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@@ -17,3 +17,7 @@ Design documents and technical proposals, grouped by scope. Shared/cross-cutting
 ## Stovepipe
 
 - [Stovepipe Workflow](stovepipe/workflow.md) - Post-merge trunk-validation pipeline: ingest trunk push events (webhook + fallback poll), batch since last green, build to validate, record per-commit health, bisect to the offending commit, hand off to a remediation extension
+
+## Runway
+
+- [Runway Workflow](runway/workflow.md) - Landing service: merge-conflict checking and merging on behalf of SubmitQueue
diff --git a/doc/rfc/runway/workflow.md b/doc/rfc/runway/workflow.md
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+# Runway Workflow
+
+Runway is the landing service: it owns VCS operations — mergeability checking and landing — on behalf of SubmitQueue. The orchestrator subscribes to two inbound topics (`merge-conflict-checker`, `merger`) and publishes results to two outbound topics (`merge-conflict-checker-signal`, `merger-signal`). It is a consumer-only service with no gateway; work arrives via topic queues and results leave via topic queues.
+
+## Merge-conflict check and merge
+
+The two queues operate at different granularities:
+
+- **merge-conflict-check** is request-level. A merge request carries an ordered sequence of steps (changes + merge strategy). Runway performs a read-only trial merge and publishes per-step mergeability results back.
+
+- **merge** is batch-level. A merge request carries the same payload but Runway commits the result and reports the revisions it produced (per-step output IDs).
+
+These are independent input-output flows. A merge-conflict check can run without a merge ever running, and a merge does not depend on a prior check.
+
+## Branch serialization
+
+The partition key `repo/target` on both inbound topics serializes all VCS operations for a given branch. The message queue delivers messages with the same partition key to the same consumer in order, so at most one merge-conflict check or merge operation is in flight for any given branch at any time.
+
+The outbound topics partition by SubmitQueue queue name, matching SubmitQueue's fan-out model where state updates for the same queue are serialized.
+
+## Workflow
+
+```
+                 ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
+                 │              submitqueue orchestrator                │
+                 └──────────┬───────────────────────────┬──────────────┘
+                            │                           │
+                  MergeRequest (dry run)      MergeRequest (commit)
+                            │                           │
+                            ▼                           ▼
+              [merge-conflict-checker]              [merger]
+                            │                           │
+               merge-conflict-check ctrl          merge ctrl
+                       (read-only)            (apply + commit)
+                            │                           │
+                       MergeResult                 MergeResult
+                            │                           │
+                            ▼                           ▼
+           [merge-conflict-checker-signal]       [merger-signal]
+                            │                           │
+                            ▼                           ▼
+                 ┌──────────┬───────────────────────────┬──────────────┐
+                 │  merge-conflict-check-       merge-signal ctrl       │
+                 │  signal ctrl              (update batch state,       │
+                 │  (update request            fan out to conclude)     │
+                 │   mergeability)                                      │
+                 │              submitqueue orchestrator                │
+                 └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
+```
+
+## Per-controller summary
+
+| Controller | In | Out | One-line role |
+|---|---|---|---|
+| **merge-conflict-check** | MergeRequest | MergeResult -> merge-conflict-checker-signal | Dry-run merge: check mergeability of ordered steps against the target branch (read-only) |
+| **merge** | MergeRequest | MergeResult -> merger-signal | Apply, commit, and report per-step output IDs |
+
+The merge-conflict-check controller always publishes a result — even when all steps are mergeable — so SubmitQueue receives a definitive answer. On infrastructure error it nacks for retry.
+
+The merge controller publishes a conflict result (and acks) when the merge detects a conflict; SubmitQueue handles rebatching. On infrastructure error it nacks for retry. On success it publishes per-step outcomes (output IDs of the revisions produced) so SubmitQueue can update its request state.
+
+## Idempotency
+
+Runway has no persistent state — no request store, no job store, no database. Idempotency is achieved through the VCS contract: merge detects already-pushed changes (revisions reachable from HEAD) and treats them as already-landed. Merge-conflict check is read-only and naturally idempotent.
+
+## Ownership by service
+
+### Orchestrator
+
+The orchestrator is the only service. It subscribes to two inbound topics (`merge-conflict-checker`, `merger`), performs VCS operations through a pluggable extension, and publishes results to two outbound topics (`merge-conflict-checker-signal`, `merger-signal`). It owns no persistent data.
+
+### Shared: the messaging queue
+
+Runway communicates with SubmitQueue only through the messaging queue. The inbound topics are owned by runway; the outbound topics are owned by SubmitQueue.