synthesize

Thesis report synthesis — turn a thesis's markdown artifacts into its letter-size thesis-report.html, then OPTIMIZE it against real page renders. Four-step loop — pack (deterministic Python bundle of

SKILL.md

GitHub

agentii.synthesize

The single-point HTML generation step (spec 046 Q46–Q50): ONE thesis-report.html per thesis, authored from the markdown artifacts and then optimized against real renders. Analysis skills emit markdown only (Q49); the report is assembled here, at the synthesis step, after the cross-stock synthesis (_cross/*_synthesis.md) exists.

When to run

  • After the synthesis tasks complete (the _cross/ deliverable is written).
  • When converge emits an html_stale finding (sources or template moved).
  • On explicit request, or once at thesis completion (Q50 regeneration triggers).

The loop (four steps + optimize)

# 0. RESOLVE the kit root — contracts/kit-root.md. The kit's scripts do NOT ship with
#    the skills, so never assume the CWD is the checkout (`cd agentii-investment-
#    intelligence` was this skill's old step 0, and it only worked for a user sitting
#    in the checkout). This resolver fails loudly rather than guessing:
KIT=""
for c in "${AGENTII_KIT_ROOT:-}" \
         "$(cat "$HOME/.claude/skills/agentii/.kit-root" 2>/dev/null)" \
         "${CLAUDE_PLUGIN_ROOT:-}"; do
  [ -n "$c" ] && [ -f "$c/scripts/agentii_cmd.py" ] && { KIT="$c"; break; }
done
if [ -z "$KIT" ]; then d="$PWD"; while [ "$d" != "/" ]; do
  [ -f "$d/scripts/agentii_cmd.py" ] && { KIT="$d"; break; }; d="$(dirname "$d")"; done; fi
[ -n "$KIT" ] || { echo "agentii kit not found — see contracts/kit-root.md" >&2; exit 1; }

# 1. PACK — deterministic bundle of every source, verbatim (no timestamps),
#    PLUS report/metrics.json (per-ticker key_metrics/conclusions/counts —
#    machine-ready numbers for KPI tiles and kpi_trend charts, RAW values):
python3 "$KIT/scripts/synthesize_report.py" pack --thesis <theses/{nnn}-{slug}>

# 2. AUTHOR — read <thesis>/report-input.md (verbatim sources + citations)
#    and <thesis>/report/metrics.json (numbers). Write
#    <thesis>/report/content.html — the report's actual content is YOUR judgment.

# 2b. SCORE (required — spec 058 FR-065). The blocking gate decides what TEXT can
#     decide; it cannot see whether the report is any good, and "passes the gate"
#     must never be read as "reads well". Run the scorer for the RUBRIC and the
#     MEASURED evidence — the judgement is yours, the measurement is not:
python3 "$KIT/scripts/score_report_readability.py" <thesis-dir>/report/content.html
#     Then read the report and record your total (five criteria, 1–5 each → 1–25)
#     in <thesis-dir>/report/readability.json:
#       {"score": 21, "previous": 18, "explanation": ""}
#     `previous` is the last RELEASED report's score; omit it (or write null) for a
#     first report, which sets its own baseline — no score is chosen in advance.
#     A score BELOW `previous` requires `explanation`, and `assemble` REFUSES the
#     drop without one: FR-065's consequence is that a regression is explained in
#     the deliverable, and a score recorded without consequence is the defect
#     FR-040 forbids. A LOW score is not refused — only an unexplained regression.
#     The score is rendered on the cover beside the pins (T091), so it has a named
#     consumer: the human reviewer.

