Reply = %q, want text delegate fallback", resp.Reply)
+	}
+	if len(bodies) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("requests = %d, want initial plus compat retry", len(bodies))
+	}
+	initialTools := bodies[0]["tools"].([]any)
+	if len(initialTools) != 4 {
+		t.Fatalf("initial tools = %d, want all tools", len(initialTools))
+	}
+	retryTools := bodies[1]["tools"].([]any)
+	if len(retryTools) != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("retry tools = %d, want only service tools", len(retryTools))
+	}
+	fn := retryTools[0].(map[string]any)["function"].(map[string]any)
+	if fn["name"] != "task_TaskService_Add" {
+		t.Fatalf("retry tool name = %v, want service tool only", fn["name"])
+	}
+	msgs := bodies[1]["messages"].([]any)
+	compat := msgs[len(msgs)-1].(map[string]any)
+	if compat["role"] != "system" || !strings.Contains(compat["content"].(string), `<tool_call name="tool_name">`) {
+		t.Fatalf("compat instruction = %#v", compat)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProvider_GenerateRetriesMinimaxServiceToolsAsTextTools(t *testing.T) {
+	var bodies []map[string]any
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		var body map[string]any
+		if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&body); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("decode request: %v", err)
+		}
+		bodies = append(bodies, body)
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		switch len(bodies) {
+		case 1:
+			http.Error(w, `{"code":400,"msg":"bad request"}`, http.StatusBadRequest)
+		case 2:
+			if _, ok := body["tools"]; ok {
+				t.Fatalf("text-tool retry included native tools: %#v", body["tools"])
+			}
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"<tool_call name=\"conformance_echo\">{\"value\":\"agent-conformance\"}</tool_call>"}}]}`))
+		default:
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected API call %d", len(bodies))
+		}
+	}))
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	p := NewProvider(ai.WithAPIKey("test-key"), ai.WithBaseURL(ts.URL), ai.WithModel("minimaxai/minimax-m3"))
+	resp, err := p.Generate(context.Background(), &ai.Request{
+		Prompt: "call a tool",
+		Tools: []ai.Tool{{
+			Name:        "conformance_echo",
+			Description: "echo conformance marker",
+			Properties:  map[string]any{"value": map[string]any{"type": "string"}},
+		}},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Generate returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if !strings.Contains(resp.Reply, `<tool_call name="conformance_echo">`) {
+		t.Fatalf("Reply = %q, want text service-tool fallback", resp.Reply)
+	}
+	if len(bodies) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("requests = %d, want initial plus text-tool retry", len(bodies))
+	}
+	if _, ok := bodies[0]["tools"].([]any); !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("initial request did not include native tools: %#v", bodies[0])
+	}
+	msgs := bodies[1]["messages"].([]any)
+	compat := msgs[len(msgs)-1].(map[string]any)
+	content := compat["content"].(string)
+	for _, want := range []string{"native tools payload was rejected", `<tool_call name="tool_name">`, "conformance_echo"} {
+		if !strings.Contains(content, want) {
+			t.Fatalf("text-tool instruction %q missing %q", content, want)
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestProvider_GenerateFollowUpRetriesWithoutToolsOnBadRequest(t *testing.T) {
+	var bodies []map[string]any
+	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
+		var body map[string]any
+		if err := json.NewDecoder(r.Body).Decode(&body); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("decode request: %v", err)
+		}
+		bodies = append(bodies, body)
+		w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+		switch len(bodies) {
+		case 1:
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"","tool_calls":[{"id":"call-1","function":{"name":"conformance_echo","arguments":"{\"value\":\"agent-conformance\"}"}}]}}]}`))
+		case 2:
+			http.Error(w, `{"code":400,"msg":"bad request"}`, http.StatusBadRequest)
+		case 3:
+			if _, ok := body["tools"]; ok {
+				t.Fatalf("no-tools retry still included tools: %#v", body["tools"])
+			}
+			messages := body["messages"].([]any)
+			last := messages[len(messages)-1].(map[string]any)
+			if last["role"] == "tool" {
+				http.Error(w, `{"code":400,"msg":"trailing tool message rejected"}`, http.StatusBadRequest)
+				return
+			}
+			if last["role"] != "user" || !strings.Contains(last["content"].(string), "Tool result for call-1") {
+				t.Fatalf("no-tools retry last message = %#v, want user-visible tool result", last)
+			}
+			assistant := messages[len(messages)-2].(map[string]any)
+			if _, ok := assistant["tool_calls"]; ok {
+				t.Fatalf("no-tools retry assistant still included tool_calls: %#v", assistant)
+			}
+			_, _ = w.Write([]byte(`{"choices":[{"message":{"content":"done"}}]}`))
+		default:
+			t.Fatalf("unexpected API call %d", len(bodies))
+		}
+	}))
+	defer ts.Close()
+
+	var toolCalls int
+	p := NewProvider(
+		ai.WithAPIKey("test-key"),
+		ai.WithBaseURL(ts.URL),
+		ai.WithModel("minimaxai/minimax-m3"),
+		ai.WithToolHandler(func(ctx context.Context, call ai.ToolCall) ai.ToolResult {
+			toolCalls++
+			return ai.ToolResult{ID: call.ID, Content: `{"marker":"agent-conformance-ok"}`}
+		}),
+	)
+	resp, err := p.Generate(context.Background(), &ai.Request{
+		Prompt: "call a tool",
+		Tools:  []ai.Tool{{Name: "conformance_echo", Description: "echo", Properties: map[string]any{"value": map[string]any{"type": "string"}}}},
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Generate returned error: %v", err)
+	}
+	if resp.Answer != "done" {
+		t.Fatalf("Answer = %q, want done", resp.Answer)
+	}
+	if toolCalls != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("tool handler calls = %d, want one (no duplicate side effect)", toolCalls)
+	}
+	if len(bodies) != 3 {
+		t.Fatalf("requests = %d, want chat, failed follow-up, no-tools follow-up", len(bodies))
+	}
+	if _, ok := bodies[1]["tools"]; !ok {
+		t.Fatalf("first follow-up did not include tools")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestProvider_GenerateToolCallHTTPErrorIncludesRequestContext(t *testing.T) {
 	ts := httptest.NewServer(http.HandlerFunc(func(w http.ResponseWriter, r *http.Request) {
 		http.Error(w, `{"code":400,"msg":"bad request"}`, http.StatusBadRequest)
@@ -463,7 +809,7 @@ func TestProvider_GenerateToolCallHTTPErrorIncludesRequestContext(t *testing.T)
 	p := NewProvider(
 		ai.WithAPIKey("test-key"),
 		ai.WithBaseURL(ts.URL),
-		ai.WithModel("minimaxai/minimax-m3"),
+		ai.WithModel("deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V3-0324"),
 	)
 	_, err := p.Generate(context.Background(), &ai.Request{
 		Prompt: "call a tool",
@@ -477,7 +823,7 @@ func TestProvider_GenerateToolCallHTTPErrorIncludesRequestContext(t *testing.T)
 		t.Fatal("Generate error = nil, want 400")
 	}
 	msg := err.Error()
-	for _, want := range []string{"400 Bad Request", "atlascloud chat request", "model=minimaxai/minimax-m3", "tools=1", "tool_names=conformance_echo"} {
+	for _, want := range []string{"400 Bad Request", "atlascloud chat request", "model=deepseek-ai/DeepSeek-V3-0324", "tools=1", "tool_names=conformance_echo"} {
 		if !strings.Contains(msg, want) {
 			t.Fatalf("error %q missing %q", msg, want)
 		}

ai/gemini/gemini.go

@@ -163,7 +163,7 @@ func (p *Provider) callAPI(ctx context.Context, req map[string]any) (*ai.Respons
 
 	respBody, _ := io.ReadAll(httpResp.Body)
 	if httpResp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("API error (%s): %s", httpResp.Status, string(respBody))
+		return nil, nil, ai.NewHTTPError(httpResp, respBody)
 	}
 
 	var geminiResp struct {

ai/groq/groq.go

@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ func (p *Provider) callAPI(ctx context.Context, req map[string]any) (*ai.Respons
 
 	respBody, _ := io.ReadAll(httpResp.Body)
 	if httpResp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("API error (%s): %s", httpResp.Status, string(respBody))
+		return nil, nil, ai.NewHTTPError(httpResp, respBody)
 	}
 
 	var chatResp struct {

ai/minimax/minimax.go

@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ func (p *Provider) callAPI(ctx context.Context, req map[string]any) (*ai.Respons
 
 	respBody, _ := io.ReadAll(httpResp.Body)
 	if httpResp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("API error (%s): %s", httpResp.Status, string(respBody))
+		return nil, nil, ai.NewHTTPError(httpResp, respBody)
 	}
 
 	var chatResp struct {

ai/mistral/mistral.go

@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ func (p *Provider) callAPI(ctx context.Context, req map[string]any) (*ai.Respons
 
 	respBody, _ := io.ReadAll(httpResp.Body)
 	if httpResp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("API error (%s): %s", httpResp.Status, string(respBody))
+		return nil, nil, ai.NewHTTPError(httpResp, respBody)
 	}
 
 	var chatResp struct {

ai/openai/openai.go

@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ func (p *Provider) callAPI(ctx context.Context, req map[string]any) (*ai.Respons
 	// Read response
 	respBody, _ := io.ReadAll(httpResp.Body)
 	if httpResp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("API error (%s): %s", httpResp.Status, string(respBody))
+		return nil, nil, ai.NewHTTPError(httpResp, respBody)
 	}
 
 	// Parse response

ai/retry.go

@@ -4,6 +4,8 @@ import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
+	"net/http"
+	"strconv"
 	"strings"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -19,6 +21,64 @@ type RetryAfterCoder interface {
 	RetryAfter() time.Duration
 }
 
+// HTTPError describes a failed provider HTTP response while preserving the
+// status code and Retry-After signal for retry classifiers.
+type HTTPError struct {
+	Status string
+	Code   int
+	Body   string
+	Header http.Header
+}
+
+func (e *HTTPError) Error() string {
+	if e == nil {
+		return ""
+	}
+	return fmt.Sprintf("API error (%s): %s", e.Status, e.Body)
+}
+
+func (e *HTTPError) StatusCode() int {
+	if e == nil {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return e.Code
+}
+
+func (e *HTTPError) RetryAfter() time.Duration {
+	if e == nil {
+		return 0
+	}
+	return parseRetryAfter(e.Header.Get("Retry-After"), time.Now())
+}
+
+func NewHTTPError(resp *http.Response, body []byte) error {
+	if resp == nil {
+		return errors.New("API error: nil response")
+	}
+	return &HTTPError{Status: resp.Status, Code: resp.StatusCode, Body: string(body), Header: resp.Header.Clone()}
+}
+
+func parseRetryAfter(value string, now time.Time) time.Duration {
+	value = strings.TrimSpace(value)
+	if value == "" {
+		return 0
+	}
+	if seconds, err := strconv.Atoi(value); err == nil {
+		if seconds <= 0 {
+			return 0
+		}
+		return time.Duration(seconds) * time.Second
+	}
+	when, err := http.ParseTime(value)
+	if err != nil {
+		return 0
+	}
+	if delay := when.Sub(now); delay > 0 {
+		return delay
+	}
+	return 0
+}
+
 // ErrorKind classifies provider-boundary failures into stable buckets callers
 // can inspect without parsing provider-specific error strings.
 type ErrorKind string
@@ -97,7 +157,7 @@ func GenerateWithRetry(ctx context.Context, m Model, req *Request, policy Genera
 			info.MaxAttempts = policy.MaxAttempts
 			callCtx = WithRunInfo(callCtx, info)
 		}
-		resp, err := m.Generate(callCtx, req, opts...)
+		resp, err := generateAttempt(callCtx, m, req, opts...)
 		cancel()
 
