diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/machine/sequence-runner.test.ts b/src/lib/onboard/machine/sequence-runner.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6791168566
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/machine/sequence-runner.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,212 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+import { describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import {
+  createSession,
+  filterSafeUpdates,
+  normalizeSession,
+  sanitizeFailure,
+  type Session,
+  type SessionUpdates,
+} from "../../state/onboard-session";
+import { advanceTo, branchTo, completeOnboardMachine, retryTo } from "./result";
+import { OnboardRuntime, type OnboardRuntimeDeps } from "./runtime";
+import {
+  buildOnboardSequenceHandlers,
+  DuplicateOnboardSequencePhaseError,
+  runOnboardSequenceWithRunner,
+  type OnboardSequencePhase,
+} from "./sequence-runner";
+
+interface SequenceContext {
+  attempt: number;
+  log: string[];
+}
+
+function cloneSession(session: Session): Session {
+  return normalizeSession(JSON.parse(JSON.stringify(session))) ?? session;
+}
+
+function createRuntime(initialSession: Session = createSession()) {
+  let session = cloneSession(initialSession);
+  const updateSession = (mutator: (value: Session) => Session | void): Session => {
+    session = cloneSession(mutator(cloneSession(session)) ?? session);
+    return cloneSession(session);
+  };
+  const deps: OnboardRuntimeDeps = {
+    loadSession: () => cloneSession(session),
+    createSession,
+    saveSession: (next) => {
+      session = cloneSession(next);
+      return cloneSession(session);
+    },
+    updateSession,
+    markStepStarted: () => cloneSession(session),
+    markStepComplete: (_stepName, updates: SessionUpdates = {}) =>
+      updateSession((current) => {
+        Object.assign(current, filterSafeUpdates(updates));
+        return current;
+      }),
+    markStepCompleteRecordOnly: (_stepName, updates: SessionUpdates = {}) =>
+      updateSession((current) => {
+        Object.assign(current, filterSafeUpdates(updates));
+        return current;
+      }),
+    markStepSkipped: () => cloneSession(session),
+    markStepFailed: (stepName, message) =>
+      updateSession((current) => {
+        current.status = "failed";
+        current.failure = sanitizeFailure({ step: stepName, message, recordedAt: "now" });
+        return current;
+      }),
+    markStepFailedRecordOnly: () => cloneSession(session),
+    completeSession: (updates: SessionUpdates = {}) =>
+      updateSession((current) => {
+        Object.assign(current, filterSafeUpdates(updates));
+        current.status = "complete";
+        current.resumable = false;
+        return current;
+      }),
+    filterSafeUpdates,
+    emitEvent: () => undefined,
+    now: () => "2026-05-29T00:00:00.000Z",
+  };
+  return new OnboardRuntime(deps);
+}
+
+function phase(
+  state: OnboardSequencePhase<SequenceContext>["state"],
+  run: OnboardSequencePhase<SequenceContext>["run"],
+): OnboardSequencePhase<SequenceContext> {
+  return { state, run };
+}
+
+describe("onboard sequence runner", () => {
+  it("runs sequence phases through the strict FSM runner", async () => {
+    const phases: OnboardSequencePhase<SequenceContext>[] = [
+      phase("init", (context) => ({
+        context: { ...context, log: [...context.log, "init"] },
+        result: advanceTo("preflight"),
+      })),
+      phase("preflight", (context) => ({
+        context: { ...context, log: [...context.log, "preflight"] },
+        result: advanceTo("gateway"),
+      })),
+      phase("gateway", (context) => ({
+        context: { ...context, log: [...context.log, "gateway"] },
+        result: advanceTo("provider_selection"),
+      })),
+      phase("provider_selection", (context) => {
+        if (context.attempt === 0) {
+          return {
+            context: { attempt: 1, log: [...context.log, "provider:first"] },
+            result: [
+              advanceTo("inference", { metadata: { state: "provider_selection" } }),
+              retryTo("provider_selection", { metadata: { state: "inference" } }),
+            ],
+          };
+        }
+        return {
+          context: { ...context, log: [...context.log, "provider:second"] },
+          result: [
+            advanceTo("inference", { metadata: { state: "provider_selection" } }),
+            advanceTo("sandbox", { metadata: { state: "inference" } }),
+          ],
+        };
+      }),
+      phase("sandbox", (context) => ({
+        context: { ...context, log: [...context.log, "sandbox"] },
+        result: branchTo("openclaw"),
+      })),
+      phase("openclaw", (context) => ({
+        context: { ...context, log: [...context.log, "openclaw"] },
+        result: advanceTo("policies"),
+      })),
+      phase("policies", (context) => ({
+        context: { ...context, log: [...context.log, "policies"] },
+        result: advanceTo("finalizing"),
+      })),
+      phase("finalizing", (context) => ({
+        context: { ...context, log: [...context.log, "finalizing"] },
+        result: advanceTo("post_verify"),
+      })),
+      phase("post_verify", (context) => ({
+        context: { ...context, log: [...context.log, "post_verify"] },
+        result: completeOnboardMachine({ sandboxName: "my-assistant" }),
