pre-flight

name	pre-flight
description	Verify manual inputs are ready before running a cycle. Sports feed, intakes, initiative tracker, coverage ratings.
version	1.2
updated	"2026-05-30T00:00:00.000Z"
tags	["engine-sheet","active"]
effort	low
disable-model-invocation	true

/pre-flight — Pre-Cycle Input Check

Purpose

Checks that manual inputs are ready before the engine runs. The engine won't fail without these — it will produce a cycle with silent gaps.

Run (canonical)

node scripts/preflightInputCheck.js              # auto-derive target cycle from SESSION_CONTEXT
node scripts/preflightInputCheck.js --cycle=96   # explicit target

The script (ES-7 / G-PF1) is the deterministic check — it loads env via require('../lib/env'), reads the sheets, classifies every Initiative_Tracker row by §Placeholder Convention, and prints the §Output report. Run it; review the output. The step descriptions below document what it checks so you can read the verdict — they are not a manual procedure to re-derive each cycle.

Exit codes: 0 READY (or warnings only) · 1 NOT READY (missing required sports cols OR partial-real initiative rows) · 2 argument/data error. Fail the gate on a non-zero exit.

Real output (C95):

PRE-FLIGHT: Cycle 95
========================================
Target derivation: --cycle=95 (explicit)

[x] Sports Feed: 5 entries, all required + recommended columns populated
[ ] Citizen Intake: NOT WIRED
[ ] Business Intake: NOT WIRED
[ ] Storyline Intake: NOT WIRED
[x] Initiative Tracker: 6 real / 1 placeholder / 0 bloat
      INFO placeholder INIT-004 — reserved slot, no validation required
[x] Coverage Ratings: C94 — 3 rows (0 unprocessed, ready for engine intake)
========================================
READY

Gap fixes baked into the script vs the pre-S246 manual flow: env-loader (G-PF2), 3-class initiative output (G-PF3), cycle auto-derivation (G-PF4), Processed-enum semantics (G-PF5), canonical InitiativeID keying (G-PF6).

---

What the script checks (reference)

Step 1: Sports Feed

Read Oakland_Sports_Feed for the target cycle number.

Required columns (entry is invisible without these): Cycle, SeasonType, EventType, TeamsUsed

Recommended columns (texture is thin without these): NamesUsed, Team Record, FanSentiment, PlayerMood

Flag missing required as NOT READY. Flag missing recommended as WARNING.

Step 2: Citizen Intake

NOT WIRED. Placeholder for when citizen intake from editions feeds back to the engine.

Step 3: Business Intake

NOT WIRED. Placeholder for when business intake from editions feeds back to the engine.

Step 4: Storyline Intake

NOT WIRED. Placeholder for when storyline intake from editions feeds back to the engine.

Step 5: Initiative Tracker

Read Initiative_Tracker for all rows. Check only:

• Every real-initiative row has Name, Status, ImplementationPhase, PolicyDomain, AffectedNeighborhoods populated (per §Placeholder Convention below — placeholder rows are NOT flagged as malformed)
• Status field is non-empty (string contents not validated)
• ImplementationPhase field is non-empty (string contents not validated)

Enum policing REMOVED (S230 G-RC3, governance.14 T9): pre-S230 the skill enforced a hardcoded enum list (announced / vote-scheduled / visioning / design-phase / etc.) that drifted every cycle as the engine added new phase values (C94 saw 4 phases missing from the skill's list: design-development-active, legislation-filed, pilot_evaluation, vote-ready). Phase value validation now belongs to engine-side applyTrackerUpdates.js — pre-flight's role is empty/required-field checks, not value-set policing. Mike S230 ruling: drop enum entirely; trust engine writer validation.

Flag malformed rows (missing required fields) as NOT READY per §Placeholder Convention.

§Placeholder Convention (S230 G-RC4, governance.14 T9)

Initiative_Tracker rows fall into three classes. Pre-flight treats each differently:

Class	Detection	Severity	Action
Placeholder	InitiativeID populated, all other fields empty (slot reserved for upcoming initiative)	INFO	Skip, don't block. Log "placeholder row INIT-NNN — reserved slot, no validation required."
Partial-real	InitiativeID + Name + some fields populated, BUT missing one or more engine-critical (Status, ImplementationPhase, PolicyDomain, AffectedNeighborhoods)	HIGH (NOT READY)	Block pre-flight pass. List the missing fields per row. Operator decides: complete the row or remove.
Real	InitiativeID + Name + (Status OR Phase) + at least PolicyDomain or AffectedNeighborhoods	passes	No action.
Sheet bloat	Fully empty rows past the last real row	INFO	Ignore. (Common when sheet was extended for future capacity.)

Decision tree (apply in order; first match wins):

1. All cells empty → sheet bloat (INFO, ignore).
2. Only InitiativeID populated → placeholder (INFO, skip).
3. InitiativeID + Name + some fields, missing engine-critical → partial-real (NOT READY, block).
4. InitiativeID + Name + required fields → real (pass).

Why this convention exists: pre-S230 pre-flight treated placeholder rows identically to malformed mid-life data and false-flagged every cycle. C94 INIT-004 (placeholder, only InitiativeID populated, persisted across many cycles without engine complaint) demonstrated the gap. The convention preserves operator visibility (placeholders logged as INFO) without blocking on intentional reserved slots.

Step 6: Edition Coverage Ratings

Read Edition_Coverage_Ratings for previous cycle.

• Rows exist with Cycle, Domain, Rating populated
• Rows not already marked Processed. Processed enum (G-PF5): a row counts as unprocessed unless its Processed cell lowercases to 'true' — matches the write-side check in phase02-world/applyEditionCoverageEffects.js.

Flag missing as WARNING — engine runs without media feedback.

Output

Canonical output shape is shown under §Run above (real C95 verdict). The Initiative Tracker line carries the §Placeholder Convention 3-class breakdown — <real> real / <placeholder> placeholder / <bloat> bloat with per-row INFO/partial-real detail — not a flat "all valid" (G-PF3). Verdict line is READY / NOT READY matching the exit code.

Sheet Access

Service account via lib/sheets.js. Env loaded via require('../lib/env') (sources ~/.config/godworld/.env, NOT a project-root .env — that file doesn't exist). Spreadsheet ID = GODWORLD_SHEET_ID. The canonical script already does this load; only relevant if you read sheets by hand. (G-PF2)