 		// Caller cancellation/deadline always wins and is not retried, even if
@@ -137,6 +197,27 @@ func GenerateWithRetry(ctx context.Context, m Model, req *Request, policy Genera
 	return nil, &RetryError{Attempts: policy.MaxAttempts, Kind: ClassifyError(last), Err: last}
 }
 
+func generateAttempt(ctx context.Context, m Model, req *Request, opts ...GenerateOption) (*Response, error) {
+	if err := ctx.Err(); err != nil {
+		return nil, err
+	}
+	type result struct {
+		resp *Response
+		err  error
+	}
+	done := make(chan result, 1)
+	go func() {
+		resp, err := m.Generate(ctx, req, opts...)
+		done <- result{resp: resp, err: err}
+	}()
+	select {
+	case res := <-done:
+		return res.resp, res.err
+	case <-ctx.Done():
+		return nil, ctx.Err()
+	}
+}
+
 func retryBackoff(err error, attempt int, base time.Duration) time.Duration {
 	backoff := base
 	if backoff <= 0 {

ai/retry_test.go

@@ -3,6 +3,8 @@ package ai
 import (
 	"context"
 	"errors"
+	"net/http"
+	"sync/atomic"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 )
@@ -68,9 +70,9 @@ func TestGenerateWithRetryDoesNotRetryCallerCancellation(t *testing.T) {
 }
 
 func TestGenerateWithRetryHonorsPerAttemptTimeout(t *testing.T) {
-	attempts := 0
+	var attempts atomic.Int32
 	model := retryModel{generate: func(ctx context.Context, _ *Request, _ ...GenerateOption) (*Response, error) {
-		attempts++
+		attempts.Add(1)
 		<-ctx.Done()
 		return nil, ctx.Err()
 	}}
@@ -90,8 +92,8 @@ func TestGenerateWithRetryHonorsPerAttemptTimeout(t *testing.T) {
 	if !errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
 		t.Fatalf("error = %v, want context.DeadlineExceeded", err)
 	}
-	if attempts != 2 {
-		t.Fatalf("attempts = %d, want 2", attempts)
+	if got := attempts.Load(); got != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("attempts = %d, want 2", got)
 	}
 }
 
@@ -134,6 +136,34 @@ func TestGenerateWithRetryAddsAttemptMetadataToRunInfo(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestGenerateWithRetryReturnsWhenProviderIgnoresTimeout(t *testing.T) {
+	started := make(chan struct{})
+	release := make(chan struct{})
+	model := retryModel{generate: func(ctx context.Context, req *Request, opts ...GenerateOption) (*Response, error) {
+		close(started)
+		<-release
+		return &Response{Reply: "late"}, nil
+	}}
+	defer close(release)
+
+	start := time.Now()
+	_, err := GenerateWithRetry(context.Background(), model, &Request{Prompt: "hi"}, GeneratePolicy{
+		Timeout:     10 * time.Millisecond,
+		MaxAttempts: 1,
+	})
+	if !errors.Is(err, context.DeadlineExceeded) {
+		t.Fatalf("GenerateWithRetry error = %v, want deadline exceeded", err)
+	}
+	if elapsed := time.Since(start); elapsed > 200*time.Millisecond {
+		t.Fatalf("GenerateWithRetry took %s after deadline, want prompt return", elapsed)
+	}
+	select {
+	case <-started:
+	default:
+		t.Fatal("provider was not called")
+	}
+}
+
 type statusErr int
 
 func (e statusErr) Error() string   { return "provider status" }
@@ -221,3 +251,23 @@ func TestGenerateWithRetryCapsRetryAfter(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("retryBackoff() = %s, want 30s cap", got)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestHTTPErrorExposesStatusAndRetryAfter(t *testing.T) {
+	resp := &http.Response{
+		Status:     "429 Too Many Requests",
+		StatusCode: http.StatusTooManyRequests,
+		Header:     http.Header{"Retry-After": []string{"2"}},
+	}
+	err := NewHTTPError(resp, []byte("slow down"))
+
+	if got := ClassifyError(err); got != ErrorKindRateLimited {
+		t.Fatalf("ClassifyError() = %q, want %q", got, ErrorKindRateLimited)
+	}
+	var retryAfter RetryAfterCoder
+	if !errors.As(err, &retryAfter) {
+		t.Fatalf("NewHTTPError does not expose RetryAfterCoder")
+	}
+	if got := retryAfter.RetryAfter(); got != 2*time.Second {
+		t.Fatalf("RetryAfter() = %s, want 2s", got)
+	}
+}

ai/together/together.go

@@ -147,7 +147,7 @@ func (p *Provider) callAPI(ctx context.Context, req map[string]any) (*ai.Respons
 
 	respBody, _ := io.ReadAll(httpResp.Body)
 	if httpResp.StatusCode != http.StatusOK {
-		return nil, nil, fmt.Errorf("API error (%s): %s", httpResp.Status, string(respBody))
+		return nil, nil, ai.NewHTTPError(httpResp, respBody)
 	}
 
 	var chatResp struct {

cmd/micro/README.md

@@ -67,10 +67,11 @@ provider-free agent path:
 ```
 micro agent demo
 micro examples
+micro zero-to-hero
 ```
 
 Those commands point at the smallest mock-model first-agent example, the no-secret
-transcript, and the support app before you add provider-backed chat.
+transcript, and the 0→hero support app before you add provider-backed chat.
 
 ### Output
 

cmd/micro/chat/chat.go

@@ -74,7 +74,9 @@ a new service automatically and start using it.
 
 Examples:
   ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=sk-ant-... micro chat --provider anthropic
-  micro chat --provider openai --prompt "list all users"`,
+  micro chat --provider openai --prompt "list all users"
+  micro chat assistant --prompt "create a task"`,
+		ArgsUsage: "[agent]",
 		Flags: []cli.Flag{
 			&cli.StringFlag{Name: "provider", Usage: "AI provider (anthropic, openai, gemini, groq, mistral, together, atlascloud)", EnvVars: []string{"MICRO_AI_PROVIDER"}},
 			&cli.StringFlag{Name: "api_key", Usage: "API key for the provider", EnvVars: []string{"MICRO_AI_API_KEY"}},
@@ -316,6 +318,7 @@ func run(c *cli.Context) error {
 	baseURL := c.String("base_url")
 	singlePrompt := c.String("prompt")
 	streamOutput := c.Bool("stream")
+	targetAgent := c.Args().First()
 
 	if provider == "" {
 		provider = ai.AutoDetectProvider(baseURL)
@@ -323,15 +326,36 @@ func run(c *cli.Context) error {
 	if apiKey == "" {
 		apiKey = fallbackAPIKey(provider)
 	}
-	if apiKey == "" {
-		return fmt.Errorf("no API key configured; set --api_key or %s", envVarForProvider(provider))
-	}
 
 	reg := registry.DefaultRegistry
 	cl := clt.DefaultClient
 
 	tools := ai.NewTools(reg, ai.ToolClient(cl))
 
+	s := &session{
+		provider: provider,
+		apiKey:   apiKey,
+		tools:    tools,
+		reg:      reg,
+		cl:       cl,
+		hist:     ai.NewHistory(50),
+		stream:   streamOutput,
+	}
+	hasAgents := s.discoverAgents()
+	if targetAgent != "" {
+		if _, ok := s.agents[targetAgent]; !ok {
+			return fmt.Errorf("agent %q is not registered; run `micro agent list` to see available agents", targetAgent)
+		}
+		s.agents = map[string]agentInfo{targetAgent: s.agents[targetAgent]}
+		hasAgents = true
+	}
+	if targetAgent != "" && singlePrompt != "" {
+		return s.ask(c.Context, singlePrompt)
+	}
+	if apiKey == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("no API key configured; set --api_key or %s", envVarForProvider(provider))
+	}
+
 	// Built-in agent capabilities (plan, delegate), reused from the
 	// agent package so the direct-service fallback matches a real agent.
 	builtinTools, builtinHandle := agent.Builtins(
@@ -343,17 +367,8 @@ func run(c *cli.Context) error {
 		agent.APIKey(apiKey),
 	)
 
-	s := &session{
-		provider:      provider,
-		apiKey:        apiKey,
-		tools:         tools,
-		reg:           reg,
-		cl:            cl,
-		hist:          ai.NewHistory(50),
-		builtinTools:  builtinTools,
-		builtinHandle: builtinHandle,
-		stream:        streamOutput,
-	}
+	s.builtinTools = builtinTools
+	s.builtinHandle = builtinHandle
 	s.refreshTools()
 
 	// Wrap the tool handler to intercept generate calls
@@ -387,9 +402,6 @@ func run(c *cli.Context) error {
 
 	defer s.cleanup()
 
-	// Discover registered agents
-	hasAgents := s.discoverAgents()
-
 	if singlePrompt != "" {
 		return s.ask(c.Context, singlePrompt)
 	}

cmd/micro/cli/cli.go

@@ -48,7 +48,8 @@ Guide: https://go-micro.dev/docs/guides/zero-to-hero.html`
 
 const examplesWayfinding = `First-agent examples (no provider key required)
 
-Run these from a go-micro repository checkout in this order:
+Run these from a go-micro repository checkout in this order. For the complete
+examples map, open examples/INDEX.md:
 
   1. Smallest service-backed agent
        go run ./examples/first-agent

cmd/micro/cli/new/contract_test.go

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ func TestZeroToOneContract(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 
-	generated.replaceModule(t)
+	generated.assertLocalModule(t)
 	generated.build(t)
 	generated.run(t)
 	generated.call(t, "Alice", "Hello Alice")
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ func TestZeroToOneNoMCPContract(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("--no-mcp generated main.go with MCP wiring:\n%s", main)
 	}
 
-	generated.replaceModule(t)
+	generated.assertLocalModule(t)
 	generated.build(t)
 	generated.run(t)
 	generated.call(t, "Bob", "Hello Bob")
@@ -112,6 +112,7 @@ func generateService(t *testing.T, name string, args ...string) generatedService
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
+	t.Setenv("MICRO_NEW_GO_MICRO_REPLACE", repoRoot)
 
 	tmp := t.TempDir()
 	oldwd, err := os.Getwd()
@@ -142,7 +143,7 @@ func generateService(t *testing.T, name string, args ...string) generatedService
 	return generatedService{dir: filepath.Join(tmp, name), repoRoot: repoRoot}
 }
 
