diff --git a/internal/services/runservice/executor/executor.go b/internal/services/runservice/executor/executor.go
index b9077ff..358e95c 100644
--- a/internal/services/runservice/executor/executor.go
+++ b/internal/services/runservice/executor/executor.go
@@ -419,26 +419,20 @@ func (e *Executor) doRestoreWorkspaceStep(ctx context.Context, s *types.RestoreW
 	}
 	defer logf.Close()
 
-	// TODO(sgotti) right now we don't support duplicated files. So it's not currently possibile to overwrite a file in a upper layer.
-	for level, wl := range t.Workspace {
-		log.Debugf("unarchiving archives at level %d", level)
-		for _, archives := range wl {
-			for _, archive := range archives {
-				log.Debugf("unarchiving workspace at level %d, taskID: %s, step: %d", level, archive.TaskID, archive.Step)
-				resp, err := e.runserviceClient.GetArchive(ctx, archive.TaskID, archive.Step)
-				if err != nil {
-					// TODO(sgotti) retry before giving up
-					fmt.Fprintf(logf, "error reading workspace archive: %v\n", err)
-					return -1, err
-				}
-				archivef := resp.Body
-				if err := e.unarchive(ctx, t, archivef, pod, logf, s.DestDir, false, false); err != nil {
-					archivef.Close()
-					return -1, err
-				}
-				archivef.Close()
-			}
+	for _, op := range t.WorkspaceOperations {
+		log.Debugf("unarchiving workspace for taskID: %s, step: %d", level, op.TaskID, op.Step)
+		resp, err := e.runserviceClient.GetArchive(ctx, op.TaskID, op.Step)
+		if err != nil {
+			// TODO(sgotti) retry before giving up
+			fmt.Fprintf(logf, "error reading workspace archive: %v\n", err)
+			return -1, err
 		}
+		archivef := resp.Body
+		if err := e.unarchive(ctx, t, archivef, pod, logf, s.DestDir, false, false); err != nil {
+			archivef.Close()
+			return -1, err
+		}
+		archivef.Close()
 	}
 
 	return 0, nil
diff --git a/internal/services/runservice/scheduler/scheduler.go b/internal/services/runservice/scheduler/scheduler.go
index 969b488..c46f220 100644
--- a/internal/services/runservice/scheduler/scheduler.go
+++ b/internal/services/runservice/scheduler/scheduler.go
@@ -23,6 +23,7 @@ import (
 	"net/http"
 	"os"
 	"path/filepath"
+	"sort"
 	"time"
 
 	scommon "github.com/sorintlab/agola/internal/common"
@@ -305,6 +306,17 @@ func (s *Scheduler) chooseExecutor(ctx context.Context, rct *types.RunConfigTask
 	return nil, nil
 }
 
+type parentsByLevelName []*types.RunConfigTask
+
+func (p parentsByLevelName) Len() int { return len(p) }
+func (p parentsByLevelName) Less(i, j int) bool {
+	if p[i].Level != p[j].Level {
+		return p[i].Level < p[j].Level
+	}
+	return p[i].Name < p[j].Name
+}
+func (p parentsByLevelName) Swap(i, j int) { p[i], p[j] = p[j], p[i] }
+
 func (s *Scheduler) genExecutorTask(ctx context.Context, r *types.Run, rt *types.RunTask, rc *types.RunConfig, executor *types.Executor) *types.ExecutorTask {
 	rct := rc.Tasks[rt.ID]
 
@@ -345,25 +357,24 @@ func (s *Scheduler) genExecutorTask(ctx context.Context, r *types.Run, rt *types
 		}
 	}
 
-	// calculate workspace layers
-	ws := make(types.Workspace, rct.Level+1)
+	// calculate workspace operations
+	// TODO(sgotti) right now we don't support duplicated files. So it's not currently possibile to overwrite a file in a upper layer.
+	// this simplifies the workspaces extractions since they could be extracted in any order. We make them ordered just for reproducibility
+	wsops := []types.WorkspaceOperation{}
 	rctAllParents := runconfig.GetAllParents(rc.Tasks, rct)
-	log.Debugf("rctAllParents: %s", util.Dump(rctAllParents))
+
+	// sort parents by level and name just for reproducibility
+	sort.Sort(parentsByLevelName(rctAllParents))
+
 	for _, rctParent := range rctAllParents {
 		log.Debugf("rctParent: %s", util.Dump(rctParent))
-		log.Debugf("ws: %s", util.Dump(ws))
-		archives := []types.WorkspaceArchive{}
 		for _, archiveStep := range r.Tasks[rctParent.ID].WorkspaceArchives {
-			archives = append(archives, types.WorkspaceArchive{TaskID: rctParent.ID, Step: archiveStep})
-		}
-		log.Debugf("archives: %v", util.Dump(archives))
-		if len(archives) > 0 {
-			ws[rctParent.Level] = append(ws[rctParent.Level], archives)
+			wsop := types.WorkspaceOperation{TaskID: rctParent.ID, Step: archiveStep}
+			wsops = append(wsops, wsop)
 		}
 	}
-	log.Debugf("ws: %s", util.Dump(ws))
 
-	et.Workspace = ws
+	et.WorkspaceOperations = wsops
 
 	return et
 }
diff --git a/internal/services/runservice/types/types.go b/internal/services/runservice/types/types.go
index b491285..e3ae7c3 100644
--- a/internal/services/runservice/types/types.go
+++ b/internal/services/runservice/types/types.go
@@ -518,7 +518,7 @@ type ExecutorTask struct {
 	SetupError string             `fail_reason:"setup_error,omitempty"`
 	FailError  string             `fail_reason:"fail_error,omitempty"`
 
-	Workspace Workspace `json:"workspace,omitempty"`
+	WorkspaceOperations []WorkspaceOperation `json:"workspace_operations,omitempty"`
 
 	// Cache prefix to use when asking for a cache key. To isolate caches between
 	// groups (projects)
@@ -556,15 +556,10 @@ type Container struct {
 	Entrypoint  string            `json:"entrypoint"`
 }
 
-type Workspace []WorkspaceLevel
-
-type WorkspaceLevel []WorkspaceArchives
-
-type WorkspaceArchives []WorkspaceArchive
-
-type WorkspaceArchive struct {
-	TaskID string `json:"task_id,omitempty"`
-	Step   int    `json:"step,omitempty"`
+type WorkspaceOperation struct {
+	TaskID    string `json:"task_id,omitempty"`
+	Step      int    `json:"step,omitempty"`
+	Overwrite bool   `json:"overwrite,omitempty"`
 }
 
 func (et *ExecutorTask) UnmarshalJSON(b []byte) error {