---
slug: "Parallel"
name: "Parallel"
type: "Data Structures"
layer: "Infrastructure"
ref: "Parallel#d58d"
sema_id: "sema:Parallel#mh:SHA-256:d58d6696be11be09651e71307f0ea6f42bb45fac137ed985a61e475144f687a5"
tags: ["Infrastructure","Data Structures"]
updated: 2026-11-11
mindscape: "bootstrap"
index_url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json
url: https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Parallel/
related: ["Chain","BreadthGovernor","OptimisticSolver","Parallelize"]
---

# Parallel

Concurrent flow

Layer: Infrastructure · Category: Data Structures

## Mechanism

Concurrent execution of two or more branches under no ordering guarantee: a caller may not assume which branch runs, finishes, or observes state first. Genuine simultaneity and interleaving both satisfy it — the pattern is the contract, not the substrate.

## Invariants

- No result may depend on the order branches were entered or completed. A branch set with an order requirement is a [Chain](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Chain.md).
- Each declared branch is attempted. How outcomes combine is `join_semantics` and varies.

## Failure modes

—

## Data schema

```json
{
  "type": "object",
  "description": "A parallel topology — independent branches executed concurrently with a join point.",
  "properties": {
    "branches": {
      "type": "array",
      "description": "Independent execution branches"
    },
    "join_semantics": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": [
        "all",
        "any",
        "quorum"
      ],
      "description": "How branch results combine"
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "branches"
  ]
}
```

## Builds on

- [Chain](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Chain.md) (Infrastructure; References)

## Used by

- [BreadthGovernor](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/BreadthGovernor.md) (Mind; References)
- [OptimisticSolver](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/OptimisticSolver.md) (Society; References)
- [Parallelize](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Parallelize.md) (Mind; References)

## Identity

- Sema ID: `sema:Parallel#mh:SHA-256:d58d6696be11be09651e71307f0ea6f42bb45fac137ed985a61e475144f687a5`
- Ref: `Parallel#d58d`
- Supersedes:
  - `sema:Parallel#mh:SHA-256:6272e213685ff8b1c909c783ae0859f93c55d3423c4278661a4b601ddf07d7a3`
  - `sema:Parallel#mh:SHA-256:e799c1986d62c4a052090842aabe144193587f8a4d8dd23617d027b2e9b85098`

## Links

- [Pattern page](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Parallel/)
- [View in the interactive graph](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/#Parallel)
- [JSON](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/Parallel.json)
- [Index of all patterns](https://mindscape.pages.dev/bootstrap/index.json)