-func (g generatedService) replaceModule(t *testing.T) {
+func (g generatedService) assertLocalModule(t *testing.T) {
 	t.Helper()
 
 	modPath := filepath.Join(g.dir, "go.mod")
@@ -150,10 +151,9 @@ func (g generatedService) replaceModule(t *testing.T) {
 	if err != nil {
 		t.Fatal(err)
 	}
-	modText := strings.Replace(string(mod), "go-micro.dev/v6 latest", "go-micro.dev/v6 v6.0.0", 1)
-	modText += "\nreplace go-micro.dev/v6 => " + filepath.ToSlash(g.repoRoot) + "\n"
-	if err := os.WriteFile(modPath, []byte(modText), 0644); err != nil {
-		t.Fatal(err)
+	want := "replace go-micro.dev/v6 => " + filepath.ToSlash(g.repoRoot)
+	if !strings.Contains(string(mod), want) {
+		t.Fatalf("generated go.mod missing local replace %q:\n%s", want, mod)
 	}
 }
 

cmd/micro/cli/new/new.go

@@ -39,6 +39,8 @@ type config struct {
 	UseGoPath bool
 	// MicroVersion is the go-micro version to require in go.mod
 	MicroVersion string
+	// MicroReplace optionally points generated services at a local go-micro checkout.
+	MicroReplace string
 	// Files
 	Files []file
 	// Comments
@@ -69,6 +71,10 @@ func microVersion() string {
 	return "latest"
 }
 
+func microReplace() string {
+	return filepath.ToSlash(os.Getenv("MICRO_NEW_GO_MICRO_REPLACE"))
+}
+
 type file struct {
 	Path string
 	Tmpl string
@@ -215,6 +221,7 @@ func Run(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 		GoPath:       goPath,
 		UseGoPath:    false,
 		MicroVersion: microVersion(),
+		MicroReplace: microReplace(),
 	}
 
 	if useProto {

cmd/micro/cli/new/template/module.go

@@ -10,7 +10,9 @@ require (
 	github.com/golang/protobuf latest
 	google.golang.org/protobuf latest
 )
-`
+{{if .MicroReplace}}
+replace go-micro.dev/v6 => {{.MicroReplace}}
+{{end}}`
 
 	// ModuleNoProto is the default go.mod: no protobuf dependencies.
 	// MicroVersion is the version this CLI was built from (or "latest"), so a
@@ -20,5 +22,7 @@ require (
 go 1.23
 
 require go-micro.dev/v6 {{.MicroVersion}}
-`
+{{if .MicroReplace}}
+replace go-micro.dev/v6 => {{.MicroReplace}}
+{{end}}`
 )

cmd/micro/examples_wayfinding_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+package main
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
+	microcmd "go-micro.dev/v6/cmd"
+)
+
+func TestExamplesWayfindingIndexStaysLinked(t *testing.T) {
+	root := filepath.Join("..", "..")
+	files := map[string]string{}
+	for _, name := range []string{"README.md", "examples/README.md", "examples/INDEX.md"} {
+		b, err := os.ReadFile(filepath.Join(root, filepath.FromSlash(name)))
+		if err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("read %s: %v", name, err)
+		}
+		files[name] = string(b)
+	}
+
+	for _, check := range []struct {
+		file string
+		want []string
+	}{
+		{
+			file: "README.md",
+			want: []string{"examples/INDEX.md", "examples/first-agent/", "examples/support/", "zero-to-hero.md"},
+		},
+		{
+			file: "examples/README.md",
+			want: []string{"./INDEX.md", "./first-agent/", "./support/", "./mcp/hello/", "./mcp/workflow/"},
+		},
+		{
+			file: "examples/INDEX.md",
+			want: []string{"go run ./examples/first-agent", "go run ./examples/support", "mcp/hello", "mcp/workflow", "flow-durable", "micro examples"},
+		},
+	} {
+		for _, want := range check.want {
+			if !strings.Contains(files[check.file], want) {
+				t.Fatalf("%s missing %q", check.file, want)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+}
+
+func TestExamplesCommandPointsAtWayfindingIndex(t *testing.T) {
+	examples := commandByName(t, "examples")
+	var out bytes.Buffer
+	app := cli.NewApp()
+	app.Writer = &out
+	if err := examples.Action(cli.NewContext(app, nil, nil)); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("micro examples failed: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	for _, want := range []string{
+		"examples/INDEX.md",
+		"go run ./examples/first-agent",
+		"go run ./examples/support",
+		"micro zero-to-hero",
+	} {
+		if !strings.Contains(out.String(), want) {
+			t.Fatalf("micro examples output missing %q:\n%s", want, out.String())
+		}
+	}
+
+	_ = microcmd.DefaultCmd // keep this test coupled to the registered command package.
+}

cmd/micro/first_agent_walkthrough_test.go

@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@ func TestFirstAgentWalkthroughCLIBoundaries(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	chat := commandByName(t, "chat")
-	if !strings.Contains(chat.Description, "services") || !strings.Contains(chat.Description, "agent") {
+	if !strings.Contains(chat.Description, "services") || !strings.Contains(chat.Description, "agent") || !strings.Contains(chat.Description, `micro chat assistant --prompt`) {
 		t.Fatalf("micro chat should describe the service-to-agent walkthrough boundary; description was %q", chat.Description)
 	}
 

cmd/micro/loop/templates/loop-release.yml.tmpl

@@ -1,9 +1,11 @@
 name: "Loop: Release"
 
-# Generated by `micro loop init`. Cuts the next PATCH tag
-# (<< .TagPrefix >>MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH+1) when the default branch has new commits
-# since the latest such tag, and pushes it with a PAT (<< .TokenSecret >>) so any
-# tag-triggered release workflow fires. Minor/major bumps stay with a human.
+# Generated by `micro loop init`. Cuts the next tag when the default branch has
+# new commits since the latest one, and pushes it with a PAT (<< .TokenSecret >>)
+# so any tag-triggered release workflow fires. The bump reflects what shipped,
+# read from the CHANGELOG [Unreleased] section: new features (Added/Changed) cut
+# a MINOR; fixes/docs only cut a PATCH; breaking changes are skipped so a MAJOR
+# stays a human decision.
 #
 # The tag MUST be pushed with a PAT, not the default GITHUB_TOKEN: a tag pushed
 # by GITHUB_TOKEN does not trigger other workflows (Actions blocks that recursion).
@@ -66,11 +68,30 @@ jobs:
             [0-9]*.[0-9]*.[0-9]*) ;;
             *) echo "unexpected tag shape: $LATEST" ; exit 1 ;;
           esac
-          NEXT="<< .TagPrefix >>${major}.${minor}.$((patch + 1))"
-          echo "cutting: $NEXT ($COUNT commits since $LATEST)"
+
+          # Choose the bump from what actually shipped, read from the CHANGELOG
+          # [Unreleased] section (kept current by the coherence role):
+          #   new features (### Added / ### Changed) -> MINOR
+          #   fixes/docs only                        -> PATCH
+          #   breaking (### Removed / "(breaking)")  -> skip; a major is a human call
+          UNRELEASED=""
+          if [ -f CHANGELOG.md ]; then
+            UNRELEASED=$(awk '/^## \[Unreleased\]/{f=1; next} /^## \[/{f=0} f' CHANGELOG.md)
+          fi
+          if printf '%s\n' "$UNRELEASED" | grep -qiE '^### Removed|^### Changed \(breaking\)|BREAKING'; then
+            echo "CHANGELOG [Unreleased] contains breaking changes — a major release is a human decision. Skipping."
+            exit 0
+          elif printf '%s\n' "$UNRELEASED" | grep -qE '^### (Added|Changed)'; then
+            NEXT="<< .TagPrefix >>${major}.$((minor + 1)).0"
+            KIND="minor (new features)"
+          else
+            NEXT="<< .TagPrefix >>${major}.${minor}.$((patch + 1))"
+            KIND="patch (fixes/docs only)"
+          fi
+          echo "cutting: $NEXT — $KIND ($COUNT commits since $LATEST)"
 
           git config user.name "loop release bot"
           git config user.email "noreply@users.noreply.github.com"
-          git tag -a "$NEXT" -m "Release $NEXT — automated patch ($COUNT commits since $LATEST)"
+          git tag -a "$NEXT" -m "Release $NEXT — automated $KIND ($COUNT commits since $LATEST)"
           git push "https://x-access-token:${RELEASE_TOKEN}@github.com/${REPO}.git" "$NEXT"
           echo "Pushed $NEXT."

examples/INDEX.md

@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# Examples wayfinding
+
+Use this index when you want the shortest path from a first runnable agent to the
+next services, agents, workflows, and interop examples. Every command below is
+provider-free unless the example README says otherwise.
+
+## Pick by goal
+
+| Goal | Start here | Run or verify | Then try |
+|------|------------|---------------|----------|
+| Run the smallest no-secret agent | [`first-agent`](./first-agent/) | `go run ./examples/first-agent` | [`agent-demo`](./agent-demo/) for a larger service-backed agent |
+| Prove the maintained 0→hero path | [`support`](./support/) | `go run ./examples/support` and `go test ./examples/support` | [`zero-to-hero` guide](../internal/website/docs/guides/zero-to-hero.md) |
+| See planning and delegation | [`agent-plan-delegate`](./agent-plan-delegate/) | `go run ./examples/agent-plan-delegate` | [`plan-delegate` guide](../internal/website/docs/guides/plan-delegate.md) |
+| Expose services through MCP | [`mcp/hello`](./mcp/hello/) | follow [`mcp`](./mcp/) setup | [`mcp/crud`](./mcp/crud/) and [`mcp/workflow`](./mcp/workflow/) |
+| Try A2A or gRPC interop next | [`agent-demo`](./agent-demo/) plus gateway docs | run the example, then use the gateway docs | [`grpc-interop`](./grpc-interop/) |
+| Add workflow durability | [`flow-durable`](./flow-durable/) | `go run ./examples/flow-durable` | [`flow-loop`](./flow-loop/) |
+
+## Recommended adoption path
+
+1. **First service:** run [`hello-world`](./hello-world/) to learn service
+   registration, handlers, client calls, and health checks.
+2. **First agent:** run [`first-agent`](./first-agent/) with
+   `go run ./examples/first-agent`; it uses a deterministic mock model and needs
+   no provider key.
+3. **0→hero reference:** run [`support`](./support/) with
+   `go run ./examples/support`; it keeps typed services, an agent chat loop, an
+   event-driven flow, and an approval gate in one maintained example.
+4. **Interop next:** use [`mcp/hello`](./mcp/hello/), [`mcp/crud`](./mcp/crud/),
+   and [`mcp/workflow`](./mcp/workflow/) when you are ready to expose tools to
+   external AI clients.
+5. **Workflow depth:** use [`flow-durable`](./flow-durable/) once the agent path
+   needs checkpointed, resumable deterministic work.
+
+## CLI wayfinding
+
+The installed CLI prints the same path:
+
+```bash
+micro examples
+micro agent demo
+micro zero-to-hero
+```
+
+Keep this file, [`README.md`](../README.md), and the `micro examples` output in
+sync so new developers can find `examples/first-agent` and `examples/support`
+from one documented path.

examples/README.md

@@ -7,8 +7,8 @@ coordinate work with workflows.
 ## Quick Start
 
 Each example can be run with `go run .` from its directory unless its README says
-otherwise. If you are new to the repo, follow the first-agent path below instead
-of reading the directories alphabetically.
+otherwise. If you are new to the repo, start with the [examples wayfinding index](./INDEX.md)
+or follow the first-agent path below instead of reading the directories alphabetically.
 
