EcoSIM Data Readiness

Establish what local inputs are available and what has actually been validated for the requested workflow. Use two modes: a lightweight startup inventory and a focused validation before data-dependent work.

Startup inventory

• Run once per session after the repository startup notice. Search ./data first, then the wider repository, including inputs, example_input, templates, and existing result folders when present. Honor explicitly supplied input paths as well.
• Prefer rg --files and targeted filename searches. Check whether data is a symlink and whether its target is accessible; a missing or inaccessible root is a finding, not evidence that data do not exist elsewhere. Avoid following unrelated links or scanning external storage beyond staged data roots.
• Identify candidate categories: site metadata; meteorology; soil profiles; plant traits/PFT parameters; plant and soil management; deposition or precipitation chemistry; greenhouse-gas forcing; and benchmark observations or model outputs. Record representative paths and apparent sites or periods.
• Keep startup inexpensive: inspect paths and existing manifests, without opening every large dataset, extracting archives, or validating every site. Label coverage inferred from filenames as unverified. Templates and example files are candidates, not confirmed site-specific inputs.
• If no site or task is selected, report inventory only. Do not declare global readiness or treat every category as required for unrelated code work.

Workflow validation

Determine requirements from the user's task, selected site and period, relevant workflow skill, configuration/namelist, and consuming reader or template. Check only dependencies of that workflow: for example, output analysis may require model output and observations without requiring all simulation input categories. If necessary context cannot be inferred, request the missing site, period, or input choice while continuing independent work.

For each required input, select the actual file and inspect its contents:

• Access and identity: Verify readability, format, required variables, dimensions, and site coordinates/ID. Distinguish archive members from usable extracted inputs. Record unresolved choices between conflicting versions.
• Time: Verify requested coverage, cadence, calendar, timezone, timestamp meaning, duplicate or missing steps, and management-event alignment. Identify spin-up or cycling assumptions separately from observed coverage.
• Units and values: Check documented units, fill values/sentinels, missing data and quality flags, and physical ranges appropriate to the variable. Distinguish flux rates from interval totals; verify conversions between mass and molar units, elemental and compound mass, and area/depth bases. Report potential mass-balance inconsistencies with the evidence available.
• Compatibility: Check layer depths/order, grid/site dimensions, PFT codes, parameter identifiers, management selectors, and cross-file consistency against the actual EcoSIM reader or maintained workflow conventions. Confirm referenced namelist paths exist when preparing a runnable case.
• Metadata: For NetCDF, inspect units, descriptive names, coordinates, calendar/time encoding, and declared CF conventions. Use standard names where applicable; do not invent CF names for EcoSIM-specific variables. Report metadata gaps separately from reader incompatibilities. Do not claim full CF compliance from a Conventions attribute alone.

Use headers and lazy reads first; inspect data arrays only as needed for the selected validation. Reuse existing domain validators where appropriate, reading their skill instructions when invoking them. Record unavailable tools or incomplete checks as unverified, rather than assuming success.

Findings and reports

Assign each relevant input one status:

Status	Meaning
Found, unverified	Candidate exists; contents or required checks remain unverified.
Ready	Required checks passed for the stated site, period, and workflow.
Needs preparation	Source exists but conversion, extraction, or another documented preparation step remains.
Missing	No candidate was found in the searched locations for a required input.
Invalid	A required check failed; describe the failure and affected work.
Not required	This input category is outside the selected workflow's requirements.

Summarize startup findings briefly in chat. Save a detailed inventory or validation report under ./result/data_readiness/, using a site/task identifier and timestamp to avoid overwriting another assessment. Include mode, assessment time, site/task/period (or unspecified), searched locations, actual input paths, checks performed, evidence, assumptions, status, and concrete next steps. An inventory report must state that content validation has not been performed.

Overall readiness requires all required inputs to be ready for the declared scope; optional missing observations need not block a simulation. Explain which steps are blocked by missing, invalid, unprepared, or unverified dependencies, and proceed with independent work. A readiness assessment does not itself authorize downloads, credential access, changing source data, or running an expensive simulation.

Reuse the session's assessment until relevant file paths, sizes, modification times, configurations, or task requirements change. Recheck affected inputs after preparation or edits. Treat reused reports as dated evidence and verify their scope and input freshness before relying on them.