LAD is the shipped software workflow family.
LAD, or Lean Agentic Development, is the software-engineering methodology that structures agent work into bounded roles, stage contracts, verification, repair, integration, and closure.
Millrace is the framework/runtime that turns LAD from a methodology into a governed loop agents can run, inspect, recover, and repeat.
Lean Agentic Development is the software loop.
LAD treats software work as a set of small, inspectable stages. A Builder writes code. A Checker verifies behavior. A Fixer repairs failures. An Integrator prepares the change to land. A Consultant can help when a stage is blocked. An Arbiter can judge closure when the workflow requires a final completion decision.
Those names are useful because software delivery has real role boundaries: implementation, verification, repair, integration, escalation, and closure should not collapse into one long, ungoverned prompt.
Millrace turns the workflow into governed runtime behavior.
A workflow description is not enough by itself. Millrace compiles the workflow into runtime authority: queue records, stage contracts, valid terminal markers, deterministic transitions, recovery paths, artifacts, and completion behavior.
Compiled authority
The runtime knows which LAD stage is legal next and what result surface can mutate state.
Bounded execution
Agents work inside a stage contract. The runtime owns the transition after the stage returns.
Inspectable recovery
Retries, blocks, handoffs, and closure evidence remain visible to the operator instead of living only inside chat history.
Stage roles are workflow-specific contracts.
Read the shipped flow, then inspect the receipts.
The LAD diagrams show how the current software workflow routes work. The Evidence page shows the Rust maintenance pipeline using that governed loop in public.