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diff --git a/packages/kernel/src/contracts/dispatch.ts b/packages/kernel/src/contracts/dispatch.ts
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+/**
+ * Dispatch policy — controls how the kernel runs a step's tool calls.
+ *
+ * Two orthogonal axes, split so every combination is coherent:
+ * - `maxConcurrent`: how many tools run at once (0=unlimited, 1=sequential, 2+=cap)
+ * - `eager`: when execution starts (true=on arrival, false=after step finishes)
+ *
+ * The policy is a kernel input, never ambient — the session-orchestrator
+ * resolves it and hands the final value to `runTurn`.
+ */
+
+/**
+ * Controls how the kernel dispatches tool calls within a step.
+ *
+ * **`maxConcurrent`:**
+ * - `0` — unlimited parallelism (deliberate opt-in; reopens the dedup footgun)
+ * - `1` — sequential execution (a concurrency limit of 1 is exactly serial)
+ * - `2+` — at most N tools run concurrently
+ *
+ * **`eager`:**
+ * - `true` — launch each tool-call the instant it streams in from the provider
+ *   (overlaps tool execution with the rest of generation)
+ * - `false` — wait until the step's finish event, then dispatch the batch
+ *
+ * **Default:** `{ maxConcurrent: 1, eager: true }` — never two tools at once
+ * (safe for any tool), yet the first tool starts during generation.
+ */
+export interface ToolDispatchPolicy {
+	readonly maxConcurrent: number;
+	readonly eager: boolean;
+}