+      })),
+    ];
+
+    const result = await runOnboardSequenceWithRunner({
+      context: { attempt: 0, log: [] },
+      runtime: createRuntime(),
+      phases,
+    });
+
+    expect(result.session).toMatchObject({
+      status: "complete",
+      sandboxName: "my-assistant",
+      machine: { state: "complete" },
+    });
+    expect(result.context).toEqual({
+      attempt: 1,
+      log: [
+        "init",
+        "preflight",
+        "gateway",
+        "provider:first",
+        "provider:second",
+        "sandbox",
+        "openclaw",
+        "policies",
+        "finalizing",
+        "post_verify",
+      ],
+    });
+  });
+
+  it("passes custom sequence ownership through to the runner", async () => {
+    const result = await runOnboardSequenceWithRunner({
+      context: { attempt: 0, log: [] },
+      runtime: createRuntime(
+        createSession({
+          machine: {
+            version: 1,
+            state: "finalizing",
+            stateEnteredAt: "2026-05-29T00:00:00.000Z",
+            revision: 0,
+          },
+        }),
+      ),
+      sequenceOwnership: { finalizing: ["post_verify"] },
+      phases: [
+        phase("finalizing", (context) => ({
+          context: { ...context, log: ["finalizing"] },
+          result: [
+            advanceTo("post_verify", { metadata: { state: "finalizing" } }),
+            completeOnboardMachine({}, { state: "post_verify" }),
+          ],
+        })),
+      ],
+    });
+
+    expect(result.session).toMatchObject({
+      status: "complete",
+      machine: { state: "complete" },
+    });
+    expect(result.context.log).toEqual(["finalizing"]);
+  });
+
+  it("rejects duplicate phases before running", () => {
+    expect(() =>
+      buildOnboardSequenceHandlers(
+        [
+          phase("preflight", (context) => ({ context, result: advanceTo("gateway") })),
+          phase("preflight", (context) => ({ context, result: advanceTo("gateway") })),
+        ],
+        () => undefined,
+      ),
+    ).toThrow(DuplicateOnboardSequencePhaseError);
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/onboard/machine/sequence-runner.ts b/src/lib/onboard/machine/sequence-runner.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ecda077c93
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/onboard/machine/sequence-runner.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,78 @@
+// SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright (c) 2026 NVIDIA CORPORATION & AFFILIATES. All rights reserved.
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+import type { OnboardMachineRunnerOptions, OnboardStateHandlerResult } from "./runner";
+import { runOnboardMachine, type OnboardMachineRunnerRuntime, type OnboardStateHandlers } from "./runner";
+import type { OnboardNonTerminalMachineState } from "./types";
+
+export interface OnboardSequencePhaseResult<Context> {
+  context: Context;
+  result: OnboardStateHandlerResult;
+}
+
+export interface OnboardSequencePhase<Context> {
+  state: OnboardNonTerminalMachineState;
+  run(context: Context): Promise<OnboardSequencePhaseResult<Context>> | OnboardSequencePhaseResult<Context>;
+}
+
+export interface OnboardSequenceRunnerOptions<Context> {
+  context: Context;
+  runtime: OnboardMachineRunnerRuntime;
+  phases: readonly OnboardSequencePhase<Context>[];
+  maxTransitions?: OnboardMachineRunnerOptions<Context>["maxTransitions"];
+  sequenceOwnership?: OnboardMachineRunnerOptions<Context>["sequenceOwnership"];
+}
+
+export class DuplicateOnboardSequencePhaseError extends Error {
+  readonly state: OnboardNonTerminalMachineState;
+
+  constructor(state: OnboardNonTerminalMachineState) {
+    super(`Duplicate onboarding sequence phase for state: ${state}`);
+    this.name = "DuplicateOnboardSequencePhaseError";
+    this.state = state;
+  }
+}
+
+export function buildOnboardSequenceHandlers<Context>(
+  phases: readonly OnboardSequencePhase<Context>[],
+  setPendingContext: (context: Context) => void,
+): OnboardStateHandlers<Context> {
+  const handlers: OnboardStateHandlers<Context> = {};
+  for (const phase of phases) {
+    if (handlers[phase.state]) throw new DuplicateOnboardSequencePhaseError(phase.state);
+    handlers[phase.state] = async (context) => {
+      const phaseResult = await phase.run(context);
+      setPendingContext(phaseResult.context);
+      return phaseResult.result;
+    };
+  }
+  return handlers;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Adapter for migrating the existing manual onboard sequence onto the strict
+ * FSM runner.
+ *
+ * Each phase can keep constructing its rich next context while returning one or
+ * more explicit FSM results. The generic runner remains responsible for
+ * applying those results and validating transitions.
+ */
+export async function runOnboardSequenceWithRunner<Context>({
+  context: initialContext,
+  runtime,
+  phases,
+  maxTransitions,
+  sequenceOwnership,
+}: OnboardSequenceRunnerOptions<Context>) {
+  let pendingContext = initialContext;
+  return runOnboardMachine({
+    context: initialContext,
+    runtime,
+    maxTransitions,
+    sequenceOwnership,
+    handlers: buildOnboardSequenceHandlers(phases, (context) => {
+      pendingContext = context;
+    }),
+    updateContext: () => pendingContext,
+  });
+}