diff --git a/run.json b/run.json
index 4bd62caca..fe716e107 100644
--- a/run.json
+++ b/run.json
@@ -359,7 +359,7 @@
     "kind": "running"
   },
   "status_updated_at": "2026-07-08T15:07:06.493388133Z",
-  "last_event_at": "2026-07-08T15:07:42.318808758Z",
+  "last_event_at": "2026-07-08T15:07:46.323790616Z",
   "pending_control": null,
   "checkpoints": [
     {
@@ -400,19 +400,89 @@
       "diff": {}
     },
     {
-      "seq": 0,
+      "seq": 44,
       "checkpoint": {
-        "timestamp": "2026-07-08T15:07:42.343955440Z",
+        "timestamp": "2026-07-08T15:07:46.323516967Z",
         "current_node": "fork",
         "completed_nodes": [
           "start",
           "fork"
         ],
         "node_retries": {},
+        "context_values": {
+          "outcome": "succeeded",
+          "internal.thread_id": "start",
+          "thread.start.current_node": "fork",
+          "internal.retry_count.fork": 0,
+          "internal.work_dir": "/home/daytona/workspace/fabro",
+          "current_node": "fork",
+          "failure_class": "",
+          "failure_signature": "",
+          "graph.model_stylesheet": "* { model: claude-sonnet-4-5; }",
+          "graph.rankdir": "LR",
+          "parallel.results": [
+            {
+              "id": "a",
+              "status": "succeeded",
+              "head_sha": "379d13d4f7218e30c9ec925d730f40194c63616b"
+            },
+            {
+              "id": "b",
+              "status": "succeeded",
+              "head_sha": "8ee19a3b6be176881b7063c1340d26477c997742"
+            }
+          ],
+          "internal.run_id": "01KX148ZAMMJRAADHK1HBF7PC3",
+          "internal.retry_count.start": 0,
+          "parallel.branch_count": 2,
+          "internal.node_visit_count": 1,
+          "graph.goal": "Repro: does the synth/merge node see branch outputs?",
+          "internal.fidelity": "compact"
+        },
+        "node_outcomes": {
+          "start": {
+            "status": "succeeded",
+            "usage": null
+          },
+          "fork": {
+            "status": "succeeded",
+            "jump_to_node": "merge",
+            "notes": "Parallel node dispatched 2 branches (2 succeeded, 0 failed)",
+            "usage": null
+          }
+        },
+        "next_node_id": "merge",
+        "git_commit_sha": "9b85837e7249b74aaedc28a45a1ecbf402d4d63f",
+        "node_visits": {
+          "start": 1,
+          "fork": 1
+        }
+      },
+      "diff": {
+        "summary": {
+          "files_changed": 0,
+          "additions": 0,
+          "deletions": 0
+        }
+      }
+    },
+    {
+      "seq": 0,
+      "checkpoint": {
+        "timestamp": "2026-07-08T15:07:46.363877667Z",
+        "current_node": "merge",
+        "completed_nodes": [
+          "start",
+          "fork",
+          "merge"
+        ],
+        "node_retries": {},
         "context_values": {
           "internal.run_id": "01KX148ZAMMJRAADHK1HBF7PC3",
           "failure_signature": "",
-          "internal.thread_id": "start",
+          "internal.thread_id": "fork",
+          "thread.fork.current_node": "merge",
+          "internal.retry_count.merge": 0,
           "graph.model_stylesheet": "* { model: claude-sonnet-4-5; }",
           "parallel.results": [
             {
@@ -435,24 +505,44 @@
           "graph.goal": "Repro: does the synth/merge node see branch outputs?",
           "internal.retry_count.fork": 0,
           "graph.rankdir": "LR",
+          "parallel.fan_in.best_id": "a",
           "parallel.branch_count": 2,
+          "parallel.fan_in.best_outcome": "succeeded",
+          "parallel.fan_in.best_head_sha": "379d13d4f7218e30c9ec925d730f40194c63616b",
           "outcome": "succeeded",
-          "current_node": "fork"
+          "current_node": "merge"
         },
         "node_outcomes": {
-          "start": {
+          "merge": {
             "status": "succeeded",
-            "usage": null
+            "context_updates": {
