diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d556f6e..824c29d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -750,6 +750,11 @@ Long-running `./jeannie up` steps keep compact output by default, but
 the active step line refreshes with elapsed time and the latest log line. Set
 `JEANNIE_PROGRESS_INTERVAL_SECONDS=5` for faster heartbeats, or
 `JEANNIE_VERBOSE=true` to stream full command output.
+Independent host services run through the Go DAG runner during `up`: Gitea
+deploy/bootstrap, RPi services, Pimox workers, OpenWrt, and OCI edge host checks
+can progress concurrently. Set `JEANNIE_UP_PARALLELISM=1` to force sequential
+execution while troubleshooting, or raise it above the default `4` if the lab
+can absorb more concurrent work.
 
 Run a full cluster rebuild from the Debian server with:
 
diff --git a/README.md.tmpl b/README.md.tmpl
index b4c7034..0868164 100644
--- a/README.md.tmpl
+++ b/README.md.tmpl
@@ -750,6 +750,11 @@ Long-running `./{{ main_script }} up` steps keep compact output by default, but
 the active step line refreshes with elapsed time and the latest log line. Set
 `JEANNIE_PROGRESS_INTERVAL_SECONDS=5` for faster heartbeats, or
 `JEANNIE_VERBOSE=true` to stream full command output.
+Independent host services run through the Go DAG runner during `up`: Gitea
+deploy/bootstrap, RPi services, Pimox workers, OpenWrt, and OCI edge host checks
+can progress concurrently. Set `JEANNIE_UP_PARALLELISM=1` to force sequential
+execution while troubleshooting, or raise it above the default `4` if the lab
+can absorb more concurrent work.
 
 Run a full cluster rebuild from the Debian server with:
 
diff --git a/cmd/jeannie-core/main.go b/cmd/jeannie-core/main.go
index d826cb3..8dd2853 100644
--- a/cmd/jeannie-core/main.go
+++ b/cmd/jeannie-core/main.go
@@ -1,13 +1,18 @@
 package main
 
 import (
+	"bufio"
+	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"flag"
 	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"os"
+	"os/exec"
 	"sort"
 	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"time"
 )
 
 type reportRow struct {
@@ -33,6 +38,11 @@ func main() {
 			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
 			os.Exit(1)
 		}
+	case "run-dag":
+		if err := runDAG(os.Args[2:], os.Stdout, os.Stderr); err != nil {
+			fmt.Fprintln(os.Stderr, err)
+			os.Exit(1)
+		}
 	case "help", "-h", "--help":
 		usage(os.Stdout)
 	default:
@@ -42,7 +52,184 @@ func main() {
 }
 
