Dispatch Lineage

Every agent in loopctl operates under a dispatch — a scoped assignment with an ephemeral API key that carries its full lineage path.

The dispatch tree

root (operator, WebAuthn)
├── orchestrator dispatch (ephemeral key, 4h TTL)
│   ├── implementer dispatch (ephemeral key, 1h TTL, story-scoped)
│   └── reviewer dispatch (ephemeral key, 1h TTL, story-scoped)
└── admin dispatch (ephemeral key, 1h TTL)

Creating a dispatch

curl -X POST https://loopctl.com/api/v1/dispatches \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $ORCH_KEY" \
  -d '{"role": "agent", "agent_id": "...", "story_id": "...", "expires_in_seconds": 3600}'

Response includes the ephemeral raw_key — pass it to the sub-agent.

Lineage path

Each dispatch records its full ancestry: [root_id, orch_id, self_id]. The self-check compares lineage prefixes: if two dispatches share a common ancestor (prefix), they are treated as the same actor.

Why this prevents sock-puppets

An orchestrator cannot dispatch a sub-agent and pre-select it as its own verifier. The rotating verifier selection (US-26.2.2) picks from dispatches that do NOT share a prefix with the implementer’s lineage.

See Agent Pattern for the full lifecycle. See Capability Tokens for how caps bind to lineages.