SAF — the Systemic Agentic Framework

The Systemic Agentic Framework (SAF) is a governed, local-first way to run SAFe with AI agents. Multi-agent orchestrations — portfolio, program, and iteration — run on your own machine inside your agent host (VS Code / GitHub Copilot today; the harness is host-agnostic), producing standard, schema-validated SAFe artifacts — Epics, Features, Stories, ADRs, kanbans, gate records — synchronized through your organization’s own git host. A human ★ gate closes every layer: agents propose through evidence and sequence; the decision stays with you.

SAF complements ITIP and integrates with SIE: its artifact templates can be sourced as GSM Archetypes, and its agents can consume the organization’s governed definitions as context while they work.

The framework’s architecture

Four properties make it work:

Local-first — the agent loop runs on each user’s machine, in the IDE, against the real working tree. Sensitive information never leaves the machine; only the artifacts you commit sync out transparently to your organization’s git host.
Governed — a portfolio → program → iteration hierarchy of role agents, with a human ★ gate at every layer. An org chart with human authority, not a flat swarm.
Sovereign — work state lives in your own files and git history (the event log), not a vendor’s cloud. Nothing is trapped in an unmanaged session.
Portable — the harness is methodology- and host-agnostic: plain files, a stable CLI, host-specifics isolated behind a thin adapter. The same familiar agentic work method follows you from host to host — VS Code today, another IDE, CI runner, or agent host tomorrow — with no relearning.

Three orchestrators, one per SAFe layer, drive the model — dispatched from a single entry point, @vmo-orchestrator:

flowchart LR
    CS["Central Supervisor<br/>human value authority<br/>owns every gate"]

    subgraph FW["SAFe Agentic Framework in your IDE"]
      direction TB
      subgraph PORT["Portfolio layer - vmo-orchestrator"]
        direction LR
        VMO["vmo-orchestrator"]
        ELBC["Epic Lean Business Case<br/>Agents: BO, EA, Sec, RAI"]
        AV["Architectural Vision<br/>Agents: EA, BO"]
        SPR["Strategic Portfolio Review<br/>Agents: BO, EA"]
        PB["Participatory Budgeting<br/>Agents: BO, EA"]
        PS["Portfolio Sync<br/>Agents: VMO, Epic owners"]
      end
      subgraph PROG["Program or ART layer - rte-orchestrator"]
        direction LR
        RTE["rte-orchestrator"]
        FBR["Feature Backlog Refinement<br/>Agents: PM, Arch, Dev, QA, UX, Sec"]
        ARE["Architectural Runway Extension<br/>Agents: SA, Sec, DevOps, Dev"]
        PIP["PI Planning<br/>Agents: the ART"]
        SD["System Demo<br/>Agents: the ART"]
        ASY["ART Sync<br/>Agents: Arch, leads"]
        IA["Inspect and Adapt<br/>Agents: the ART"]
      end
      subgraph ITER["Team or Iteration layer - sm-orchestrator"]
        direction LR
        SM["sm-orchestrator"]
        IP["Iteration Planning<br/>Agents: PO, pairs"]
        SBR["Story Backlog Refinement<br/>Agents: PO"]
        PAIR["Pair micro-cycle<br/>Agents: Dev, Dev, Sec"]
        VS["Verification and Sign-off<br/>Agents: QA, Sec"]
        DSR["Daily, Review, Retro<br/>Agents: the team"]
      end
      FSL["local filesystem blackboard<br/>portfolio artifacts in Markdown"]
    end

    subgraph CENTRAL["Central systems synced from the git host"]
      direction TB
      GH["Git host<br/>GitHub or GitLab<br/>boards, issues, artifact files"]
      JIRA["Ticketing, Jira<br/>SAFe Epics, Features, Stories, PIs"]
      CONF["Knowledge base, Confluence<br/>ADRs, PRDs, reports"]
      GH -->|"tickets"| JIRA
      GH -->|"knowledge"| CONF
    end

    CS ==>|"strategic intent to governed delivery"| VMO
    VMO -.->|"dispatch approved Epic to demoed Features"| RTE
    RTE -.->|"dispatch committed Feature to merged Stories"| SM
    VMO -->|"returns Epic gates"| CS
    RTE -->|"returns Architecture, Demo, PR gates"| CS
    SM -->|"returns Story, PR packet gates"| CS
    VMO --> FSL
    RTE --> FSL
    SM --> FSL
    FSL -->|"sync push or pull, the only external link"| GH

    classDef orch fill:#10b981,stroke:#065f46,color:#ffffff;
    classDef fs fill:#e0e7ff,stroke:#6366f1,color:#1e1b4b;
    classDef ext fill:#fde68a,stroke:#b45309,color:#3f2d00;
    class VMO,RTE,SM orch
    class FSL fs
    class GH,JIRA,CONF ext

Each orchestrator is an entry point carrying your use case for its layer, and returns that layer’s ★ gates to you. The framework’s only external link is the git host — Jira and Confluence sync from there. The full model is on the SAFe Agentic Organization page.

Products

Agentic Harness — the deterministic execution core: it resolves workflows, steps, models, and session context, checks conditions, authorization, and artifacts, and journals every step.
- Features — the capability catalogue with milestones
SAFe Agentic Organization — the SAFe-shaped framework application the harness executes: orchestrators, the specialist agent bench, skills, workflows, instructions, and artifact schemas.
- Features — the capability catalogue with milestones
Agentic Workspace — the shared data plane storing the artifacts local agentic workflows produce. Documentation in construction.
- Features — the capability catalogue with milestones
SAF SIE Bridge — the client sourcer turning the harness-governed agentic-execution history into GSM contributions on the Definition Blackboard Manager. Documentation in construction.
- Features — the capability catalogue with milestones

Next: Quickstart — your first orchestrated PR →

SAF — the Systemic Agentic Framework

The framework’s architecture

Products

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