diff --git a/cue/cuex/compiler.go b/cue/cuex/compiler.go
index 0488a34..438e26c 100644
--- a/cue/cuex/compiler.go
+++ b/cue/cuex/compiler.go
@@ -1490,8 +1490,9 @@ func ready(call pendingCall, pending []pendingCall, stillPending map[string]bool
 }
 
 // paramsResolved reports whether a call's parameters have a value yet. A call
-// with no parameters at all has nothing to wait for; what the provider makes
-// of that is its own business, as it always was.
+// with no $params has nothing to check here: a legacy call's top-level fields
+// hold its outputs as well as its inputs, and those stay unset until it runs, so
+// it is ordered by the calls it reads (callDependencies) alone.
 //
 // A NativeProviderFn is handed the parameters as a cue.Value and may mean to
 // take them unresolved - a schema, or an open disjunction. Such a call is
@@ -1537,16 +1538,17 @@ func waitsForPeer(call pendingCall, pending []pendingCall, stillPending map[stri
 // References are therefore followed through fields that are not themselves
 // calls, and stop at ones that are - what a call holds is that call's business
 // and reading into it here means reading whatever it has rendered.
+//
+// A call with no $params is written in the legacy style: its inputs are its own
+// top-level fields, so those are what it reads.
+//
+//	wait: op.#ConditionalWait & {continue: req.$returns != _|_}
 func callDependencies(call pendingCall, pending []pendingCall, executed map[string]bool) []string {
 	if len(pending) < 2 {
 		return nil // no peer to read, so nothing to read from one
 	}
-	params := call.value.LookupPath(paramsPath)
-	if !params.Exists() {
-		return nil
-	}
 	var queue []reference
-	if !collectReferences(params, &queue, 0) {
+	if !collectInputReferences(call.value, &queue) {
 		return peerKeys(call, pending)
 	}
 	waits := map[string]bool{}
@@ -1605,6 +1607,28 @@ func callDependencies(call pendingCall, pending []pendingCall, executed map[stri
 	return keys
 }
 
+// collectInputReferences collects the references a call's inputs make: its
+// $params, or for a legacy call with none, each of its own top-level fields,
+// hidden ones included, since a provider may read those too. The
+// fields and not the call's expression, which is the conjunction with the
+// definition the call is made from, and reading into that definition reads the
+// package it lives in rather than anything the call was given.
+func collectInputReferences(call cue.Value, into *[]reference) bool {
+	if params := call.LookupPath(paramsPath); params.Exists() {
+		return collectReferences(params, into, 0)
+	}
+	it, err := call.Fields(cue.Optional(true), cue.Hidden(true))
+	if err != nil {
+		return false
+	}
+	for it.Next() {
+		if !collectReferences(it.Value(), into, 1) {
+			return false
+		}
+	}
+	return true
+}
+
 // reference is a path some value reads, kept with the root it is relative to
 // so it can be looked up again.
 type reference struct {
diff --git a/cue/cuex/legacy_call_order_test.go b/cue/cuex/legacy_call_order_test.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9a48502
--- /dev/null
+++ b/cue/cuex/legacy_call_order_test.go
@@ -0,0 +1,186 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2026 The KubeVela Authors.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package cuex_test
+
+import (
+	"context"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"strings"
+	"sync"
+	"testing"
+
+	"cuelang.org/go/cue"
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
+
+	"github.com/kubevela/pkg/cue/cuex"
+	cuexruntime "github.com/kubevela/pkg/cue/cuex/runtime"
+)
+
+// deepNesting is past cuex's maxReferenceDepth (100), the depth it looks for
+// references to; a test reaching it must nest deeper than that bound.
+const deepNesting = 110
+
+// legacyFn is a provider in the shape kubevela/workflow's legacy providers take: it
+// is handed the whole call, with its inputs at the top level and no $params.
+type legacyFn func(value cue.Value) (cue.Value, error)
+
+func (fn legacyFn) Call(_ context.Context, value cue.Value) (cue.Value, error) {
+	return fn(value)
+}
+
+type seqParams struct {
+	Params struct {
+		V int `json:"v"`
+	} `json:"$params"`
+}
+
+type seqReturns struct {
+	Returns struct {
+		V int `json:"v"`
+	} `json:"$returns"`
+}
+
+// seqCompiler offers a new-style call (#New, $params to $returns), a legacy call that
+// produces output on its own fields (#Make), and legacy calls recording what their
+// input held when they ran: `ready` (#Check), the hidden `_ready` (#CheckHidden), or
+// a leaf nested deepNesting levels down (#CheckDeep). The package also declares a top-level
+// bottom, as kubevela/workflow's legacy op package does (NoExist: _|_), which is
+// what a call's inputs must be read without reaching into.