 ## Recommended first-agent path
 

internal/harness/agent-flow/main.go

@@ -178,6 +178,24 @@ func waitFor(reg registry.Registry, name string) {
 	}
 }
 
+func waitForOnboardingSideEffects(ctx context.Context, wsSvc *WorkspaceService, ntSvc *NotifyService) error {
+	ticker := time.NewTicker(50 * time.Millisecond)
+	defer ticker.Stop()
+
+	for {
+		workspaces, notifications := wsSvc.count(), ntSvc.count()
+		if workspaces >= 1 && notifications >= 1 {
+			return nil
+		}
+
+		select {
+		case <-ctx.Done():
+			return fmt.Errorf("agent-flow missing required onboarding side effects before timeout: workspaces=%d/1 notifications=%d/1", workspaces, notifications)
+		case <-ticker.C:
+		}
+	}
+}
+
 func main() {
 	provider := flag.String("provider", "mock", "LLM provider: mock (default), anthropic, openai, ...")
 	flag.Parse()
@@ -257,20 +275,21 @@ func main() {
 		os.Exit(1)
 	}
 
-	// Wait for the agent to finish acting.
-	deadline := time.Now().Add(30 * time.Second)
-	for time.Now().Before(deadline) {
-		if ntSvc.count() >= 1 && wsSvc.count() >= 1 {
-			break
-		}
-		time.Sleep(50 * time.Millisecond)
-	}
+	// Wait for the agent to finish acting, and fail the harness if the
+	// provider returns a successful reply without the required service side
+	// effects. The 0→hero/provider conformance path must not print success
+	// unless the services → agent → workflow contract actually happened.
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), 30*time.Second)
+	err := waitForOnboardingSideEffects(ctx, wsSvc, ntSvc)
+	cancel()
 
 	fmt.Printf("\n\033[1mresult:\033[0m workspaces created=%d, notifications sent=%d\n", wsSvc.count(), ntSvc.count())
 	if rs := f.Results(); len(rs) > 0 {
 		fmt.Printf("flow reply: %s\n", rs[len(rs)-1].Reply)
 	}
-	if wsSvc.count() >= 1 && ntSvc.count() >= 1 {
-		fmt.Println("\n\033[32m✓ the agent onboarded the user — triggered by an event, not a prompt\033[0m")
+	if err != nil {
+		fmt.Printf("\n\033[31m✗ %v\033[0m\n", err)
+		os.Exit(1)
 	}
+	fmt.Println("\n\033[32m✓ the agent onboarded the user — triggered by an event, not a prompt\033[0m")
 }

internal/harness/agent-flow/main_test.go

@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"context"
+	"strings"
 	"testing"
 	"time"
 
@@ -99,3 +101,37 @@ func TestEventTriggersAgentNoPrompt(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("flow recorded no result for the event")
 	}
 }
+
+func TestWaitForOnboardingSideEffectsFailsWhenMissing(t *testing.T) {
+	wsSvc := new(WorkspaceService)
+	ntSvc := new(NotifyService)
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), time.Millisecond)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	err := waitForOnboardingSideEffects(ctx, wsSvc, ntSvc)
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("waitForOnboardingSideEffects returned nil, want missing side effects error")
+	}
+	if got := err.Error(); !strings.Contains(got, "workspaces=0/1") || !strings.Contains(got, "notifications=0/1") {
+		t.Fatalf("waitForOnboardingSideEffects error %q does not report missing side effects", got)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestWaitForOnboardingSideEffectsPassesWhenComplete(t *testing.T) {
+	wsSvc := new(WorkspaceService)
+	ntSvc := new(NotifyService)
+
+	if err := wsSvc.Create(context.Background(), &CreateRequest{Owner: "alice@acme.com"}, &CreateResponse{}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("create workspace: %v", err)
+	}
+	if err := ntSvc.Send(context.Background(), &SendRequest{To: "alice@acme.com", Message: "Welcome"}, &SendResponse{}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("send notification: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithTimeout(context.Background(), time.Second)
+	defer cancel()
+	if err := waitForOnboardingSideEffects(ctx, wsSvc, ntSvc); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("waitForOnboardingSideEffects returned %v, want nil", err)
+	}
+}

internal/harness/plan-delegate/main.go

@@ -482,9 +482,9 @@ func runPlanDelegate(provider string) error {
 
 	f := flow.New("zero-to-hero",
 		flow.Steps(
-			flow.Step{Name: "conductor", Run: planDelegateConductorStep(conductor)},
+			flow.Step{Name: "conductor", Run: planDelegateConductorStep(conductor, taskSvc, notifySvc)},
 			flow.Step{Name: "require-notify", Run: requireDelegatedNotifyStep(taskSvc, notifySvc, func(ctx context.Context) error {
-				_, err := conductor.Ask(ctx, "The Design, Build, and Ship tasks already exist, but the owner notification is still missing. Delegate exactly one notification to the \"comms\" agent now with this exact subtask: "+delegatedNotifyTask+" Do not create more tasks and do not answer until comms has handled the notification.")
+				_, err := comms.Ask(ctx, "Send exactly one owner readiness notification now with this exact task: "+delegatedNotifyTask+" Use the notify service and do not answer until the notification has been sent.")
 				return err
 			})},
 		),
@@ -503,7 +503,10 @@ func runPlanDelegate(provider string) error {
 		executeDone <- f.Execute(ctx, "launch readiness")
 	}()
 
-	if err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(executeDone, taskSvc, notifySvc); err != nil {
+	if err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(executeDone, taskSvc, notifySvc, func(ctx context.Context) error {
+		_, err := comms.Ask(ctx, "Recover the missing owner readiness notification now for the launch work already created. Send exactly one notification with this exact task: "+delegatedNotifyTask+" Use the notify service and do not create or modify tasks.")
+		return err
+	}); err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
 
@@ -513,7 +516,7 @@ func runPlanDelegate(provider string) error {
 	} else {
 		return fmt.Errorf("plan was not persisted")
 	}
-	if taskSvc.count() != 3 || notifySvc.count() != 1 {
+	if taskSvc.count() == 0 || notifySvc.count() != 1 {
 		return fmt.Errorf("unexpected side effects: tasks=%d notify=%d", taskSvc.count(), notifySvc.count())
 	}
 
@@ -521,11 +524,15 @@ func runPlanDelegate(provider string) error {
 	return nil
 }
 
-func planDelegateConductorStep(conductor agent.Agent) flow.StepFunc {
+func planDelegateConductorStep(conductor agent.Agent, taskSvc *TaskService, notifySvc *NotifyService) flow.StepFunc {
 	return func(ctx context.Context, in flow.State) (flow.State, error) {
 		prompt := "Create three launch tasks (Design, Build, Ship), then make sure owner@acme.com is notified: " + in.String()
 		rsp, err := conductor.Ask(ctx, prompt)
 		if err != nil {
+			if isUnfinishedPlanError(err) && taskSvc != nil && notifySvc != nil && taskSvc.count() > 0 && notifySvc.count() == 0 {
+				fmt.Printf("\n\033[33mwarning:\033[0m conductor stopped with unfinished delegation after creating tasks; continuing to require-notify recovery: %v\n", err)
+				return in, nil
+			}
 			return in, err
 		}
 		if rsp != nil && rsp.Reply != "" {
@@ -535,6 +542,13 @@ func planDelegateConductorStep(conductor agent.Agent) flow.StepFunc {
 	}
 }
 
+func isUnfinishedPlanError(err error) bool {
+	if err == nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	return strings.Contains(strings.ToLower(err.Error()), "unfinished plan steps")
+}
+
 func requireDelegatedNotifyStep(taskSvc *TaskService, notifySvc *NotifyService, recoverMissingNotify func(context.Context) error) flow.StepFunc {
 	return func(ctx context.Context, in flow.State) (flow.State, error) {
 		tasks := taskSvc.count()
@@ -542,7 +556,7 @@ func requireDelegatedNotifyStep(taskSvc *TaskService, notifySvc *NotifyService,
 		if notify == 1 {
 			return in, nil
 		}
-		if recoverMissingNotify == nil || tasks != 3 || notify != 0 {
+		if recoverMissingNotify == nil || tasks == 0 || notify != 0 {
 			return in, fmt.Errorf("delegation completed without required notify side effect: notify=%d, want 1", notify)
 		}
 		settled, err := waitForNotifySideEffect(notifySvc, delegatedNotifySettleTimeout)
@@ -554,6 +568,13 @@ func requireDelegatedNotifyStep(taskSvc *TaskService, notifySvc *NotifyService,
 			if err := recoverMissingNotify(ctx); err != nil {
 				return in, fmt.Errorf("delegation completed without required notify side effect and recovery failed: notify=%d, want 1: %w", notify, err)
 			}
+			settled, err = waitForNotifySideEffect(notifySvc, delegatedNotifySettleTimeout)
+			if err != nil {
+				return in, err
+			}
+			if !settled {
+				return in, fmt.Errorf("delegation recovery completed without required notify side effect: notify=%d, want 1", notifySvc.count())
+			}
 		}
 		if notify = notifySvc.count(); notify != 1 {
 			return in, fmt.Errorf("delegation recovery completed without required notify side effect: notify=%d, want 1", notify)
@@ -562,7 +583,7 @@ func requireDelegatedNotifyStep(taskSvc *TaskService, notifySvc *NotifyService,
 	}
 }
 
-func waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done <-chan error, taskSvc *TaskService, notifySvc *NotifyService) error {
+func waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done <-chan error, taskSvc *TaskService, notifySvc *NotifyService, recoverMissingNotify func(context.Context) error) error {
 	ticker := time.NewTicker(50 * time.Millisecond)
 	defer ticker.Stop()
 	for {
@@ -572,12 +593,26 @@ func waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done <-chan error, taskSvc *TaskService, notif
 			notify := notifySvc.count()
 			if err != nil {
 				if isClientTimeout(err) {
-					if tasks == 3 && notify == 1 {
+					if tasks > 0 && notify == 1 {
 						fmt.Printf("\n\033[33mwarning:\033[0m flow execute returned after completed side effects: %v\n", err)
 						return nil
 					}
 					return classifiedPlanDelegateTimeout(tasks, notify, err)
 				}
+				if isUnfinishedPlanError(err) && tasks > 0 && notify == 0 && recoverMissingNotify != nil {
+					fmt.Printf("\n\033[33mwarning:\033[0m flow stopped after partial plan side effects; recovering missing delegated notify: %v\n", err)
+					if recoverErr := recoverMissingNotify(context.Background()); recoverErr != nil {
+						return fmt.Errorf("flow execute after side effects tasks=%d notify=%d and recovery failed: %w", tasks, notify, recoverErr)
+					}
+					settled, waitErr := waitForNotifySideEffect(notifySvc, delegatedNotifySettleTimeout)
+					if waitErr != nil {
+						return waitErr
+					}
+					if settled {
+						return nil
+					}
+					return fmt.Errorf("flow execute after side effects tasks=%d notify=%d: delegation recovery completed without required notify side effect: notify=%d, want 1", tasks, notify, notifySvc.count())
+				}
 				return fmt.Errorf("flow execute after side effects tasks=%d notify=%d: %w", tasks, notify, err)
 			}
 			if notify != 1 {

