diff --git a/src/server/api/routers/trials.ts b/src/server/api/routers/trials.ts
index 12f2a5a..70e7e13 100755
--- a/src/server/api/routers/trials.ts
+++ b/src/server/api/routers/trials.ts
@@ -593,7 +593,7 @@ export const trialsRouter = createTRPCRouter({
       });
 
       // Broadcast trial status update
-      await wsManager.broadcast(input.id, {
+      await wsManager.broadcastExternal(input.id, {
         type: "trial_status",
         data: {
           trial: trial[0],
@@ -655,7 +655,7 @@ export const trialsRouter = createTRPCRouter({
       });
 
       // Broadcast trial status update
-      await wsManager.broadcast(input.id, {
+      await wsManager.broadcastExternal(input.id, {
         type: "trial_status",
         data: {
           trial,
@@ -718,7 +718,7 @@ export const trialsRouter = createTRPCRouter({
       });
 
       // Broadcast trial status update
-      await wsManager.broadcast(input.id, {
+      await wsManager.broadcastExternal(input.id, {
         type: "trial_status",
         data: {
           trial: trial[0],
@@ -878,7 +878,7 @@ export const trialsRouter = createTRPCRouter({
         .returning();
 
       // Broadcast new event to all subscribers
-      await wsManager.broadcast(input.trialId, {
+      await wsManager.broadcastExternal(input.trialId, {
         type: "trial_event",
         data: {
           event,
@@ -922,7 +922,7 @@ export const trialsRouter = createTRPCRouter({
         .returning();
 
       // Broadcast intervention to all subscribers
-      await wsManager.broadcast(input.trialId, {
+      await wsManager.broadcastExternal(input.trialId, {
         type: "intervention_logged",
         data: {
           intervention,
@@ -986,7 +986,7 @@ export const trialsRouter = createTRPCRouter({
       }
 
       // Broadcast annotation to all subscribers
-      await wsManager.broadcast(input.trialId, {
+      await wsManager.broadcastExternal(input.trialId, {
         type: "annotation_added",
         data: {
           annotation,
@@ -1380,7 +1380,7 @@ export const trialsRouter = createTRPCRouter({
         .returning();
 
       // Broadcast robot action to all subscribers
-      await wsManager.broadcast(input.trialId, {
+      await wsManager.broadcastExternal(input.trialId, {
         type: "trial_action_executed",
         data: {
           action_type: `${input.pluginName}.${input.actionId}`,
@@ -1439,7 +1439,7 @@ export const trialsRouter = createTRPCRouter({
         .returning();
 
       // Broadcast robot action to all subscribers
-      await wsManager.broadcast(input.trialId, {
+      await wsManager.broadcastExternal(input.trialId, {
         type: "trial_action_executed",
         data: {
           action_type: `${input.pluginName}.${input.actionId}`,
diff --git a/src/server/services/trial-execution.ts b/src/server/services/trial-execution.ts
index ae5b607..75c9a9b 100755
--- a/src/server/services/trial-execution.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/trial-execution.ts
@@ -441,10 +441,6 @@ export class TrialExecutionEngine {
       case "hristudio-core.loop":
         return await this.executeLoopAction(trialId, action);
 
-      case "branch":
-      case "hristudio-core.branch":
-        return await this.executeBranchAction(trialId, action);
-
       default:
         // Check if it's a robot action (contains plugin prefix)
         if (
diff --git a/src/server/services/websocket-manager.ts b/src/server/services/websocket-manager.ts
index e7cc556..2720e62 100644
--- a/src/server/services/websocket-manager.ts
+++ b/src/server/services/websocket-manager.ts
@@ -146,6 +146,24 @@ class WebSocketManager {
     );
   }
 
+  // Called from Next.js tRPC router — POSTs to the Bun ws-server process
+  // which holds the actual client connections.
+  async broadcastExternal(
+    trialId: string,
+    message: OutgoingMessage,
+  ): Promise<void> {
+    const wsPort = process.env.WS_PORT ?? "3001";
+    try {
+      await fetch(`http://localhost:${wsPort}/internal/broadcast`, {
+        method: "POST",
+        headers: { "Content-Type": "application/json" },
+        body: JSON.stringify({ trialId, message }),
+      });
+    } catch (error) {
+      console.error(`[WS] Failed to broadcast externally for trial ${trialId}:`, error);
+    }
+  }
+
   async broadcastToAll(message: OutgoingMessage): Promise<void> {
     const messageStr = JSON.stringify(message);
     const disconnectedClients: string[] = [];
diff --git a/ws-server.ts b/ws-server.ts
index 96f6923..b292ee0 100644
--- a/ws-server.ts
+++ b/ws-server.ts
@@ -46,9 +46,22 @@ console.log(`Starting WebSocket server on port ${port}...`);
 
 serve<WSData>({
   port,
-  fetch(req, server) {
+  async fetch(req, server) {
     const url = new URL(req.url);
 
+    // Internal broadcast endpoint — called by Next.js tRPC router
+    if (url.pathname === "/internal/broadcast") {
+      if (req.method !== "POST") {
+        return new Response("Method not allowed", { status: 405 });
+      }
+      const { trialId, message } = (await req.json()) as {
+        trialId: string;
+        message: { type: string; data: Record<string, unknown> };
+      };
+      await wsManager.broadcast(trialId, message);
+      return new Response("OK", { status: 200 });
+    }
+
     if (url.pathname === "/api/websocket") {
       if (req.headers.get("upgrade") !== "websocket") {
         return new Response("WebSocket upgrade required", { status: 426 });
@@ -114,7 +127,7 @@ serve<WSData>({
         }),
       );
     },
-    message(ws: ServerWebSocket<WSData>, message) {
+    async message(ws: ServerWebSocket<WSData>, message) {
       const { clientId, trialId } = ws.data;
 
       try {
@@ -131,7 +144,7 @@ serve<WSData>({
             break;
 
           case "request_trial_status": {
-            const status = wsManager.getTrialStatusSync(trialId);
+            const status = await wsManager.getTrialStatus(trialId);
             ws.send(
               JSON.stringify({
                 type: "trial_status",
@@ -146,7 +159,7 @@ serve<WSData>({
           }
 
           case "request_trial_events": {
-            const events = wsManager.getTrialEventsSync(
+            const events = await wsManager.getTrialEvents(
               trialId,
               msg.data?.limit ?? 100,
             );