diff --git a/orchestrator/profile_stage_chain.py b/orchestrator/profile_stage_chain.py
index 1856c20d..41e2f5ac 100644
--- a/orchestrator/profile_stage_chain.py
+++ b/orchestrator/profile_stage_chain.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ from collections import defaultdict
 from datetime import datetime, timezone
 from pathlib import Path
 
+from orchestrator.profile_trace_utils import TRACE_KIND, TRACE_SCHEMA_VERSION, build_trace_summary
 from tradingagents.graph.propagation import Propagator
 from tradingagents.graph.trading_graph import TradingAgentsGraph
 
@@ -84,6 +85,48 @@ def _extract_research_state(event: dict) -> tuple[str | None, str | None, int |
     )
 
 
+<<<<<<< HEAD
+=======
+
+def build_trace_payload(
+    *,
+    status: str,
+    run_id: str,
+    ticker: str,
+    date: str,
+    selected_analysts: list[str],
+    analysis_prompt_style: str,
+    variant_label: str,
+    node_timings: list[dict],
+    phase_totals: dict[str, float],
+    dump_path: Path,
+    raw_events: list[dict],
+    error: str | None = None,
+    exception_type: str | None = None,
+) -> dict:
+    payload = {
+        "trace_schema_version": TRACE_SCHEMA_VERSION,
+        "trace_kind": TRACE_KIND,
+        "run_id": run_id,
+        "status": status,
+        "ticker": ticker,
+        "date": date,
+        "variant_label": variant_label,
+        "selected_analysts": selected_analysts,
+        "analysis_prompt_style": analysis_prompt_style,
+        "node_timings": node_timings,
+        "summary": build_trace_summary(node_timings, phase_totals),
+        "dump_path": str(dump_path),
+        "raw_events": raw_events,
+    }
+    if error is not None:
+        payload["error"] = error
+    if exception_type is not None:
+        payload["exception_type"] = exception_type
+    return payload
+
+
+>>>>>>> 82e61cb (omx(team): auto-checkpoint worker-4 [unknown])
 def main() -> None:
     args = build_parser().parse_args()
     selected_analysts = [item.strip() for item in args.selected_analysts.split(",") if item.strip()]
diff --git a/orchestrator/profile_trace_utils.py b/orchestrator/profile_trace_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..b6772e05
--- /dev/null
+++ b/orchestrator/profile_trace_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+from collections import Counter
+
+TRACE_SCHEMA_VERSION = "tradingagents.profile_trace.v1alpha1"
+TRACE_KIND = "tradingagents_stage_profile"
+
+
+def build_trace_summary(node_timings: list[dict], phase_totals: dict[str, float]) -> dict:
+    phase_totals_seconds = {key: round(value, 3) for key, value in phase_totals.items()}
+    degraded_events = [entry for entry in node_timings if entry.get("research_status") not in (None, "full")]
+    node_counter = Counter(node for entry in node_timings for node in entry.get("nodes", []))
+    total_elapsed_ms = sum(int(entry.get("elapsed_ms", 0)) for entry in node_timings)
+    return {
+        "event_count": len(node_timings),
+        "total_elapsed_ms": total_elapsed_ms,
+        "phase_totals_seconds": phase_totals_seconds,
+        "degraded_event_count": len(degraded_events),
+        "final_research_status": node_timings[-1].get("research_status") if node_timings else None,
+        "final_degraded_reason": node_timings[-1].get("degraded_reason") if node_timings else None,
+        "unique_nodes": sorted(node_counter.keys()),
+        "node_hit_count": dict(sorted(node_counter.items())),
+    }