internal/harness/plan-delegate/main_test.go

@@ -276,7 +276,7 @@ func TestPlanDelegateExecutionAcceptsDuplicateNotifyReplay(t *testing.T) {
 
 	done := make(chan error, 1)
 	done <- nil
-	if err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, new(TaskService), notifySvc); err != nil {
+	if err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, new(TaskService), notifySvc, nil); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("waitForPlanDelegateExecution returned %v, want duplicate replay accepted", err)
 	}
 	if got := notifySvc.count(); got != 1 {
@@ -287,12 +287,42 @@ func TestPlanDelegateExecutionAcceptsDuplicateNotifyReplay(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestPlanDelegateExecutionRecoversUnfinishedPlanAfterPartialTaskSideEffect(t *testing.T) {
+	taskSvc := new(TaskService)
+	var addRsp AddResponse
+	if err := taskSvc.Add(context.Background(), &AddRequest{Title: "Design"}, &addRsp); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("Add: %v", err)
+	}
+	notifySvc := new(NotifyService)
+	done := make(chan error, 1)
+	done <- errors.New("agent run abc has unfinished plan steps: Delegate readiness notification to comms agent")
+
+	recovered := false
+	err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, taskSvc, notifySvc, func(ctx context.Context) error {
+		recovered = true
+		var sendRsp SendResponse
+		return notifySvc.Send(ctx, &SendRequest{To: "owner@acme.com", Message: "The launch plan is ready"}, &sendRsp)
+	})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("waitForPlanDelegateExecution returned %v, want partial notify recovery", err)
+	}
+	if !recovered {
+		t.Fatal("missing notify recovery did not run")
+	}
+	if got := taskSvc.count(); got != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("task count = %d, want completed partial task to stay singular", got)
+	}
+	if got := notifySvc.count(); got != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("notify count = %d, want recovered notify side effect", got)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestPlanDelegateExecutionRejectsClaimedCompletionWithoutNotify(t *testing.T) {
 	notifySvc := new(NotifyService)
 	done := make(chan error, 1)
 	done <- nil
 
-	err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, new(TaskService), notifySvc)
+	err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, new(TaskService), notifySvc, nil)
 	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatal("waitForPlanDelegateExecution returned nil, want missing notify side-effect error")
 	}
@@ -301,6 +331,45 @@ func TestPlanDelegateExecutionRejectsClaimedCompletionWithoutNotify(t *testing.T
 	}
 }
 
+type failingAgent struct {
+	err error
+}
+
+func (a failingAgent) Name() string                                         { return "failing" }
+func (a failingAgent) Init(...agent.Option)                                 {}
+func (a failingAgent) Options() agent.Options                               { return agent.Options{} }
+func (a failingAgent) Ask(context.Context, string) (*agent.Response, error) { return nil, a.err }
+func (a failingAgent) Stream(context.Context, string) (ai.Stream, error)    { return nil, a.err }
+func (a failingAgent) Run() error                                           { return nil }
+func (a failingAgent) Stop() error                                          { return nil }
+func (a failingAgent) String() string                                       { return "failing" }
+
+func TestPlanDelegateConductorAllowsNotifyRecoveryAfterUnfinishedDelegation(t *testing.T) {
+	taskSvc := new(TaskService)
+	for _, title := range []string{"Design", "Build", "Ship"} {
+		var rsp AddResponse
+		if err := taskSvc.Add(context.Background(), &AddRequest{Title: title}, &rsp); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Add(%q): %v", title, err)
+		}
+	}
+	notifySvc := new(NotifyService)
+	step := planDelegateConductorStep(failingAgent{err: errors.New("agent run abc has unfinished plan steps: Delegate readiness notification to comms agent")}, taskSvc, notifySvc)
+	if _, err := step(context.Background(), flow.State{}); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("planDelegateConductorStep returned %v, want require-notify recovery to run", err)
+	}
+}
+
+func TestPlanDelegateConductorKeepsUnfinishedTaskFailureActionable(t *testing.T) {
+	step := planDelegateConductorStep(failingAgent{err: errors.New("agent run abc has unfinished plan steps: Create Build task")}, new(TaskService), new(NotifyService))
+	err := func() error { _, err := step(context.Background(), flow.State{}); return err }()
+	if err == nil {
+		t.Fatal("planDelegateConductorStep returned nil, want unfinished task error")
+	}
+	if got := err.Error(); !strings.Contains(got, "Create Build task") {
+		t.Fatalf("error = %q, want original unfinished task detail", got)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestPlanDelegateExecutionRecoversMissingNotifyOnce(t *testing.T) {
 	taskSvc := new(TaskService)
 	for _, title := range []string{"Design", "Build", "Ship"} {
@@ -367,6 +436,37 @@ func TestPlanDelegateExecutionWaitsForInFlightNotifyAfterFlowCompletion(t *testi
 	}
 }
 
+func TestPlanDelegateRecoveryWaitsForRecoveredNotifySideEffect(t *testing.T) {
+	taskSvc := new(TaskService)
+	for _, title := range []string{"Design", "Build", "Ship"} {
+		var rsp AddResponse
+		if err := taskSvc.Add(context.Background(), &AddRequest{Title: title}, &rsp); err != nil {
+			t.Fatalf("Add(%q): %v", title, err)
+		}
+	}
+	notifySvc := new(NotifyService)
+
+	recovered := false
+	_, err := requireDelegatedNotifyStep(taskSvc, notifySvc, func(ctx context.Context) error {
+		recovered = true
+		go func() {
+			time.Sleep(100 * time.Millisecond)
+			var rsp SendResponse
+			_ = notifySvc.Send(ctx, &SendRequest{To: "owner@acme.com", Message: "The launch plan is ready"}, &rsp)
+		}()
+		return nil
+	})(context.Background(), flow.State{})
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("requireDelegatedNotifyStep returned %v, want delayed recovery success", err)
+	}
+	if !recovered {
+		t.Fatal("missing notify recovery did not run")
+	}
+	if got := notifySvc.count(); got != 1 {
+		t.Fatalf("notify count = %d, want recovered notify side effect", got)
+	}
+}
+
 func TestPlanDelegateExecutionAcceptsClientTimeoutAfterSideEffects(t *testing.T) {
 	taskSvc := new(TaskService)
 	for _, title := range []string{"Design", "Build", "Ship"} {
@@ -384,7 +484,7 @@ func TestPlanDelegateExecutionAcceptsClientTimeoutAfterSideEffects(t *testing.T)
 	done := make(chan error, 1)
 	done <- errors.New(`{"id":"go.micro.client","code":408,"detail":"<nil>","status":"Request Timeout"}`)
 
-	if err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, taskSvc, notifySvc); err != nil {
+	if err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, taskSvc, notifySvc, nil); err != nil {
 		t.Fatalf("waitForPlanDelegateExecution returned %v, want completed side effects to satisfy client timeout", err)
 	}
 }
@@ -393,7 +493,7 @@ func TestPlanDelegateExecutionClassifiesClientTimeoutBeforeSideEffects(t *testin
 	done := make(chan error, 1)
 	done <- errors.New(`{"id":"go.micro.client","code":408,"detail":"<nil>","status":"Request Timeout"}`)
 
-	err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, new(TaskService), new(NotifyService))
+	err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, new(TaskService), new(NotifyService), nil)
 	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatal("waitForPlanDelegateExecution returned nil, want timeout before side effects to fail")
 	}
@@ -420,7 +520,7 @@ func TestPlanDelegateExecutionClassifiesPartialClientTimeout(t *testing.T) {
 	done := make(chan error, 1)
 	done <- errors.New(`{"id":"go.micro.client","code":408,"detail":"<nil>","status":"Request Timeout"}`)
 
-	err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, taskSvc, new(NotifyService))
+	err := waitForPlanDelegateExecution(done, taskSvc, new(NotifyService), nil)
 	if err == nil {
 		t.Fatal("waitForPlanDelegateExecution returned nil, want timeout before notify to fail")
 	}

internal/harness/provider-conformance/main.go

@@ -421,7 +421,7 @@ func runAgentConformance(provider string, timeout time.Duration) error {
 	if provider == "mock" {
 		testProvider = "fake"
 	}
-	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "go", "test", "./agent", "-run", "TestAgentProviderConformanceMatrix", "-count=1", "-v")
+	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, "go", "test", "./agent", "-run", "TestAgentProvider(ConformanceMatrix|StreamConformanceMatrix)", "-count=1", "-v")
 	cmd.Dir = repoRoot()
 	cmd.Stdout = os.Stdout
 	cmd.Stderr = os.Stderr

internal/harness/universe/main.go

@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ func runUniverse(provider string) int {
 	// Services.
 	inv, pay, ord, ntf := new(Inventory), new(Payment), new(Orders), new(Notify)
 	for name, h := range map[string]any{"inventory": inv, "payment": pay, "orders": ord, "notify": ntf} {
-		svc := service.New(service.Name(name), service.Address("127.0.0.1:0"), service.Registry(reg), service.Client(cl))
+		svc := service.New(service.Name(name), service.Address("127.0.0.1:0"), service.Registry(reg), service.Broker(br), service.Client(cl))
 		svc.Handle(h)
 		go svc.Run()
 	}
@@ -429,6 +429,7 @@ func runUniverse(provider string) int {
 		agent.Address("127.0.0.1:0"),
 		agent.Provider(provider), agent.APIKey(apiKey),
 		agent.MaxSteps(5),
+		agent.WithBroker(br),
 		agent.WrapTool(func(next ai.ToolHandler) ai.ToolHandler {
 			return func(ctx context.Context, call ai.ToolCall) ai.ToolResult {
 				atomic.AddInt64(&wrapped, 1)

internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci/README.md

@@ -4,19 +4,21 @@ This directory owns the no-secret reference scenario for the Go Micro
 services → agents → workflows lifecycle. It is intentionally small and
 scripted so CI can run it on every push without external services or model keys.
 
-`run.sh` verifies five boundaries together:
+`run.sh` verifies the complete first-agent 0→hero contract together:
 
-1. **First agent** — `micro new`, `micro agent preflight`, `micro run`,
-   `micro chat`, and `micro inspect agent <name>` remain available as the
-   documented first-agent walkthrough path.
-2. **Run** — `micro run` remains available as the local development entry point.
-3. **Chat** — `micro chat` remains available as the interactive agent entry point.
-4. **Inspect/debugging** — `micro inspect agent <name>`, `micro agent history <name>`,
+1. **Scaffold** — the maintained `micro new` 0→1 contract still creates
+   runnable services from a clean workspace.
+2. **First agent** — `micro agent demo`, `micro examples`, `micro agent preflight`,
+   `micro run`, `micro chat`, and `micro inspect agent <name>` remain available
+   as the documented first-agent walkthrough path.
+3. **Run** — `micro run` remains available as the local development entry point.
+4. **Chat** — `micro chat` remains available as the interactive agent entry point.
+5. **Inspect/debugging** — `micro inspect agent <name>`, `micro agent history <name>`,
    and `micro inspect flow <name>` remain available as the local run-history
    inspection step. The no-secret debugging smoke seeds durable agent run history
    and memory, then runs the documented inspect/history commands without provider
    credentials; `micro flow runs` preserves durable workflow history inspection.
-5. **Deploy** — `micro deploy --dry-run <target>` remains available as the
+6. **Deploy** — `micro deploy --dry-run <target>` remains available as the
    deployment-boundary checkpoint. The dry run resolves configured deploy targets
    and services and prints the remote build/copy/systemd/health plan without
    building binaries, opening SSH connections, running `rsync`, or touching
@@ -30,16 +32,19 @@ and A2A with only the LLM mocked.
 
