How we publish.

Two non-negotiable rules. Five chained stages. Every artifact is a public PR.

Section 1 · 2 non-negotiable rules

The two rules.

Rule #1
Specs come from a hand-curated YAML catalog.
The LLM cannot emit numbers. Every numeric token in MDX prose must trace back to content/_specs/<slug>.yaml or the build fails.
CI evidence ↗
- validator·scripts/validate-specs.ts
- doctrine·content/_specs/_README.md
- schema·content/_specs/_SCHEMA.md
- CI step·.github/workflows/content-gate.yml · validate:specs
Rule #2
The LLM is forbidden from voice-bearing sections.
Voice-bearing headings — Verdict, Intro, Recommendation — may only appear under documents whose frontmatter author is in the human allowlist. The LLM does not write voice; the validator catches anything that slips past review.
CI evidence ↗
- validator·scripts/validate-authorship.ts
- CI step·.github/workflows/content-gate.yml · validate:authorship

Section 2 · 5 stages

The pipeline, stage by stage.

Every stage runs on a Vercel cron. Each one writes only its declared row type and commits to a single boundary it never crosses.

Every exit is a public PR · CI gates · auto-merge on green

Stage	Cron	Reads	Writes	Never
1. Catch	hourly	HN Algolia, Phoronix RSS, NVIDIA Developer Blog RSS, r/LocalLLaMA, arXiv cs.AR	mcs_signal_candidate (deduped by source + source_id)	persists Reddit body text — only title, score, permalink, url, created_utc (ToS perimeter).
2. Cluster	09:00 UTC daily	unprocessed mcs_signal_candidate rows in a 48-hour window	mcs_signal_cluster + mcs_signal_cluster_member (3-shingle Jaccard ≥ 0.45)	uses an LLM or embeddings — pure JS, lead-only centroid, deterministic.
3. Strip	10:00 UTC daily	mature clusters (closed_at NOT NULL OR member_count ≥ 3)	topic_label heuristically + mcs_signal_claim rows (kind: spec \| benchmark \| event \| price)	writes voice — no Verdict, Intro, or Recommendation prose. Subject vocab is allowlisted.
4. Quantify	11:00 UTC daily (paired with Gate)	unverified mcs_signal_claim rows + the spec catalog	verdict on each claim: confirmed \| conflict \| novel \| weak	writes copy — verdicts are advisory inputs to Gate, never published prose.
5. Gate	11:00 UTC daily (paired with Quantify)	ready clusters meeting threshold (≥1 conflict OR ≥3 novels OR ≥3 cluster members)	a single GitHub PR per topic — changelog stub, conflict YAML, novel-spec stub	merges. CI runs the gates; on green the PR auto-merges, on red it sits.

Stage 1
Catch
hourly
Reads
HN Algolia, Phoronix RSS, NVIDIA Developer Blog RSS, r/LocalLLaMA, arXiv cs.AR
Writes
mcs_signal_candidate (deduped by source + source_id)
Never
persists Reddit body text — only title, score, permalink, url, created_utc (ToS perimeter).
Stage 2
Cluster
09:00 UTC daily
Reads
unprocessed mcs_signal_candidate rows in a 48-hour window
Writes
mcs_signal_cluster + mcs_signal_cluster_member (3-shingle Jaccard ≥ 0.45)
Never
uses an LLM or embeddings — pure JS, lead-only centroid, deterministic.
Stage 3
Strip
10:00 UTC daily
Reads
mature clusters (closed_at NOT NULL OR member_count ≥ 3)
Writes
topic_label heuristically + mcs_signal_claim rows (kind: spec | benchmark | event | price)
Never
writes voice — no Verdict, Intro, or Recommendation prose. Subject vocab is allowlisted.
Stage 4
Quantify
11:00 UTC daily (paired with Gate)
Reads
unverified mcs_signal_claim rows + the spec catalog
Writes
verdict on each claim: confirmed | conflict | novel | weak
Never
writes copy — verdicts are advisory inputs to Gate, never published prose.
Stage 5
Gate
11:00 UTC daily (paired with Quantify)
Reads
ready clusters meeting threshold (≥1 conflict OR ≥3 novels OR ≥3 cluster members)
Writes
a single GitHub PR per topic — changelog stub, conflict YAML, novel-spec stub
Never
merges. CI runs the gates; on green the PR auto-merges, on red it sits.

Section 3 · Topology

One picture.

  Phoronix ─┐
   NVIDIA ──┤
  r/LocalL ─┤
        HN ─┼──→ Catch ──→ Cluster ──→ Strip ──→ Quantify ──→ Gate ──→ PUBLIC PR
     arXiv ─┤      │          │          │           │          │         │
TechCrunch ─┤      │          │          │           │          │         ▼
  Verge AI ─┘      │          │          │           │          │     CI · gates
                   │          │          │           │          │         │
                   │          │          │           │          │     auto-merge
                   └──────────┴──────────┴───────────┴──────────┘         │
                          read-only admin views (/feed, /clusters)        ▼
                                                                       /signal
                                                                       /changelog

Five sources fan in. Five stages chain. The only way out is a public PR; CI auto-merges on green.

Section 4 · The boundary

What the LLM is and isn't allowed to do.

Allowed	Forbidden	Enforced by
Recommend rigs from the catalog (The Specifier).	Emit numbers anywhere in MDX prose.	`scripts/validate-specs.ts (Rule #1)`
Summarize an article in a PR description.	Write a verdict, intro, or recommendation paragraph.	`scripts/validate-authorship.ts (Rule #2)`
Render specs from YAML the human committed.	Persist Reddit body text into mcs_signal_candidate.raw_payload.	`lib/catch/sources/reddit-localllama.ts perimeter (ToS, operational)`

Allowed
Recommend rigs from the catalog (The Specifier).
Forbidden
Emit numbers anywhere in MDX prose.
Enforced by
scripts/validate-specs.ts (Rule #1)
Allowed
Summarize an article in a PR description.
Forbidden
Write a verdict, intro, or recommendation paragraph.
Enforced by
scripts/validate-authorship.ts (Rule #2)
Allowed
Render specs from YAML the human committed.
Forbidden
Persist Reddit body text into mcs_signal_candidate.raw_payload.
Enforced by
lib/catch/sources/reddit-localllama.ts perimeter (ToS, operational)