+              "parallel.fan_in.best_id": "a",
+              "parallel.fan_in.best_outcome": "succeeded",
+              "parallel.fan_in.best_head_sha": "379d13d4f7218e30c9ec925d730f40194c63616b"
+            },
+            "notes": "Selected best candidate: a",
+            "usage": null,
+            "timing": {
+              "wall_time_ms": 0,
+              "inference_time_ms": 0,
+              "tool_time_ms": 0,
+              "active_time_ms": 0
+            }
           },
           "fork": {
             "status": "succeeded",
             "jump_to_node": "merge",
             "notes": "Parallel node dispatched 2 branches (2 succeeded, 0 failed)",
             "usage": null
+          },
+          "start": {
+            "status": "succeeded",
+            "usage": null
           }
         },
-        "next_node_id": "merge",
+        "next_node_id": "synth",
         "node_visits": {
+          "merge": 1,
           "start": 1,
           "fork": 1
         }
@@ -520,11 +610,39 @@
       },
       "state": "succeeded"
     },
+    "merge@1": {
+      "first_event_seq": 47,
+      "prompt": null,
+      "response": null,
+      "completion": null,
+      "provider_used": null,
+      "diff": null,
+      "script_invocation": null,
+      "script_timing": null,
+      "parallel_results": null,
+      "output": null,
+      "started_at": "2026-07-08T15:07:46.323790616Z",
+      "handler": "parallel.fan_in",
+      "usage": {
+        "input_tokens": 0,
+        "output_tokens": 0,
+        "total_tokens": 0,
+        "reasoning_tokens": 0,
+        "cache_read_tokens": 0,
+        "cache_write_tokens": 0
+      },
+      "state": "running"
+    },
     "fork@1": {
       "first_event_seq": 21,
       "prompt": null,
       "response": null,
-      "completion": null,
+      "completion": {
+        "outcome": "succeeded",
+        "notes": "Parallel node dispatched 2 branches (2 succeeded, 0 failed)",
+        "failure_reason": null,
+        "timestamp": "2026-07-08T15:07:42.343874651Z"
+      },
       "provider_used": {
         "mode": "prompt",
         "provider": "anthropic",
@@ -533,10 +651,27 @@
       "diff": null,
       "script_invocation": null,
       "script_timing": null,
-      "parallel_results": null,
+      "parallel_results": [
+        {
+          "id": "a",
+          "status": "succeeded",
+          "head_sha": "379d13d4f7218e30c9ec925d730f40194c63616b"
+        },
+        {
+          "id": "b",
+          "status": "succeeded",
+          "head_sha": "8ee19a3b6be176881b7063c1340d26477c997742"
+        }
+      ],
       "output": null,
       "started_at": "2026-07-08T15:07:08.314410727Z",
       "handler": "parallel",
+      "timing": {
+        "wall_time_ms": 34029,
+        "inference_time_ms": 0,
+        "tool_time_ms": 0,
+        "active_time_ms": 0
+      },
       "usage": {
         "input_tokens": 49,
         "output_tokens": 2021,
@@ -550,7 +685,7 @@
         "provider": "anthropic",
         "model_id": "claude-sonnet-4-5"
       },
-      "state": "running"
+      "state": "succeeded"
     }
   }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/stages/002-fork@1/parallel_results.json b/stages/002-fork@1/parallel_results.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..9c1826c8b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stages/002-fork@1/parallel_results.json
@@ -0,0 +1,12 @@
+[
+  {
+    "id": "a",
+    "status": "succeeded",
+    "head_sha": "379d13d4f7218e30c9ec925d730f40194c63616b"
+  },
+  {
+    "id": "b",
+    "status": "succeeded",
+    "head_sha": "8ee19a3b6be176881b7063c1340d26477c997742"
+  }
+]
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/stages/002-fork@1/response.md b/stages/002-fork@1/response.md
deleted file mode 100644
index 8349733c1..000000000
--- a/stages/002-fork@1/response.md
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,228 +0,0 @@
-I need to understand what you're asking about and create a test to reproduce the behavior.