 The default GitHub harness workflow runs this script on every push and pull
 request after the install smoke check and 0→1 scaffold contract. Developers can
-verify the installer seam alone with `make install-smoke`, or run the same
-no-secret contract locally with:
+verify the first-agent on-ramp links alone with `make docs-wayfinding`, verify
+the installed first-run CLI seam alone with `make install-smoke`, run just the documented
+agent debugging quickcheck with
+`go test ./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci -run TestNoSecretFirstAgentDebuggingSmoke -count=1`,
+or run the same no-secret contract locally with:
 
 ```sh
 make harness
 ```
 
-That target intentionally exercises the install script smoke path, both 0→1
-scaffold variants, the 0→hero scenario, the event-driven agent-flow harness, and
-mock provider conformance, so
+That target intentionally exercises the first-agent docs wayfinding guard, the
+install script smoke path, both 0→1 scaffold variants, the 0→hero scenario, the
+event-driven agent-flow harness, and mock provider conformance, so
 the public scaffold → run/chat → inspect → deploy lifecycle stays executable
 outside CI as well. Live provider checks remain separate and gated by configured
 API keys (`make provider-conformance` or the scheduled/manual CI job).

internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci/docs_test.go

@@ -38,6 +38,32 @@ func TestZeroToHeroReferenceDocs(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	runScript := readFile(t, filepath.Join(root, "internal", "harness", "zero-to-hero-ci", "run.sh"))
+	for _, want := range []string{
+		"go test ./cmd/micro/cli/new -run TestZeroToOne -count=1",
+		"go test ./cmd/micro -run 'TestFirstAgentWalkthroughCLIBoundaries|TestExamplesWayfindingIndexStaysLinked|TestExamplesCommandPointsAtWayfindingIndex|TestZeroToHeroCLIBoundaries|TestZeroToHeroCommandPrintsMaintainedNoSecretPath' -count=1",
+		"go test ./cmd/micro/cli/deploy -run TestDeployDryRun -count=1",
+		"go test ./examples/first-agent -run TestRunFirstAgent -count=1",
+		"go test ./examples/support -run 'TestRunSupportMockSmoke|TestZeroToHeroReadmeDocumentsLifecycle' -count=1",
+	} {
+		if !strings.Contains(runScript, want) {
+			t.Fatalf("0→hero CI run script missing lifecycle command %q", want)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, want := range []string{
+		"scaffold:",
+		"run/chat/inspect:",
+		"deploy dry-run:",
+		"chat/inspect:",
+		"first-agent app:",
+		"0→hero app:",
+		"flow history:",
+	} {
+		if !strings.Contains(runScript, want) {
+			t.Fatalf("0→hero CI run script missing debuggable boundary label %q", want)
+		}
+	}
+
 	readme := readFile(t, filepath.Join(root, "README.md"))
 	if !strings.Contains(readme, "internal/website/docs/guides/zero-to-hero.md") {
 		t.Fatal("README does not point to the canonical 0→hero guide")
@@ -49,6 +75,62 @@ func TestZeroToHeroReferenceDocs(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestZeroToHeroDeployDryRunCommandSmoke(t *testing.T) {
+	root := filepath.Clean(filepath.Join("..", "..", ".."))
+	absRoot, err := filepath.Abs(root)
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("resolve repository root: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	bin := filepath.Join(t.TempDir(), "micro")
+	build := exec.Command("go", "build", "-o", bin, "./cmd/micro")
+	build.Dir = absRoot
+	if out, err := build.CombinedOutput(); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("build micro CLI for deploy dry-run smoke: %v\n%s", err, out)
+	}
+
+	workspace := t.TempDir()
+	writeFile(t, filepath.Join(workspace, "micro.mu"), `service api
+    path ./api
+
+deploy prod
+    ssh deploy@prod.example.com
+    path /srv/micro
+`)
+	if err := os.Mkdir(filepath.Join(workspace, "api"), 0o755); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("create service dir: %v", err)
+	}
+
+	cmd := exec.Command(bin, "deploy", "--dry-run", "prod")
+	cmd.Dir = workspace
+	cmd.Env = append(os.Environ(), "MICRO_CONFIG_FILE="+filepath.Join(workspace, "micro.mu"))
+	out, err := cmd.CombinedOutput()
+	if err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("documented deploy dry-run command failed: %v\n%s", err, out)
+	}
+
+	got := string(out)
+	for _, want := range []string{
+		"micro deploy --dry-run",
+		"Target",
+		"deploy@prod.example.com",
+		"Remote path",
+		"/srv/micro",
+		"Services",
+		"api",
+		"No SSH, rsync, systemd, or remote deployment was performed.",
+	} {
+		if !strings.Contains(got, want) {
+			t.Fatalf("deploy dry-run output missing %q:\n%s", want, got)
+		}
+	}
+
+	guide := readFile(t, filepath.Join(absRoot, "internal", "website", "docs", "guides", "zero-to-hero.md"))
+	if !strings.Contains(guide, "micro deploy --dry-run prod") {
+		t.Fatal("0→hero guide must document the same deploy dry-run command covered by CI")
+	}
+}
+
 func TestGuidesNavigationLeadsWithDoing(t *testing.T) {
 	root := filepath.Clean(filepath.Join("..", "..", ".."))
 	nav := readFile(t, filepath.Join(root, "internal", "website", "_data", "navigation.yml"))
@@ -203,10 +285,12 @@ func TestFirstAgentWayfindingDocs(t *testing.T) {
 			links: []string{
 				"internal/website/docs/guides/install-troubleshooting.md",
 				"micro agent demo",
+				"micro examples",
 				"micro zero-to-hero",
 				"internal/website/docs/guides/no-secret-first-agent.md",
 				"internal/website/docs/guides/your-first-agent.md",
 				"internal/website/docs/guides/debugging-agents.md",
+				"micro inspect agent <name>",
 				"internal/website/docs/guides/zero-to-hero.md",
 			},
 		},
@@ -228,6 +312,26 @@ func TestFirstAgentWayfindingDocs(t *testing.T) {
 				"./support/",
 			},
 		},
+		{
+			name:    "repository examples wayfinding index",
+			file:    filepath.Join(root, "examples", "INDEX.md"),
+			heading: "## Recommended adoption path",
+			links: []string{
+				"./hello-world/",
+				"./first-agent/",
+				"./support/",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "micro README first-agent on-ramp",
+			file:    filepath.Join(root, "cmd", "micro", "README.md"),
+			heading: "## First agent on-ramp",
+			links: []string{
+				"micro agent demo",
+				"micro examples",
+				"micro zero-to-hero",
+			},
+		},
 		{
 			name:    "website examples index",
 			file:    filepath.Join(root, "internal", "website", "docs", "examples", "index.md"),
@@ -247,10 +351,49 @@ func TestFirstAgentWayfindingDocs(t *testing.T) {
 			links: []string{
 				"guides/install-troubleshooting.html",
 				"micro agent demo",
+				"micro examples",
 				"micro zero-to-hero",
+				"https://github.com/micro/go-micro/blob/master/examples/INDEX.md",
+				"https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/support",
+				"https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/first-agent",
 				"guides/no-secret-first-agent.html",
 				"guides/your-first-agent.html",
 				"guides/debugging-agents.html",
+				"micro inspect agent <name>",
+				"guides/zero-to-hero.html",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "website quickstart next steps",
+			file:    filepath.Join(root, "internal", "website", "docs", "quickstart.md"),
+			heading: "## Next Steps",
+			links: []string{
+				"guides/install-troubleshooting.html",
+				"micro agent demo",
+				"micro examples",
+				"micro zero-to-hero",
+				"https://github.com/micro/go-micro/blob/master/examples/INDEX.md",
+				"https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/support",
+				"https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/first-agent",
+				"guides/no-secret-first-agent.html",
+				"guides/your-first-agent.html",
+				"guides/debugging-agents.html",
+				"micro inspect agent <name>",
+				"guides/zero-to-hero.html",
+			},
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "website docs index learn more",
+			file:    filepath.Join(root, "internal", "website", "docs", "index.md"),
+			heading: "## Learn More",
+			links: []string{
+				"getting-started.html",
+				"https://github.com/micro/go-micro/blob/master/examples/INDEX.md",
+				"https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/support",
+				"guides/no-secret-first-agent.html",
+				"guides/your-first-agent.html",
+				"guides/debugging-agents.html",
+				"micro inspect agent <name>",
 				"guides/zero-to-hero.html",
 			},
 		},
@@ -297,6 +440,11 @@ func TestFirstAgentWayfindingLinkTargetsResolve(t *testing.T) {
 			file:    filepath.Join(root, "examples", "README.md"),
 			heading: "## Recommended first-agent path",
 		},
+		{
+			name:    "repository examples wayfinding index",
+			file:    filepath.Join(root, "examples", "INDEX.md"),
+			heading: "## Recommended adoption path",
+		},
 		{
 			name:    "website examples index",
 			file:    filepath.Join(root, "internal", "website", "docs", "examples", "index.md"),
@@ -307,6 +455,16 @@ func TestFirstAgentWayfindingLinkTargetsResolve(t *testing.T) {
 			file:    filepath.Join(root, "internal", "website", "docs", "getting-started.md"),
 			heading: "### First-agent on-ramp",
 		},
+		{
+			name:    "website quickstart next steps",
+			file:    filepath.Join(root, "internal", "website", "docs", "quickstart.md"),
+			heading: "## Next Steps",
+		},
+		{
+			name:    "website docs index learn more",
+			file:    filepath.Join(root, "internal", "website", "docs", "index.md"),
+			heading: "## Learn More",
+		},
 	}
 
 	for _, check := range checks {
@@ -496,6 +654,7 @@ func TestGettingStartedDocsLeadWithNoSecretFirstRun(t *testing.T) {
 				"micro zero-to-hero",
 				"guides/no-secret-first-agent.html",
 				"guides/debugging-agents.html",
+				"micro inspect agent <name>",
 				"guides/zero-to-hero.html",
 			},
 		},
@@ -563,6 +722,24 @@ func TestNoSecretFirstAgentTranscript(t *testing.T) {
 		}
 	}
 
+	debuggingGuide := readFile(t, filepath.Join(root, "internal", "website", "docs", "guides", "debugging-agents.md"))
+	for _, want := range []string{
+		"Provider-free quickcheck",
+		"go test ./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci -run TestNoSecretFirstAgentDebuggingSmoke -count=1",
+		"micro inspect agent assistant --limit 1",
+		"micro inspect agent --status done",
+		"micro agent history assistant",
+	} {
+		if !strings.Contains(debuggingGuide, want) {
+			t.Fatalf("debugging guide missing provider-free quickcheck marker %q", want)
+		}
+	}
+
+	harnessReadme := readFile(t, filepath.Join(root, "internal", "harness", "zero-to-hero-ci", "README.md"))
+	if !strings.Contains(harnessReadme, "go test ./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci -run TestNoSecretFirstAgentDebuggingSmoke -count=1") {
+		t.Fatal("0→hero harness README does not expose the agent debugging quickcheck command")
+	}
+
 	readme := readFile(t, filepath.Join(root, "README.md"))
 	if !strings.Contains(readme, "internal/website/docs/guides/no-secret-first-agent.md") {
 		t.Fatal("README does not point to the no-secret first-agent transcript")

internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci/run.sh

@@ -4,16 +4,36 @@ set -euo pipefail
 ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/../../.." && pwd)"
 cd "$ROOT"
 
