One factory working for another
Use explicit intakes to pass bounded work into another factory and receive its result.
A station can delegate work to another factory through a configured intake. This is useful when a specialist factory owns a repeatable process, such as security review.
Define the boundary
Configure an intake in the receiving factory and the sources allowed to use it. Assign the sending station to that intake. Cross-factory policy, permissions and dependency limits apply; knowing a factory’s name does not grant access to it.
The receiving factory processes linked work and returns its result. Inspect the linked cards, intake traffic and dependency information when a call is blocked or waiting.
Keep calls bounded
Give the intake a clear expected input and completion condition. Avoid circular dependencies. A worker cannot discover an arbitrary factory and invoke it without the declared connection and authorization.
Use contracts and evaluators to describe evidence, crews for several agents working within a station, and workflow handoffs for routes between workflows in the same factory.