# SOE Advanced Patterns

Beyond basic workflows, SOE enables powerful patterns for building intelligent systems.

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## The Patterns

| Pattern | Description | Use Case |
|---------|-------------|----------|
| [Configuration & Context Inheritance](guide_inheritance.md) | Inherit config and context across executions | Workflow chaining, multi-phase pipelines |
| [Fan-Out & Aggregations](guide_fanout_and_aggregations.md) | Parallel processing and data collection | Distributed work, map-reduce |
| [Self-Evolving Workflows](self_evolving_workflows.md) | Workflows that modify themselves at runtime | Adaptive systems, hot-patching |
| [Swarm Intelligence](swarm_intelligence.md) | Multiple agents voting and reaching consensus | Jury systems, quality control |
| [Hybrid Intelligence](hybrid_intelligence.md) | Mixing deterministic logic with AI | Safety rails, enterprise compliance |

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## Philosophy

These patterns share a common principle: **SOE is a protocol, not a product**.

- **Self-Evolving**: YAML is text. LLMs can generate text. Therefore, LLMs can generate workflows.
- **Swarm**: Signals are cheap. Counting signals is cheaper than parsing paragraphs.
- **Hybrid**: Routers are deterministic. LLMs are creative. Combine them.

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## Future Patterns

The following patterns are possible with SOE but not yet documented:

### Fractal Orchestration
Child workflows spawning child workflows, ad infinitum. A "CEO" workflow spawns "Manager" workflows, which spawn "Worker" workflows.

### Universal Backend
Any workflow can be wrapped as a tool for another workflow. A "Research Agent" workflow becomes a tool for a "Writer Agent" workflow.

### Edge AI
SOE has no heavy dependencies. It can run on Raspberry Pi with local LLMs (Llama.cpp), or in the browser via WebAssembly.

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## Getting Started

1. Study the basic [User Guide](../index.md) first
2. Read [Self-Evolving Workflows](self_evolving_workflows.md) to understand runtime modification
3. Try [Swarm Intelligence](swarm_intelligence.md) for multi-agent coordination
4. Apply [Hybrid Intelligence](hybrid_intelligence.md) for production safety