# 3. ASSEMBLE — validate + inject + gate (advisories on stderr are guidance,
#    the hard gates are silent until they fail):
python3 "$KIT/scripts/synthesize_report.py" assemble --thesis <thesis-dir> --check-only  # fit loop
python3 "$KIT/scripts/synthesize_report.py" assemble --thesis <thesis-dir>               # deliver

# 4. RENDER — Chrome headless → letter PDF → per-page PNGs + manifest.
#    --keep-pdf is REQUIRED for delivery: without it the PDF is written to a temp dir,
#    used for the PNGs, and DELETED. The deliverable is HTML **and** PDF.
python3 "$KIT/scripts/render_report.py" render --thesis <thesis-dir> --keep-pdf

# 5. OPTIMIZE (required, not optional): READ the PNGs page by page, in batches
#    of 3–4. Fix real problems the estimator cannot see — clipped tables, ugly
#    URL wrapping, weak density, orphan headings, oversized tiles. Edit
#    content.html → re-assemble → re-render until EVERY page is visually clean.

Deliverables

Two files, both at the thesis root — report the absolute paths when you finish:

  • <thesis-dir>/thesis-report.html
  • <thesis-dir>/thesis-report.pdf

The PDF is the deliverable, not a QA by-product. render's docstring frames it as the "visual QA loop" because the PNGs are what the optimize pass reads — but --keep-pdf is what turns its --print-to-pdf output into the artifact a user actually sends to someone, and it belongs beside the HTML rather than in the report/pages/ scratch folder with the PNGs.

Renders never gate CI (Chrome/poppler may be absent) — the author's own visual pass is the gate. assemble --check-only remains the estimator fallback; a missing render is a hard stop for delivery, not a silent skip. render --verify also checks each PNG is letter-width at the requested dpi.

content.html contract (the assembler hard-gates every rule)

You author only the page sequence — a fragment, never a document:

  1. One or more <section class="page">…</section> blocks, no nesting. The cover is page 1 and is template-owned: do not author it — the assembler fills kicker / title / claim / pins / universe / generated / TOC, and injects the running sheet head/foot, page marks (NN / TOTAL) and corner registration marks into every page.
  2. Fragment only — <!DOCTYPE>, <html>, <head>, <body>, <style>, <script> are rejected. Element whitelist: section h1 h2 h3 p ul ol li table thead tbody tr th td b strong i em code a div span br hr blockquote.
  3. No <img> and no id starting cover- or equal to stale-bar.
  4. Reserved classes — never emit these (assembler chrome): sheet-head, sheet-foot, reg, cover, page-mark, disclaimer. A collision is a hard validation error, not a warning. The disclaimer page is the newest of these (Q139): one legal tail page, numbered last, injected by synthesize_report.build_html from templates/disclaimer.md — the single source for that text. Do not author it, do not paraphrase it, and do not put a disclaimer in a page of your own. It is deliberately absent from the contents list: it is a legal tail, not a chapter.
  5. Citation gate (anti-fabrication): every viewer link you emit must be copied verbatim from report-input.md — the pack's links have the form …/v/{TICKER}/{citation_id}/{N} on the agentii viewer. The assembler rejects any {ticker}/{citation_id} pair it cannot find in the sources, with an offender list. Never invent a citation_id; every [FACT] number you surface keeps its citation link. metrics.json carries NO citation ids — never build viewer links from tiles. Citations that only exist as bare text in the pack (keyword scans like ISRG × ect75 × page1) may be rendered as plain text — do not turn them into fake links.
  6. Charts (Q48) are tokens, not images:
    <div data-chart="kpi_trend" data-spec='{"x":["FY2024","FY2025","H1 2026"],"y":[77.7,128.3,96.3]}' data-height="160"></div>
    
    data-spec is single-quoted JSON (no apostrophes inside). kpi_trend is for non-price structured series (capex trajectories, revenue series) built from metrics.json multi-period keys. football_field {labels,lows,highs}, peer_bars {labels,values}, scatter {x,y}, scenario_tree {edges} remain market-data-only. data-height is your page-budget claim — the overflow estimator counts it exactly, so keep it honest. Research-only theses (market-data stage none) emit only kpi_trend, if anything.

