diff --git a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/IWorkflowActorRoleResolver.cs b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/IWorkflowActorRoleResolver.cs
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7a9fd0f77
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/IWorkflowActorRoleResolver.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+using System.Collections.Generic;
+using System.Threading;
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+
+namespace StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions;
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Resolves the authenticated actor's identity (ID + roles) from the server-side
+/// request context. Implementations may query a database, read JWT claims, or
+/// fall back to client-supplied values.
+/// </summary>
+public interface IWorkflowActorRoleResolver
+{
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Returns the actor ID for the current request.
+    /// Implementations should prefer server-side identity over client-supplied values.
+    /// </summary>
+    string ResolveActorId(string? clientActorId);
+
+    /// <summary>
+    /// Resolves user roles from a trusted source (database, identity provider).
+    /// Falls back to <paramref name="clientRoles"/> when no server-side context
+    /// is available (e.g., during signal pump processing).
+    /// </summary>
+    Task<IReadOnlyCollection<string>> ResolveActorRolesAsync(
+        string actorId,
+        IReadOnlyCollection<string>? clientRoles,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken = default);
+}
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Default no-op resolver that passes through client-supplied values.
+/// Used when no database-backed role resolution is configured.
+/// </summary>
+public sealed class NullWorkflowActorRoleResolver : IWorkflowActorRoleResolver
+{
+    public string ResolveActorId(string? clientActorId)
+        => clientActorId ?? string.Empty;
+
+    public Task<IReadOnlyCollection<string>> ResolveActorRolesAsync(
+        string actorId,
+        IReadOnlyCollection<string>? clientRoles,
+        CancellationToken cancellationToken = default)
+        => Task.FromResult<IReadOnlyCollection<string>>(clientRoles ?? []);
+}
diff --git a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowCanonicalDefinitionCompiler.Helpers.cs b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowCanonicalDefinitionCompiler.Helpers.cs
index a39bde064..915e74b1e 100644
--- a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowCanonicalDefinitionCompiler.Helpers.cs
+++ b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowCanonicalDefinitionCompiler.Helpers.cs
@@ -179,8 +179,10 @@ public static partial class WorkflowCanonicalDefinitionCompiler
             },
             ResultKey = resultKey,
             TimeoutSeconds = timeoutSeconds,
-            WhenFailure = failureHandlers?.HasFailureBranch == true ? BuildSequence(failureHandlers.WhenFailure) : null,
-            WhenTimeout = failureHandlers?.HasTimeoutBranch == true ? BuildSequence(failureHandlers.WhenTimeout) : null,
+            // Preserve empty handlers (0 steps) as empty sequences — they mean "ignore failure and continue".
+            // Only set to null when no handler was provided at all.
+            WhenFailure = failureHandlers is not null ? BuildSequence(failureHandlers.WhenFailure) : null,
+            WhenTimeout = failureHandlers is not null ? BuildSequence(failureHandlers.WhenTimeout) : null,
         };
     }
 
diff --git a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowDeclarativeAbstractions.cs b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowDeclarativeAbstractions.cs
index 7d373c17f..8ba98212b 100644
--- a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowDeclarativeAbstractions.cs
+++ b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowDeclarativeAbstractions.cs
@@ -726,6 +726,104 @@ public sealed class WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest>
             null);
     }
 