 func usage(out io.Writer) {
-	fmt.Fprintln(out, "Usage: jeannie-core report-render [--title TITLE] [--details] [--only failures|warnings|problems|all] [--json]")
+	fmt.Fprintln(out, "Usage: jeannie-core {report-render|run-dag}")
+}
+
+type dagSpec struct {
+	Tasks       []dagTask `json:"tasks"`
+	Parallelism int       `json:"parallelism"`
+}
+
+type dagTask struct {
+	ID      string   `json:"id"`
+	Title   string   `json:"title"`
+	Command []string `json:"command"`
+	Needs   []string `json:"needs"`
+}
+
+type dagTaskResult struct {
+	id       string
+	exitCode int
+	err      error
+}
+
+func runDAG(args []string, out io.Writer, errOut io.Writer) error {
+	flags := flag.NewFlagSet("run-dag", flag.ContinueOnError)
+	flags.SetOutput(io.Discard)
+	specPath := flags.String("spec", "", "")
+	if err := flags.Parse(args); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	if *specPath == "" {
+		return fmt.Errorf("run-dag requires --spec")
+	}
+
+	specData, err := os.ReadFile(*specPath)
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	var spec dagSpec
+	if err := json.Unmarshal(specData, &spec); err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+	return executeDAG(context.Background(), spec, out, errOut)
+}
+
+func executeDAG(ctx context.Context, spec dagSpec, out io.Writer, errOut io.Writer) error {
+	if spec.Parallelism <= 0 {
+		spec.Parallelism = 4
+	}
+
+	taskByID := map[string]dagTask{}
+	dependents := map[string][]string{}
+	remainingNeeds := map[string]int{}
+	for _, task := range spec.Tasks {
+		if task.ID == "" {
+			return fmt.Errorf("dag task has empty id")
+		}
+		if _, exists := taskByID[task.ID]; exists {
+			return fmt.Errorf("duplicate dag task id %q", task.ID)
+		}
+		if len(task.Command) == 0 {
+			return fmt.Errorf("dag task %q has empty command", task.ID)
+		}
+		taskByID[task.ID] = task
+		remainingNeeds[task.ID] = len(task.Needs)
+		for _, need := range task.Needs {
+			dependents[need] = append(dependents[need], task.ID)
+		}
+	}
+	for _, task := range spec.Tasks {
+		for _, need := range task.Needs {
+			if _, exists := taskByID[need]; !exists {
+				return fmt.Errorf("dag task %q depends on unknown task %q", task.ID, need)
+			}
+		}
+	}
+
+	ctx, cancel := context.WithCancel(ctx)
+	defer cancel()
+
+	ready := make(chan string, len(spec.Tasks))
+	results := make(chan dagTaskResult, len(spec.Tasks))
+	sem := make(chan struct{}, spec.Parallelism)
+	var writersMu sync.Mutex
+	var wg sync.WaitGroup
+	started := map[string]bool{}
+	completed := map[string]bool{}
+
+	for id, count := range remainingNeeds {
+		if count == 0 {
+			ready <- id
+		}
+	}
+
+	failed := false
+	for len(completed) < len(spec.Tasks) {
+		select {
+		case id := <-ready:
+			if started[id] || failed {
+				continue
+			}
+			started[id] = true
+			task := taskByID[id]
+			wg.Add(1)
+			go func() {
+				defer wg.Done()
+				sem <- struct{}{}
+				defer func() { <-sem }()
+				results <- runDAGTask(ctx, task, out, errOut, &writersMu)
+			}()
+		case result := <-results:
+			completed[result.id] = true
+			if result.err != nil || result.exitCode != 0 {
+				failed = true
+				cancel()
+				wg.Wait()
+				if result.err != nil {
+					return result.err
+				}
+				return fmt.Errorf("dag task %q failed with exit code %d", result.id, result.exitCode)
+			}
+			for _, dependent := range dependents[result.id] {
+				remainingNeeds[dependent]--
+				if remainingNeeds[dependent] == 0 {
+					ready <- dependent
+				}
+			}
+		}
+	}
+	wg.Wait()
+	return nil
+}
+
+func runDAGTask(ctx context.Context, task dagTask, out io.Writer, errOut io.Writer, writersMu *sync.Mutex) dagTaskResult {
+	title := task.Title
+	if title == "" {
+		title = task.ID
+	}
+	started := time.Now()
+	writeDAGLine(out, writersMu, task.ID, "started "+title)
+
+	cmd := exec.CommandContext(ctx, task.Command[0], task.Command[1:]...)
+	cmd.Env = os.Environ()
+	stdout, err := cmd.StdoutPipe()
+	if err != nil {
+		return dagTaskResult{id: task.ID, exitCode: 1, err: err}
+	}
+	cmd.Stderr = cmd.Stdout
+	if err := cmd.Start(); err != nil {
+		return dagTaskResult{id: task.ID, exitCode: 1, err: err}
+	}
+
+	scanner := bufio.NewScanner(stdout)
+	scanner.Buffer(make([]byte, 0, 64*1024), 1024*1024)
+	for scanner.Scan() {
+		writeDAGLine(out, writersMu, task.ID, scanner.Text())
+	}
+	if scanErr := scanner.Err(); scanErr != nil {
+		writeDAGLine(errOut, writersMu, task.ID, "output read error: "+scanErr.Error())
+	}
+
+	err = cmd.Wait()
+	elapsed := time.Since(started).Round(time.Second)
+	exitCode := 0
+	if err != nil {
+		exitCode = 1
+		if exitErr, ok := err.(*exec.ExitError); ok {
+			exitCode = exitErr.ExitCode()
+		}
+		writeDAGLine(out, writersMu, task.ID, fmt.Sprintf("failed after %s", elapsed))
+		return dagTaskResult{id: task.ID, exitCode: exitCode, err: nil}
+	}
+	writeDAGLine(out, writersMu, task.ID, fmt.Sprintf("completed in %s", elapsed))
+	return dagTaskResult{id: task.ID, exitCode: 0, err: nil}
+}
+
+func writeDAGLine(out io.Writer, writersMu *sync.Mutex, id string, line string) {
+	writersMu.Lock()
+	defer writersMu.Unlock()
+	fmt.Fprintf(out, "[%s] %s\n", id, line)
 }
 