Component rules (v0.3.0 design system)

  • KPI tiles: the executive-summary page REQUIRED to open with a .stat-row of 2–4 thesis-level tiles (e.g. artifacts count · key-metrics count · pillars supported · GPT-3.5 window). Per-ticker sections carry 2–4 ticker tiles. Structure: div.stat > div.num + div.lbl + div.sub. Numbers from metrics.json, formatted per style.md: $28.5B (not $28,476M; one decimal for billions, none for millions), 12.4%, +12.4%, 14.2x.
  • Badges — two orthogonal axes, never confused:
    • taxonomy (FR-092): [FACT]→.badge-fact, [DEDUCTED]→.badge-deducted, [VIEW]→.badge-view — use on evidence-table rows and claim prose;
    • verdicts: supported→.badge-supported, indeterminate→ .badge-indeterminate, refuted→.badge-refuted — every pillar verdict carries one.
  • Timeline: the capability-timeline page uses .timeline with .tl-item blocks — .tl-phase holds the mono phase label, the prose keeps the synthesis's wording with its citations.
  • Kickers: every page opens with a .sec-kicker (mono editorial label, e.g. THE CORPUS · 24 ARTIFACTS), never the heading text repeated.

Letter-fit rules (author to these numbers)

A letter page holds ~40 lines of prose at 11pt — the --check-only gate, the render PNGs and the in-browser red ⚠ overflow outline are the enforcement. Author conservatively:

  • ≤ 40 prose lines per page (paragraphs + bullets, combined).
  • ≤ 18 table rows per page when cells wrap ≤ 2 lines each; a citation cell counts as 2 lines. Split long tables across pages by ticker or period.
  • A .stat-row costs ~4 lines; a .tl-item costs ~3; a chart token costs its data-height honestly.
  • Headings cost budget: one h1/h2 + 2–3 short paragraphs, or a table block — not both, unless the table is small.

What a good report contains

  • Executive Summary — the synthesis's own prose, condensed to the operative sentences; tile row; the headline callout (capability timeline band + confidence) kept intact; verdict list with badges.
  • Pillar verdicts — every pillar: verdict badge, falsifier result, the best evidence bullets with citations (verbatim from the pack).
  • Capability timeline — the synthesis §2 content as a styled .timeline (it is the thesis's headline output).
  • Evidence — the cross-ticker table (§3) split to fit, [FACT] badges on rows, citation links inline; negative findings ("no MTBF disclosure anywhere") are evidence too — keep them.
  • Coverage gaps — the synthesis §4 items; the mechanical rollup (entry counts by skill) may appear as one small table.
  • Data-quality flags (§5) and contract compliance (§6), condensed.
  • Nothing from the raw YAML/JSON of sources — the pack and metrics.json are your inputs, not your output; prose and structure are yours, facts and citations are verbatim.

Quality checklist (MUST, before delivery)

  1. Exec-summary tile row present (2–4 tiles).
  2. All pillar verdicts carry colored badges; taxonomy badges on evidence rows.
  3. Capability timeline styled (.timeline/.tl-item/.tl-phase).
  4. Evidence tables follow style.md (Metric → Current → Prior → YoY → Citation) with inline citation links on every fact.
  5. .sec-kicker on every page.
  6. No empty pages, no orphan headings at page bottoms.
  7. No raw markdown leakage (**, backtick fences, ### ).
  8. Tier-0 --check-only pass AND render page-count == section-count AND every PNG visually verified clean (no clipped tables, no red overflow outlines, sane density).
  9. Readability scored (FR-065). report/readability.json carries the 1–25 total from score_report_readability.py, and a score below the previous release's carries an explanation. assemble refuses a drop without one, so a missing explanation is a hard stop, not a note. The score appears on the cover beside the pins and is the ONLY readability signal a reader sees — the blocking gate's pass is not a substitute, and the two are deliberately reported separately so neither can be mistaken for the other.

Regeneration discipline (Q50)

The assembled report embeds sources_hash (all markdown sources) + template_version; converge flags html_stale when they drift. Re-run the loop above when that finding appears — never hand-edit thesis-report.html.