+    public WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest> Call(
+        string stepName,
+        Address address,
+        WorkflowExpressionDefinition payloadExpression,
+        Action<WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest>> whenFailure,
+        Action<WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest>>? whenTimeout = null)
+    {
+        return AddMicroserviceCall(
+            stepName,
+            address.MicroserviceName,
+            address.Command,
+            context => WorkflowCanonicalExpressionRuntime.Evaluate(payloadExpression, context),
+            payloadExpression,
+            null,
+            whenFailure,
+            whenTimeout);
+    }
+
+    public WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest> Call(
+        string stepName,
+        Address address,
+        WorkflowExpressionDefinition payloadExpression,
+        WorkflowHandledBranchAction onFailure,
+        WorkflowHandledBranchAction onTimeout = WorkflowHandledBranchAction.None)
+    {
+        return AddMicroserviceCall(
+            stepName,
+            address.MicroserviceName,
+            address.Command,
+            context => WorkflowCanonicalExpressionRuntime.Evaluate(payloadExpression, context),
+            payloadExpression,
+            null,
+            null,
+            null,
+            onFailure,
+            onTimeout);
+    }
+
+    public WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest> Call<TResponse>(
+        string stepName,
+        Address address,
+        WorkflowExpressionDefinition payloadExpression,
+        string? resultKey = null)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(payloadExpression);
+        return AddMicroserviceCall(
+            stepName,
+            address.MicroserviceName,
+            address.Command,
+            context => WorkflowCanonicalExpressionRuntime.Evaluate(payloadExpression, context),
+            payloadExpression,
+            resultKey ?? stepName,
+            null,
+            null);
+    }
+
+    public WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest> Call<TResponse>(
+        string stepName,
+        Address address,
+        WorkflowExpressionDefinition payloadExpression,
+        Action<WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest>> whenFailure,
+        Action<WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest>>? whenTimeout = null,
+        string? resultKey = null)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(payloadExpression);
+        return AddMicroserviceCall(
+            stepName,
+            address.MicroserviceName,
+            address.Command,
+            context => WorkflowCanonicalExpressionRuntime.Evaluate(payloadExpression, context),
+            payloadExpression,
+            resultKey,
+            whenFailure,
+            whenTimeout);
+    }
+
+    public WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest> Call<TResponse>(
+        string stepName,
+        Address address,
+        WorkflowExpressionDefinition payloadExpression,
+        WorkflowHandledBranchAction onFailure,
+        WorkflowHandledBranchAction onTimeout = WorkflowHandledBranchAction.None,
+        string? resultKey = null)
+    {
+        ArgumentNullException.ThrowIfNull(payloadExpression);
+        return AddMicroserviceCall(
+            stepName,
+            address.MicroserviceName,
+            address.Command,
+            context => WorkflowCanonicalExpressionRuntime.Evaluate(payloadExpression, context),
+            payloadExpression,
+            resultKey,
+            null,
+            null,
+            onFailure,
+            onTimeout);
+    }
+
     public WorkflowFlowBuilder<TStartRequest> Call(
         string stepName,
         Address address,
diff --git a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowRegistrationAbstractions.cs b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowRegistrationAbstractions.cs
index 77486a4f1..e0d8cd899 100644
--- a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowRegistrationAbstractions.cs
+++ b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Abstractions/WorkflowRegistrationAbstractions.cs
@@ -78,6 +78,9 @@ public static class WorkflowRegistrationServiceCollectionExtensions
     private static readonly JsonSerializerOptions SerializerOptions = new(JsonSerializerDefaults.Web)
     {
         PropertyNameCaseInsensitive = true,
+        // Allow floating-point JSON numbers (e.g., 201000256548.0) to deserialize into integer
+        // types (long?, int?). This is needed because the workflow state round-trips through
+        // JSON serialization which may add ".0" to integer values.
         NumberHandling = global::System.Text.Json.Serialization.JsonNumberHandling.AllowReadingFromString,
     };
 
@@ -191,6 +194,9 @@ public static class WorkflowRegistrationServiceCollectionExtensions
             return new Dictionary<string, object?>(payload, StringComparer.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
         }
 
+        // Normalize decimal-valued integers (e.g., 201000256548.0 → 201000256548)
+        // before serialization. This is needed because the workflow state may store
+        // integer values as decimals after JSON round-trips.
         var normalized = NormalizePayloadNumbers(payload);
         var json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(normalized, SerializerOptions);
         return JsonSerializer.Deserialize(json, startRequestType, SerializerOptions)
diff --git a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Contracts/WorkflowStartContracts.cs b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Contracts/WorkflowStartContracts.cs
index 8c4d3716e..bf9270c83 100644
--- a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Contracts/WorkflowStartContracts.cs
+++ b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Contracts/WorkflowStartContracts.cs
@@ -16,4 +16,6 @@ public sealed record StartWorkflowResponse
     public required string WorkflowName { get; init; }
     public required string WorkflowVersion { get; init; }
     public WorkflowBusinessReference? BusinessReference { get; init; }
+    public IReadOnlyCollection<WorkflowTaskSummary> NextTasks { get; init; } = [];
+    public IDictionary<string, object?> WorkflowState { get; init; } = new Dictionary<string, object?>();
 }
diff --git a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Contracts/WorkflowTaskContracts.cs b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Contracts/WorkflowTaskContracts.cs
index 0df8f01ac..06e080f81 100644
--- a/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Contracts/WorkflowTaskContracts.cs
+++ b/src/Workflow/__Libraries/StellaOps.Workflow.Contracts/WorkflowTaskContracts.cs
@@ -87,6 +87,9 @@ public sealed record WorkflowTaskCompleteResponse
 {
     public required string WorkflowTaskId { get; init; }
     public required bool Completed { get; init; }
+    public string? WorkflowInstanceId { get; init; }
+    public IReadOnlyCollection<WorkflowTaskSummary> NextTasks { get; init; } = [];
+    public IDictionary<string, object?> WorkflowState { get; init; } = new Dictionary<string, object?>();
 }
 
 public sealed record WorkflowTaskAssignRequest