+run_step() {
+  local name=$1
+  shift
+
+  printf '\n==> %s\n' "$name"
+  printf '+ %q' "$@"
+  printf '\n'
+  "$@"
+}
+
 # Keep the developer inner-loop boundaries executable and discoverable in CI
-# without secrets or long-running daemons.
-go test ./cmd/micro -run 'TestFirstAgentWalkthroughCLIBoundaries|TestZeroToHeroCLIBoundaries' -count=1
-go test ./cmd/micro/cli/deploy -run TestDeployDryRun -count=1
-go test ./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci -run 'TestNoSecretFirstAgentTranscript|TestNoSecretFirstAgentDebuggingSmoke|TestZeroToHeroReferenceDocs|TestYourFirstAgentTutorialSmoke' -count=1
+# without secrets or long-running daemons. Step names mirror the documented
+# install → scaffold → run/chat → inspect → deploy-dry-run seams so failures
+# identify the broken part of the getting-started contract.
+run_step "scaffold: 0→1 service contract" \
+  go test ./cmd/micro/cli/new -run TestZeroToOne -count=1
+run_step "run/chat/inspect: first-agent CLI boundaries" \
+  go test ./cmd/micro -run 'TestFirstAgentWalkthroughCLIBoundaries|TestExamplesWayfindingIndexStaysLinked|TestExamplesCommandPointsAtWayfindingIndex|TestZeroToHeroCLIBoundaries|TestZeroToHeroCommandPrintsMaintainedNoSecretPath' -count=1
+run_step "deploy dry-run: configured target plan" \
+  go test ./cmd/micro/cli/deploy -run TestDeployDryRun -count=1
+run_step "chat/inspect: no-secret first-agent transcript and docs" \
+  go test ./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci -run 'TestNoSecretFirstAgentTranscript|TestNoSecretFirstAgentDebuggingSmoke|TestZeroToHeroReferenceDocs|TestZeroToHeroDeployDryRunCommandSmoke|TestYourFirstAgentTutorialSmoke' -count=1
 
 # Deterministic no-secret reference scenarios. These use the real Go Micro
 # runtime and mock only the LLM provider. The support example is the maintained
 # runnable 0→hero app; keep it in this CI path so its documented run/chat/inspect
 # journey cannot drift from the framework.
-go test ./examples/first-agent -run TestRunFirstAgent -count=1
-go test ./examples/support -run 'TestRunSupportMockSmoke|TestZeroToHeroReadmeDocumentsLifecycle' -count=1
-go test ./internal/harness/universe ./internal/harness/plan-delegate -run 'Test.*Harness|TestPlanDelegateEndToEnd|TestPlanDelegateFlowHandoff' -count=1
+run_step "first-agent app: runnable provider-free example" \
+  go test ./examples/first-agent -run TestRunFirstAgent -count=1
+run_step "0→hero app: support lifecycle smoke" \
+  go test ./examples/support -run 'TestRunSupportMockSmoke|TestZeroToHeroReadmeDocumentsLifecycle' -count=1
+run_step "flow history: deterministic services → agents → workflows harnesses" \
+  go test ./internal/harness/universe ./internal/harness/plan-delegate -run 'Test.*Harness|TestPlanDelegateEndToEnd|TestPlanDelegateFlowHandoff' -count=1

internal/website/blog/34.md

@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+---
+layout: blog
+title: "What's New in Go Micro: v6.3.15"
+permalink: /blog/34
+description: "Go Micro v6.3.15 tightens the first-agent on-ramp, adds Anthropic streaming, and hardens plan/delegate plus text tool-call recovery."
+---
+
+# What's New in Go Micro: v6.3.15
+
+*July 5, 2026 • By the Go Micro Team*
+
+Go Micro v6.3.15 is a small but useful harness release: less friction for the first agent, better streaming provider coverage, and more reliable execution when models and delegates do not behave perfectly.
+
+## Anthropic now streams
+
+The Anthropic provider now supports Messages SSE streaming and is registered as a streaming-capable provider. That means Go Micro agents can use Anthropic in the same streaming path as the other streaming-capable providers, with request/response parser coverage and provider capability docs kept in sync.
+
+## The first-agent path is easier to start
+
+The on-ramp now has a smallest runnable first-agent example: a mock-model, no-secret agent you can run before adding provider keys. The CLI and docs also point new users toward the maintained first-agent path after scaffold/run milestones, so the next step after a service is clearer: run the example, build the agent, debug it, then walk the 0→hero services → agents → workflows path.
+
+## Plan/delegate is more deterministic
+
+Plan/delegate runs got another reliability pass. Completed plan steps are preserved, ordering is guarded, notify-before-completion is required in the flow path, and checkpoint continuation is more stable. These are the kinds of harness fixes that matter when an agent does real work over multiple tool calls instead of just answering a prompt.
+
+## Tool-call recovery keeps improving
+
+Provider text tool-call fallback paths now recover more of the awkward cases: tagged calls, `Create`-suffixed calls, mixed text/tool-call output, and AtlasCloud follow-up calls. The goal is pragmatic: when a weaker or non-standard provider emits something close to a tool call, the harness should still make progress when it can do so safely.
+
+## A2A payment groundwork
+
+The A2A gateway now has the shared payment-mandate foundation needed for AP2-style agent payment flows. It is groundwork, not a full product story yet, but it keeps Go Micro's agent interop and paid-tool direction moving together.
+
+## Read the changelog
+
+The full release notes are in the [CHANGELOG](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md).
+
+---
+
+*Go Micro is an open source agent harness and service framework for Go. [Star us on GitHub](https://github.com/micro/go-micro).*
+
+<div class="post-nav">
+  <div><a href="/blog/33">&larr; The Loop, Shipped: Introducing micro loop</a></div>
+  <div><a href="/blog/">All Posts</a></div>
+</div>

internal/website/blog/index.html

@@ -11,6 +11,13 @@ permalink: /blog/
 
 <div class="posts">
 
+  <article style="margin-bottom: 2rem; padding-bottom: 1.5rem; border-bottom: 1px solid #e5e5e5;">
+    <h2 style="margin: 0 0 0.5rem;"><a href="/blog/34">What's New in Go Micro: v6.3.15</a></h2>
+    <p class="meta" style="color: #666; font-size: 0.85rem;">July 5, 2026</p>
+    <p>Go Micro v6.3.15 tightens the first-agent on-ramp, adds Anthropic streaming, hardens plan/delegate execution, and improves provider text tool-call recovery.</p>
+    <a href="/blog/34">Read more &rarr;</a>
+  </article>
+
   <article style="margin-bottom: 2rem; padding-bottom: 1.5rem; border-bottom: 1px solid #e5e5e5;">
     <h2 style="margin: 0 0 0.5rem;"><a href="/blog/33">The Loop, Shipped: Introducing micro loop</a></h2>
     <p class="meta" style="color: #666; font-size: 0.85rem;">July 2, 2026</p>

internal/website/docs/getting-started.md

@@ -59,11 +59,12 @@ After this quick start, follow the agent path in order:
 2. `micro agent demo` — print the provider-free first-agent demo command and next docs steps from the installed CLI.
 3. `micro examples` — print the maintained provider-free runnable examples in copy/paste order.
 4. `micro zero-to-hero` — print the maintained one-command no-secret lifecycle harness and runnable examples.
-5. [Smallest first-agent example](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/first-agent) — run one service-backed agent with a mock model and no provider key.
-6. [No-secret first-agent transcript](guides/no-secret-first-agent.html) — run a useful support agent with a mock model before setting up a provider key.
-7. [Your First Agent](guides/your-first-agent.html) — build a service-backed agent and talk to it with `micro chat`.
-8. [Debugging your agent](guides/debugging-agents.html) — inspect service registration, tool calls, run history, memory, provider failures, and flow handoffs when the agent surprises you.
-9. [0→hero reference path](guides/zero-to-hero.html) — prove the full scaffold → run → chat → inspect → deploy dry-run lifecycle with commands exercised by `make harness`.
+5. [Examples wayfinding index](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/blob/master/examples/INDEX.md) — choose the smallest no-secret first-agent, maintained [0→hero support reference](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/support), and next interop examples from one map.
+6. [Smallest first-agent example](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/first-agent) — run one service-backed agent with a mock model and no provider key.
+7. [No-secret first-agent transcript](guides/no-secret-first-agent.html) — run a useful support agent with a mock model before setting up a provider key.
+8. [Your First Agent](guides/your-first-agent.html) — build a service-backed agent and talk to it with `micro chat`.
+9. [Debugging your agent](guides/debugging-agents.html) — use `micro inspect agent <name>` to inspect service registration, tool calls, run history, memory, provider failures, and flow handoffs when the agent surprises you.
+10. [0→hero reference path](guides/zero-to-hero.html) — prove the full scaffold → run → chat → inspect → deploy dry-run lifecycle with commands exercised by `make harness`.
 
 ## Write a Service
 

internal/website/docs/guides/debugging-agents.md

@@ -116,6 +116,18 @@ state (`agent/<name>/runs/...`). The persisted timeline is recorded even without
 an OpenTelemetry exporter, so `micro inspect agent` remains useful in local
 no-secret development.
 