 func runReportRender(args []string, in io.Reader, out io.Writer) error {
diff --git a/cmd/jeannie-core/main_test.go b/cmd/jeannie-core/main_test.go
index d0f9de3..5958c74 100644
--- a/cmd/jeannie-core/main_test.go
+++ b/cmd/jeannie-core/main_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@ package main
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"context"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
 	"strings"
 	"testing"
 )
@@ -42,3 +45,46 @@ func TestReportRenderHidesOKGraphAndQuery(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Fatalf("ok row leaked graph/query links:\n%s", got)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestExecuteDAGRespectsDependencies(t *testing.T) {
+	dir := t.TempDir()
+	first := filepath.Join(dir, "first")
+	second := filepath.Join(dir, "second")
+	spec := dagSpec{
+		Parallelism: 2,
+		Tasks: []dagTask{
+			{
+				ID:      "first",
+				Command: []string{"sh", "-c", "printf first > \"$1\"", "sh", first},
+			},
+			{
+				ID:      "second",
+				Needs:   []string{"first"},
+				Command: []string{"sh", "-c", "test -f \"$1\" && printf second > \"$2\"", "sh", first, second},
+			},
+		},
+	}
+
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	if err := executeDAG(context.Background(), spec, &output, &output); err != nil {
+		t.Fatal(err)
+	}
+	if _, err := os.Stat(second); err != nil {
+		t.Fatalf("dependent task did not run after dependency: %v\n%s", err, output.String())
+	}
+}
+
+func TestExecuteDAGReturnsFailedTask(t *testing.T) {
+	spec := dagSpec{
+		Parallelism: 2,
+		Tasks: []dagTask{
+			{ID: "bad", Command: []string{"sh", "-c", "exit 7"}},
+		},
+	}
+
+	var output bytes.Buffer
+	err := executeDAG(context.Background(), spec, &output, &output)
+	if err == nil || !strings.Contains(err.Error(), `dag task "bad" failed`) {
+		t.Fatalf("expected failed task error, got %v\n%s", err, output.String())
+	}
+}
diff --git a/docs/jeannie.1.md b/docs/jeannie.1.md
index cabfff5..b1134ad 100644
--- a/docs/jeannie.1.md
+++ b/docs/jeannie.1.md
@@ -535,6 +535,10 @@ falls back to the first Lynis warning, then the first suggestion.
 `LAB_AUTO_APPROVE=false`
 : Disable automatic OpenTofu approval for apply paths that support confirmation.
 
+`JEANNIE_UP_PARALLELISM`
+: Maximum number of independent `up` branches the Go DAG runner may execute at
+once. Defaults to `4`; set to `1` for sequential troubleshooting.
+
 `LAB_PIMOX_WORKER_COUNT`
 : Desired Pimox worker count when not supplied by generated cluster topology
 state.
diff --git a/jeannie b/jeannie
index a1e25cd..d55e0d2 100755
--- a/jeannie
+++ b/jeannie
@@ -4546,22 +4546,111 @@ ensure_cluster_worker_var_file() {
     fi
 }
 
+run_up_parallel_stage() {
+    local spec_file
+    local parallelism="${JEANNIE_UP_PARALLELISM:-4}"
+    local status
+
+    if ! [[ "${parallelism}" =~ ^[0-9]+$ ]] || ((parallelism < 1)); then
+        echo "JEANNIE_UP_PARALLELISM must be a positive integer." >&2
+        return 1
+    fi
+
+    spec_file="$(mktemp)"
+    python3 - "${spec_file}" "${REPO_ROOT}/jeannie" "${parallelism}" <<'PY'
+import json
+import sys
+
+spec_file, jeannie, parallelism = sys.argv[1:4]
+spec = {
+    "parallelism": int(parallelism),
+    "tasks": [
+        {
+            "id": "gitea-deploy",
+            "title": "Gitea deploy",
+            "command": [jeannie, "__up-task", "gitea-deploy"],
+        },
+        {
+            "id": "gitea-bootstrap",
+            "title": "Gitea repo bootstrap",
+            "needs": ["gitea-deploy"],
+            "command": [jeannie, "__up-task", "gitea-bootstrap"],
+        },
+        {
+            "id": "rpi-services",
+            "title": "RPi services",
+            "command": [jeannie, "__up-task", "rpi-services"],
+        },
+        {
+            "id": "pimox-workers",
+            "title": "Pimox provisioning and workers",
+            "command": [jeannie, "__up-task", "pimox-workers"],
+        },
+        {
+            "id": "openwrt",
+            "title": "OpenWrt VM",
+            "command": [jeannie, "__up-task", "openwrt"],
+        },
+        {
+            "id": "edge-host",
+            "title": "OCI edge host check",
+            "command": [jeannie, "__up-task", "edge-host"],
+        },
+    ],
+}
+with open(spec_file, "w", encoding="utf-8") as handle:
+    json.dump(spec, handle, indent=2)
+    handle.write("\n")
+PY
+    set +e
+    "${REPO_ROOT}/scripts/jeannie-core" run-dag --spec "${spec_file}"
+    status=$?
+    set -e
+    rm -f "${spec_file}"
+    return "${status}"
+}
+
+up_task() {
+    require_debian_server "__up-task"
+
+    case "${1:-}" in
+        gitea-deploy)
+            deploy_gitea
+            ;;
+        gitea-bootstrap)
+            bootstrap_gitea_repo
+            ;;
+        rpi-services)
+            deploy_rpi_services
+            ;;
+        pimox-workers)
+            run_pimox_pipeline
+            ;;
+        openwrt)
+            run_openwrt_pipeline
+            ;;
+        edge-host)
+            check_edge_ssh
+            ;;
+        *)
+            echo "Unknown __up-task '${1:-}'." >&2
+            return 1
+            ;;
+    esac
+}
+
 up() {
     require_debian_server "up"
 
