Sequencing was load-bearing this run. Three deliverables but only one hard-ordered: fix the query bug FIRST (everything else depends on the circuit breaker actually working). Budget + tier + stale-files could run in parallel after that. Total wall time: ~25 minutes, ~8 of which was Phase 0 investigation, ~12 minutes execution, ~5 minutes notebook/journal write.
I initially wanted to test ALL three deliverables in parallel after Phase 1 edits. claude-api caught that the live circuit breaker test should run BEFORE deleting stale files — because if the test failed, we'd want to fall back to keeping `exa_client_v2.py` as a backup. Sequencing the live test before any delete was the right call.
"Interface freeze before parallel work" from swarm-build SKILL.md. The interface contract was 7 file changes (4 edits, 2 deletes, 1 new content). None of the edits depended on each other once the contract was frozen. Parallel batch worked first try.
For infra-cleanup runs with mixed bug-fix + cleanup scope: ALWAYS sequence the bug fix and its live verification BEFORE any deletes. The verification is what tells you whether the bug fix really worked; if it didn't, you want the "backup" files still on disk for the next attempt. Today the live test passed on first try, but the sequencing protected us from the failure case.
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