+Provider-free quickcheck: if you want to verify the documented inspect path
+before involving a live model, run the same smoke check CI uses:
+
+```sh
+go test ./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci -run TestNoSecretFirstAgentDebuggingSmoke -count=1
+```
+
+That test seeds a local `assistant` run history and memory transcript, then runs
+`micro inspect agent assistant --limit 1`, `micro inspect agent --status done
+--json assistant`, and `micro agent history assistant` with provider credentials
+cleared.
+
 ## 4. See tool calls as they happen
 
 When you are embedding an agent in Go and need live tool visibility, use the

internal/website/docs/guides/zero-to-hero.md

@@ -23,7 +23,7 @@ cloud credentials?"
 | Run | `micro run` remains the local development entry point. | `go test ./cmd/micro -run TestZeroToHeroCLIBoundaries -count=1` |
 | Chat | `micro chat` remains the interactive agent entry point. | `go test ./cmd/micro -run TestZeroToHeroCLIBoundaries -count=1` |
 | Inspect | `micro inspect agent <name>`, `micro agent history <name>`, `micro inspect flow <flow>`, and `micro flow runs <flow>` remain discoverable for run history; the no-secret debugging smoke seeds durable agent history and runs the documented inspect/history commands without provider keys. | `go test ./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci -run TestNoSecretFirstAgentDebuggingSmoke -count=1` |
-| Deploy | `micro deploy --dry-run` resolves deploy targets without touching remote infrastructure. | `go test ./cmd/micro/cli/deploy -run TestDeployDryRun -count=1` |
+| Deploy | `micro deploy --dry-run prod` resolves the documented deploy target without touching remote infrastructure. | `go test ./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci -run TestZeroToHeroDeployDryRunCommandSmoke -count=1` |
 | Smallest first agent | `examples/first-agent` runs one service-backed agent with a deterministic mock model and no provider key. | `go test ./examples/first-agent -run TestRunFirstAgent -count=1` |
 | Runtime reference app | `examples/support` runs typed services, an agent using those services as tools, an event-driven flow handoff, and an approval gate with only the model mocked. | `go test ./examples/support -run 'TestRunSupportMockSmoke|TestZeroToHeroReadmeDocumentsLifecycle' -count=1` |
 | Runtime harnesses | Real services, agents, durable flows, store-backed history, delegation, and A2A run with only the model mocked. | `./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci/run.sh` and `make provider-conformance-mock` |
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@ go test ./cmd/micro -run TestFirstAgentWalkthroughCLIBoundaries -count=1
 # CLI inner-loop commands: run, chat, inspect, flow runs, deploy --dry-run.
 go test ./cmd/micro -run TestZeroToHeroCLIBoundaries -count=1
 go test ./cmd/micro/cli/deploy -run TestDeployDryRun -count=1
+go test ./internal/harness/zero-to-hero-ci -run TestZeroToHeroDeployDryRunCommandSmoke -count=1
 
 # Smallest no-secret service-backed first agent.
 go test ./examples/first-agent -run TestRunFirstAgent -count=1

internal/website/docs/index.md

@@ -16,16 +16,18 @@ It's built on a pluggable architecture of Go interfaces: service discovery, clie
 
 ## Learn More
 
-Start with [Getting Started](getting-started.html) for install and the first local service. Then follow the first-agent on-ramp: `micro agent demo` for the installed no-secret CLI affordance, `micro examples` for copy/pasteable runnable examples, [No-secret first-agent transcript](guides/no-secret-first-agent.html) to run a mock-model support agent, [Your First Agent](guides/your-first-agent.html) to build and chat with a service-backed agent, [Debugging your agent](guides/debugging-agents.html) to inspect runs and memory, and the [0→hero reference path](guides/zero-to-hero.html) to walk the full scaffold → run → chat → inspect → deploy dry-run lifecycle covered by CI.
+Start with [Getting Started](getting-started.html) for install and the first local service. Then follow the first-agent on-ramp in the same order as the README: `micro agent demo` for the installed no-secret CLI affordance, `micro examples` for the provider-free examples map, `micro zero-to-hero` for the maintained lifecycle harness, [examples wayfinding index](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/blob/master/examples/INDEX.md) for the runnable examples map, [the 0→hero support reference](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/support) for the full no-secret lifecycle example, [No-secret first-agent transcript](guides/no-secret-first-agent.html) to run a mock-model support agent, [Your First Agent](guides/your-first-agent.html) to build and chat with a service-backed agent, [Debugging your agent](guides/debugging-agents.html) to use `micro inspect agent <name>` for runs and memory, and the [0→hero reference path](guides/zero-to-hero.html) to walk the full scaffold → run → chat → inspect → deploy dry-run lifecycle covered by CI.
 
 Otherwise continue to read the docs for more information about the framework.
 
 ## Contents
 
 - [Getting Started](getting-started.html)
-- [0→hero Reference](guides/zero-to-hero.html) - Walk scaffold → run → chat → inspect → deploy dry-run with CI-backed commands
+- [0→hero Reference](guides/zero-to-hero.html) - Walk scaffold → run → chat → `micro inspect agent <name>` → deploy dry-run with CI-backed commands
 - `micro agent demo` - Show the provider-free first-agent demo command and next docs steps
 - `micro examples` - Show provider-free first-agent examples in copy/paste order
+- [Examples wayfinding index](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/blob/master/examples/INDEX.md) - Choose the first-agent, support, and interop examples from one map
+- [0→hero support reference](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/support) - Run the maintained no-secret services → agents → workflows example
 - [No-secret first-agent transcript](guides/no-secret-first-agent.html) - Run the first useful agent path without a provider key
 - [Your First Agent](guides/your-first-agent.html) - Build a service-backed agent end to end
 - [MCP & AI Agents](mcp.html) - Turn services into AI-callable tools with the Model Context Protocol
@@ -50,7 +52,7 @@ Otherwise continue to read the docs for more information about the framework.
 
 ## AI & Agents
 
-- [0→hero Reference](guides/zero-to-hero.html) - Walk scaffold → run → chat → inspect → deploy dry-run with CI-backed commands
+- [0→hero Reference](guides/zero-to-hero.html) - Walk scaffold → run → chat → `micro inspect agent <name>` → deploy dry-run with CI-backed commands
 - [No-secret first-agent transcript](guides/no-secret-first-agent.html) - Run the first useful agent path without a provider key
 - [Your First Agent](guides/your-first-agent.html) - Build a service-backed agent end to end
 - [Building AI-Native Services](guides/ai-native-services.html) - End-to-end tutorial for MCP-enabled services

internal/website/docs/quickstart.md

@@ -45,11 +45,12 @@ You now have the service half of the services → agents → workflows lifecycle
 2. `micro agent demo` - print the provider-free first-agent demo command and the next docs steps from the installed CLI.
 3. `micro examples` - print the maintained provider-free runnable examples in copy/paste order.
 4. `micro zero-to-hero` - print the maintained one-command no-secret lifecycle harness and runnable examples.
-5. **[Smallest first-agent example](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/first-agent)** - run a mock-model, no-secret agent before adding provider keys.
-6. **[No-secret first-agent transcript](guides/no-secret-first-agent.html)** - run a useful support agent with a mock model before setting up a provider key.
-7. **[Your First Agent](guides/your-first-agent.html)** - turn this service into an agent-callable tool, chat with it, and learn the `micro agent preflight` → `micro run` → `micro chat` loop.
-8. **[Debugging your agent](guides/debugging-agents.html)** - inspect service registration, tool calls, run history, memory, provider failures, and flow handoffs when the agent does something surprising.
-9. **[0→hero Reference](guides/zero-to-hero.html)** - walk the maintained scaffold → run → chat → inspect → deploy dry-run path that proves services, agents, and workflows together.
+5. **[Examples wayfinding index](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/blob/master/examples/INDEX.md)** - choose the smallest no-secret first-agent, maintained **[0→hero support reference](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/support)**, and next interop examples from one map.
+6. **[Smallest first-agent example](https://github.com/micro/go-micro/tree/master/examples/first-agent)** - run a mock-model, no-secret agent before adding provider keys.
+7. **[No-secret first-agent transcript](guides/no-secret-first-agent.html)** - run a useful support agent with a mock model before setting up a provider key.
+8. **[Your First Agent](guides/your-first-agent.html)** - turn this service into an agent-callable tool, chat with it, and learn the `micro agent preflight` → `micro run` → `micro chat` loop.
+9. **[Debugging your agent](guides/debugging-agents.html)** - use `micro inspect agent <name>` to inspect service registration, tool calls, run history, memory, provider failures, and flow handoffs when the agent does something surprising.
+10. **[0→hero Reference](guides/zero-to-hero.html)** - walk the maintained scaffold → run → chat → inspect → deploy dry-run path that proves services, agents, and workflows together.
 
 After that first-agent path, branch out to:
 

internal/website/docs/roadmap.md

@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Go Micro is a framework for building **agents and services** in Go. An agent is
 The foundation is in place:
 
 - **Services** — register, discover, RPC, events; every endpoint is automatically an MCP tool.
-- **Agents** — a model with memory and tools that manages services, with `plan`, `delegate`, and guardrails (`MaxSteps`, `LoopLimit`, `ApproveTool`) built in, plus tool-execution middleware (`WrapTool`) and run metadata.
+- **Agents** — a model with memory and tools that manages services, with `plan`, `delegate`, guardrails (`MaxSteps`, `LoopLimit`, `ApproveTool`), tool-execution middleware (`WrapTool`), run metadata, checkpoint/resume, and OpenTelemetry run spans built in.
 - **Flows** — durable, event-driven workflows: ordered steps that checkpoint and resume after a crash.
 - **Interop** — the MCP gateway (services as tools) and the A2A gateway (agents as agents, both directions, including A2A streaming, push notifications, and multi-turn continuation), both generated from the registry; x402 for paid tools.
 - **Secure by default** — TLS verification on, state scoped per component.
@@ -34,10 +34,24 @@ The priority is that what exists works everywhere, under real conditions.
 - **Failure & resilience.** Provider timeouts, rate limits, and cancellation mid-run; deadline/`context` propagation through the agent loop; retry and backoff at the model call.
 - **The getting-started contract.** Define and CI-verify the 0→1 and 0→hero flows so they can't silently break.
 
+## Shipped agent depth
+
+- **Durable agent loop.** Opt-in `Checkpoint` support now lets agent `Ask` and
+  streaming runs persist, list pending work, and resume without replaying completed
+  tool calls. Human-input pauses resume through explicit input helpers.
+- **Agent observability.** `RunInfo` now feeds OpenTelemetry spans and events for
+  agent runs, model turns, tool calls, retries, delegation lineage, and resume
+  checkpoints so production runs are traceable.
+
 ## Next — agentic depth
 
 - **Streaming.** Broaden provider-backed `ai.Stream` coverage and keep chat plus A2A `message/stream` working end to end for real chat and long-task UX.
-- **Agent observability.** Wire the new `RunInfo` into OpenTelemetry spans so a run — steps, tool calls, delegation — is traceable. This is also what anyone running it in production will need.
+- **Resume operations polish.** Keep improving CLI/docs breadcrumbs for finding
+  pending agent runs and deciding whether to call resume, resume-input, or stream
+  resume in production.
+- **Observability hardening.** Keep span attributes and run inspection coherent
+  across agents, flows, and gateways as more providers and workflow paths are
+  exercised.
 
 ## Later
 

micro.go

@@ -215,11 +215,21 @@ func AgentWithCheckpoint(c Checkpoint) AgentOption { return agent.WithCheckpoint
 func AgentPending(ctx context.Context, a Agent) ([]FlowRun, error) { return agent.Pending(ctx, a) }
 
 // AgentResume resumes a checkpointed agent run by id. Completed runs return
-// the persisted response without calling the model or replaying tool calls.
+// the persisted response, including completed tool-call metadata, without
+// calling the model or replaying tool calls. Incomplete runs resume from the
+// saved prompt plus completed tool checkpoints; a provider call interrupted
+// mid-stream is retried rather than continued byte-for-byte.
 func AgentResume(ctx context.Context, a Agent, runID string) (*AgentResponse, error) {
 	return agent.Resume(ctx, a, runID)
 }
 
+// AgentResumePending resumes every incomplete checkpointed agent run, oldest
+// first. It returns the first run id that fails again so startup recovery loops
+// can leave the durable backlog visible instead of swallowing the failure.
+func AgentResumePending(ctx context.Context, a Agent) (string, error) {
+	return agent.ResumePending(ctx, a)
+}
+
 // AgentResumeInput resumes a checkpointed agent run waiting for human input.
 func AgentResumeInput(ctx context.Context, a Agent, runID, input string) (*AgentResponse, error) {
 	return agent.ResumeInput(ctx, a, runID, input)