     echo "Deploying the homelab infrastructure..."
     jeannie_log_start "up"
-    jeannie_step_plan 16
+    jeannie_step_plan 12
 
     run_step "Early preflight" homelab_preflight early
     run_step "Go toolchain" ensure_go_toolchain
-    run_step "Gitea deploy" deploy_gitea
-    run_step "Gitea repo bootstrap" bootstrap_gitea_repo
-    run_step "RPi services" deploy_rpi_services
+    run_step "Independent host services" run_up_parallel_stage
     run_step "Full preflight" homelab_preflight full
     run_step "Pre-apply doctor" doctor_preapply
-    run_step "Pimox provisioning and workers" run_pimox_pipeline
-    run_step "OpenWrt VM" run_openwrt_pipeline
     run_step "Worker var file" ensure_cluster_worker_var_file
     run_step "Start existing cluster if stopped" ensure_existing_cluster_started_for_up
     run_step "Cluster OpenTofu apply" run_tofu_stack "bootstrap/cluster"
@@ -7016,6 +7105,9 @@ if [[ "${JEANNIE_LIBRARY_MODE:-false}" == "true" ]]; then
 fi
 
 case "${1:-}" in
+    __up-task)
+        up_task "${2:-}"
+        ;;
     "" | help | -h | --help)
         print_usage
         ;;
diff --git a/scripts/jeannie-core b/scripts/jeannie-core
new file mode 100755
index 0000000..3f0ae13
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scripts/jeannie-core
@@ -0,0 +1,27 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+REPO_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
+CORE_BIN="${JEANNIE_CORE_BIN:-${REPO_ROOT}/.lab/bin/jeannie-core}"
+
+core_sources_newer() {
+    local source
+
+    while IFS= read -r source; do
+        if [[ "${source}" -nt "${CORE_BIN}" ]]; then
+            return 0
+        fi
+    done < <(find "${REPO_ROOT}/cmd/jeannie-core" -name '*.go' -type f)
+    return 1
+}
+
+if [[ ! -x "${CORE_BIN}" || "${REPO_ROOT}/go.mod" -nt "${CORE_BIN}" ]] || core_sources_newer; then
+    if ! command -v go >/dev/null 2>&1; then
+        echo "go is required to build ${CORE_BIN}; run ./jeannie up or install golang-go." >&2
+        exit 1
+    fi
+    mkdir -p "$(dirname "${CORE_BIN}")"
+    GOCACHE="${GOCACHE:-${REPO_ROOT}/.lab/go-build-cache}" go build -o "${CORE_BIN}" "${REPO_ROOT}/cmd/jeannie-core"
+fi
+
+exec "${CORE_BIN}" "$@"
diff --git a/scripts/report-render b/scripts/report-render
index de9d167..f959248 100755
--- a/scripts/report-render
+++ b/scripts/report-render
@@ -2,19 +2,6 @@
 set -euo pipefail
 
 REPO_ROOT="$(cd "$(dirname "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")/.." && pwd)"
-CORE_BIN="${JEANNIE_CORE_BIN:-${REPO_ROOT}/.lab/bin/jeannie-core}"
-
-core_sources_newer() {
-    local source
-
-    while IFS= read -r source; do
-        if [[ "${source}" -nt "${CORE_BIN}" ]]; then
-            return 0
-        fi
-    done < <(find "${REPO_ROOT}/cmd/jeannie-core" -name '*.go' -type f)
-    return 1
-}
-
 usage() {
     cat <<'EOF'
 Usage: report-render [--title TITLE] [--details] [--only failures|warnings|problems|all] [--json]
@@ -35,13 +22,4 @@ if (($# > 0)); then
     esac
 fi
 
-if [[ ! -x "${CORE_BIN}" || "${REPO_ROOT}/go.mod" -nt "${CORE_BIN}" ]] || core_sources_newer; then
-    if ! command -v go >/dev/null 2>&1; then
-        echo "go is required to build ${CORE_BIN}; run ./jeannie up or install golang-go." >&2
-        exit 1
-    fi
-    mkdir -p "$(dirname "${CORE_BIN}")"
-    GOCACHE="${GOCACHE:-${REPO_ROOT}/.lab/go-build-cache}" go build -o "${CORE_BIN}" "${REPO_ROOT}/cmd/jeannie-core"
-fi
-
-exec "${CORE_BIN}" report-render "$@"
+exec "${REPO_ROOT}/scripts/jeannie-core" report-render "$@"