-
-Let me search for information about synth/merge nodes and branch outputs in the codebase:
-
-```bash
-rg "synth.*merge|merge.*branch" --type rust -A 5
-```
-
-```bash
-rg "BRANCH.*MARKER" --type rust
-```
-
-Let me also look at the workflow engine's handling of branches and merge nodes:
-
-```bash
-rg "fn.*merge|MergeNode|SynthNode" lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/ -A 10
-```
-
-```bash
-rg "branch.*output|output.*branch" lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/ -A 5
-```
-
-Let me check the stage types and how they handle outputs:
-
-```bash
-cat lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/stage.rs | head -200
-```
-
-```bash
-rg "Stage::Synth|Stage::Merge" lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/ -B 5 -A 10
-```
-
-Now let me look for existing tests that demonstrate branch/merge behavior:
-
-```bash
-rg "test.*branch.*merge|test.*merge.*branch" --type rust -l
-```
-
-```bash
-find . -name "*.toml" -path "*/workflows/*" | xargs grep -l "stage = \"merge\""
-```
-
-Let me create a minimal test workflow to reproduce the behavior:
-
-```bash
-mkdir -p /tmp/test-merge-branch
-cd /tmp/test-merge-branch
-```
-
-```bash
-cat > workflow.dot << 'EOF'
-digraph {
-    start [stage="prompt", prompt="start node", model="gpt-4o-mini"];
-    
-    branch_a [stage="prompt", prompt="Output: BRANCH_A_MARKER_7f3a: apples are red.", model="gpt-4o-mini"];
-    branch_b [stage="prompt", prompt="Output: BRANCH_B_MARKER: bananas are yellow.", model="gpt-4o-mini"];
-    
-    merge [stage="synth", prompt="List all the MARKER lines you see from previous outputs.", model="gpt-4o-mini"];
-    
-    start -> branch_a;
-    start -> branch_b;
-    branch_a -> merge;
-    branch_b -> merge;
-}
-EOF
-```
-
-```bash
-cat > workflow.toml << 'EOF'
-name = "test-merge-branch"
-origin = "local"
-[graph]
-path = "workflow.dot"
-EOF
-```
-
-Now let me run this workflow:
-
-```bash
-cd /tmp/test-merge-branch && fabro run --path . 2>&1 | tee output.txt
-```
-
-Let me check what the merge node actually received:
-
-```bash
-grep -A 20 "merge" output.txt | head -40
-```
-
-Let me look at how the workflow engine passes context to synth nodes:
-
-```bash
-rg "Stage::Synth" lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/engine.rs -B 10 -A 30
-```
-
-```bash
-cat lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/engine.rs | grep -A 50 "fn execute_stage"
-```
-
-Let me check the context building for stages:
-
-```bash
-rg "build.*context|context.*build" lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/ -A 10 | head -100
-```
-
-```bash
-rg "parent.*output|predecessor.*output" lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/ -A 10
-```
-
-Let me look at the actual output from the test run more carefully:
-
-```bash
-cat output.txt | grep -i "marker\|merge\|branch"
-```
-
-Based on the codebase structure, let me create a more targeted test. Let me look at existing workflow tests:
-
-```bash
-ls -la lib/crates/fabro-workflow/tests/
-```
-
-```bash
-cat lib/crates/fabro-workflow/tests/it/scenario_tests.rs | head -100
-```
-
-Let me check if there's a simpler way to test this by looking at how outputs are tracked:
-
-```bash
-rg "outputs:|outputs\[" lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/ -B 3 -A 3
-```
-
-Let me examine the OutputTracker:
-
-```bash
-rg "OutputTracker|struct Output" lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/ -A 20