+func seqCompiler(t *testing.T, seen *[]bool) *cuex.Compiler {
+	var mu sync.Mutex
+	pkg, err := cuexruntime.NewInternalPackage("seq", `
+package seq
+
+#New: {
+	#do:       "new"
+	#provider: "seq"
+	$params: v: int
+	$returns?: v: int
+}
+
+#Make: {
+	#do:       "make"
+	#provider: "seq"
+	value?: {...}
+}
+
+#Check: {
+	#do:       "check"
+	#provider: "seq"
+	ready: *false | bool
+}
+
+#CheckHidden: {
+	#do:       "check-hidden"
+	#provider: "seq"
+	...
+}
+
+#CheckDeep: {
+	#do:       "check-deep"
+	#provider: "seq"
+	...
+}
+
+NoExist: _|_`, map[string]cuexruntime.ProviderFn{
+		"new": cuexruntime.GenericProviderFn[seqParams, seqReturns](func(_ context.Context, in *seqParams) (*seqReturns, error) {
+			out := &seqReturns{}
+			out.Returns.V = in.Params.V
+			return out, nil
+		}),
+		// Reads its input from the hidden field _ready of the template's own package.
+		"check-hidden": legacyFn(func(value cue.Value) (cue.Value, error) {
+			ready, _ := value.LookupPath(cue.MakePath(cue.Hid("_ready", "_"))).Bool()
+			mu.Lock()
+			*seen = append(*seen, ready)
+			mu.Unlock()
+			return value, nil
+		}),
+		// Reports whether the leaf deepNesting levels down under deep is resolved.
+		"check-deep": legacyFn(func(value cue.Value) (cue.Value, error) {
+			leaf := value.LookupPath(cue.ParsePath("deep" + strings.Repeat(".a", deepNesting)))
+			_, err := leaf.Int64()
+			mu.Lock()
+			*seen = append(*seen, err == nil)
+			mu.Unlock()
+			return value, nil
+		}),
+		"make": legacyFn(func(value cue.Value) (cue.Value, error) {
+			return value.FillPath(cue.ParsePath("value"), map[string]any{"v": 1}), nil
+		}),
+		// Decoded as kubevela/workflow's legacy providers decode their call: the
+		// whole value, marshalled to JSON.
+		"check": legacyFn(func(value cue.Value) (cue.Value, error) {
+			bs, err := value.MarshalJSON()
+			if err != nil {
+				return value, err
+			}
+			var in struct {
+				Ready bool `json:"ready"`
+			}
+			if err := json.Unmarshal(bs, &in); err != nil {
+				return value, err
+			}
+			mu.Lock()
+			*seen = append(*seen, in.Ready)
+			mu.Unlock()
+			return value, nil
+		}),
+	})
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	return cuex.NewCompilerWithInternalPackages(pkg)
+}
+
+// A call with no $params reads its inputs from its top-level fields, so those are what
+// it depends on: it must run after the calls they read, not alongside them.
+func TestLegacyCallWaitsForTheCallItReads(t *testing.T) {
+	// Each reader comes before what it reads, so traversal order alone cannot pass.
+	cases := map[string]string{
+		// workflow's request: op.#ConditionalWait & {continue: req.$returns != _|_}
+		"a legacy call reading a new-style call's $returns": `
+import "vela/seq"
+wait: seq.#Check & {ready: req.$returns != _|_}
+req:  seq.#New & {$params: v: 1}
+`,
+		// workflow's apply-job: a legacy wait reading what a legacy apply wrote
+		"a legacy call reading another legacy call's output": `
+import "vela/seq"
+wait:  seq.#Check & {ready: apply.value != _|_}
+apply: seq.#Make & {}
+`,
+		"a legacy call reading through a hidden field": `
+import "vela/seq"
+wait: seq.#CheckHidden & {_ready: req.$returns != _|_}
+req:  seq.#New & {$params: v: 1}
+`,
+		// Its only reference sits past the depth references are looked for, so it is
+		// never found: the call must wait on every peer to see it resolved.
+		"a legacy call nested too deep to read": `
+import "vela/seq"
+wait: seq.#CheckDeep & {deep: ` + strings.Repeat("{a: ", deepNesting) + "req.$returns.v" + strings.Repeat("}", deepNesting) + `}
+req:  seq.#New & {$params: v: 1}
+`,
+	}
+	for name, src := range cases {
+		t.Run(name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			var seen []bool
+			_, err := seqCompiler(t, &seen).CompileString(context.Background(), src)
+			require.NoError(t, err)
+			require.Equal(t, []bool{true}, seen, "the check must run once, after what it reads")
+		})
+	}
+}