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FlowMCP v4

Universal Pre-Condition Obligation

Conformance language (MUST/SHOULD/MAY) follows BCP 14 [RFC2119]/[RFC8174] as defined in 00-overview.md. The binding source is the FlowMCP Schemas Specification v4.2.0.

Pre-Conditions

Section titled “Pre-Conditions”

This section is the central anchoring point for the pre-condition obligation. It was generalised from the Selection pre-condition to a universal rule: all aggregated checks (Selection-Gradings, About verifications) are blocked until all member schemas carry gradingStatus: stable.

Universal Rule

Section titled “Universal Rule”

Aggregated checks (all checks that operate across multiple schemas — namely Selection-Gradings and About verifications) are blocked until ALL member schemas in the current index.json.lockSnapshot carry gradingStatus: "stable".

The member status is read from the frozen lockSnapshot block of the selection’s index.json (the point-in-time snapshot written once at grading start), not from a separate lockfile. Each member’s gradingStatus is one of the five-status enum: pending, blocked, graded, stable, rejected. Only stable passes the gate; every other status (including the terminal rejected) blocks the aggregated check.

This rule is universal. It is made concrete in 16-selection-lockfile.md (Selection workflow step 0) and 11-about-convention.md (About verification step 0), but anchored here.

Stable Definition

Section titled “Stable Definition”

A schema has gradingStatus: "stable" when the last operation in its _gradings/ folder was a mode: "full" grading with aggregateGrade in {A, B} (see 06-determinism-and-tier.md).

Schema bumps (schemaHash changes, see 15-versioning-axes.md) invalidate stable — the status falls back to "pending". Rationale: a new schemaHash means, by definition, that the schema object was changed — the previous evaluation no longer applies.

ConditionResult
Last grading mode=full AND aggregateGrade in {A,B}stable
Last grading mode=full AND aggregateGrade in {C,D,F}graded
Categorical Veto raised (aggregateGrade: REJECTED)rejected (terminal, irreversible)
Cannot be graded yet (fewer than 3 tests, no About, API down)blocked (with reason)
Last grading mode=partial (any grade)stays at the last full status
schemaHash changed since the last full gradingpending (invalidated)
Never run a mode=full gradingpending

Only stable passes the pre-condition gate. pending, blocked, graded, and the terminal rejected all block the aggregated check.

Scope of Application

Section titled “Scope of Application”

The pre-condition applies to aggregated checks, not to tier-level checks:

CheckPre-condition active?
Single-GradingNo (tier level, no aggregation)
Selection-GradingYes (all members stable per index.json.lockSnapshot)
About verification (namespace)Yes (all namespace members stable per index.json.lockSnapshot)
About verification (selection)Yes (all selection members stable per index.json.lockSnapshot)

Four check classes, three of them subject to the pre-condition.

Block Behaviour

Section titled “Block Behaviour”

When the pre-condition is not met:

  • The check is aborted (BLOCK)
  • The list of pending members is output (toolchain requirement)
  • Recommended follow-up action: complete the missing Single-Gradings

Example output (toolchain):

PRE-CONDITION FAILED — selection-grading blocked
Selection: crypto-domain-full
Source: selections/crypto-domain-full/index.json (lockSnapshot)
Non-stable Members:
  - binance.ticker (schemaHash a1b2c3d4, gradingStatus: graded)
  - jupiter.swap (schemaHash c3d4e5f6, gradingStatus: pending)
Follow-up action: complete the Single-Gradings, then rebuild the index and refreeze the lockSnapshot.

Cross-Refs

Section titled “Cross-Refs”
Section titled “Related”