-```
-
-Now let me trace through how a synth node gets its inputs:
-
-```bash
-rg "synth.*execute|execute.*synth" lib/crates/fabro-workflow/src/ -i -B 5 -A 20
-```
-
-Let me create a proper test in the workflow test suite:
-
-```bash
-cat > /tmp/test_branch_merge.rs << 'EOF'
-use fabro_test::e2e_test;
-use fabro_workflow::operations;
-use std::path::PathBuf;
-
-#[e2e_test(twin)]
-async fn test_synth_sees_branch_outputs() -> anyhow::Result<()> {
-    let temp_dir = tempfile::tempdir()?;
-    let workflow_dir = temp_dir.path().join("workflow");
-    std::fs::create_dir(&workflow_dir)?;
-    
-    // Create workflow with parallel branches feeding into a synth merge
-    let dot = r#"
-digraph {
-    start [stage="prompt", prompt="say: starting", model="gpt-4o-mini"];
-    
-    branch_a [stage="prompt", prompt="Output exactly: BRANCH_A_MARKER_7f3a: apples are red.", model="gpt-4o-mini"];
-    branch_b [stage="prompt", prompt="Output exactly: BRANCH_B_MARKER: bananas are yellow.", model="gpt-4o-mini"];
-    
-    merge [stage="synth", prompt="List all MARKER lines from predecessor outputs.", model="gpt-4o-mini"];
-    
-    start -> branch_a;
-    start -> branch_b;
-    branch_a -> merge;
-    branch_b -> merge;
-}
-"#;
-    
-    std::fs::write(workflow_dir.join("workflow.dot"), dot)?;
-    
-    let toml = r#"
-name = "test-merge-branch"
-origin = "local"
-[graph]
-path = "workflow.dot"
-"#;
-    std::fs::write(workflow_dir.join("workflow.toml"), toml)?;
-    
-    let (base_url, api_key) = fabro_test::e2e_openai!();
-    let run_spec = operations::RunSpec {
-        manifest_path: Some(workflow_dir.join("workflow.toml")),
-        openai_api_key: Some(api_key),
-        openai_base_url: Some(base_url),
-        ..Default::default()
-    };
-    
-    let outcome = operations::run(run_spec).await?;
-    
-    // Get the merge node output
-    let merge_output = outcome.outputs.iter()
-        .find(|o| o.stage == "merge")
-        .ok_or_else(|| anyhow::anyhow!("merge stage not found"))?;
-    
-    println!("Merge output: {}", merge_output.content);
-    
-    // The synth node should see both branch outputs
-    assert!(merge_output.content.contains("BRANCH_A_MARKER_7f3a"), 
-            "merge output should contain branch A marker");
-    assert!(merge_output.content.contains("BRANCH_B_MARKER"), 
-            "merge output should contain branch B marker");
-    
-    Ok(())
-}
-EOF
-```
-
-Actually, let me just run a simpler direct test:
-
-```bash
-cd /tmp/test-merge-branch && fabro run --path . --format json > result.json 2>&1
-```
-
-```bash
-cat result.json | jq '.outputs[] | select(.stage == "merge") | .content'
-```
-
-Let me check the actual workflow execution more carefully by looking at progress events:
-
-```bash
-cd /tmp/test-merge-branch && fabro run --path . 2>&1 | grep -E "stage|output|MARKER" | head -50
-```
-
-BRANCH_A_MARKER_7f3a: apples are red.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/stages/002-fork@1/status.json b/stages/002-fork@1/status.json
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..bb1a9131d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stages/002-fork@1/status.json
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+{
+  "outcome": "succeeded",
+  "notes": "Parallel node dispatched 2 branches (2 succeeded, 0 failed)",
+  "failure_reason": null,
+  "timestamp": "2026-07-08T15:07:42.343874651Z"
+}
\ No newline at end of file