Warconomy is static and manually maintained: every value is transcribed by hand from a cited public source, dated, and re-verifiable — not real-time and not automatically updated. That is a deliberate architecture, not a limitation to apologize for: a citation engine needs every figure to be dated and re-checkable, and the project rules forbid scraping, paid APIs, runtime services, and scheduled jobs by default. This page explains the three honest data modes (reviewed, delayed, live), why static is the right default today, what would technically have to change before a delayed or live layer could exist, the gates a value passes before it is shown, and how 'live' claims are kept honest. It adds no live capability, no numeric values, and no vendor claims.
- Three honest data modes: manually reviewed (today), delayed/periodic, and live (out of scope).
- Why static is the right default for a citation engine.
- What a future live/delayed layer would require — runtime, provider terms, caching, cost, data quality.
- The review gates and the guardrails that keep 'live' claims honest.
Three data modes
Ordered by how strong a currency claim they make, weakest first.
| Mode | What it means | Warconomy today |
|---|---|---|
| Manually reviewed (static) | A value transcribed by hand from a cited public source, with an as-of date and a last-reviewed date. Re-verifiable and citable, but not real-time and not automatically updated. | This is the entire current architecture. Every live/static value is this mode. |
| Delayed / periodic | A dated snapshot pulled on a cadence (e.g. daily or weekly) from a source whose terms permit publishing a derived value. Clearly labeled as delayed, never as 'now'. | Not implemented. A future possibility only if a permissive, ideally free, source is found and approved. |
| Live / real-time | A continuously-updating value. Requires a runtime service and a provider whose terms allow live redistribution — and carries the highest risk of implying certainty the data can't support. | Explicitly out of scope. Warconomy does not and will not claim live market data or live tracking under the current rules. |
Why static today
- A citation engine needs every figure to be dated and re-verifiable from its source — static, hand-reviewed values guarantee that.
- The project rules forbid scraping, paid APIs, runtime services, scheduled jobs, and background workers by default.
- Static prerendered files have no keys, no rate limits, no servers, and no tracking — they are cheap, fast, and durable.
- Honest labeling (live/static vs. sample, with as-of and reviewed dates) is easier to keep truthful when nothing updates behind the reader's back.
What a live / delayed layer would require
None of this is built. Each is a precondition that would have to be met — and approved by a maintainer — before any non-static value could ship.
| Area | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Runtime | A runtime service or scheduled fetch — neither exists today and both are out of scope by default. |
| Provider terms | A source whose license permits publishing (and caching) a derived value, with attribution honored exactly. |
| Caching | A storage/caching policy compatible with a prerendered, no-runtime architecture. |
| Rate limits | Limits compatible with occasional, manual or low-frequency reads — not a live polling client. |
| Cost | Zero cost, or a deliberately approved, bounded amount — paid APIs are out of scope by default. |
| Data quality | A documented way to handle gaps, revisions, and spoofing, so a value is never presented as ground truth. |
| Historical access | Access to history so any value can be dated and re-checked, not just 'now'. |
Review gates before a value is shown
- The exact source, value, unit, and period are known and directly readable (no inference from charts).
- The value is transcribed via the documented promotion workflow and recorded in the promotion log.
- An as-of date and a last-reviewed date are attached; freshness is computed against the source cadence.
- Sample rows stay labeled sample until a directly-verifiable official figure replaces them.
The full lifecycle — blocked item → source packet → promotion dry-run → live observation → frozen version — is on the operator workbench, promotion guide, and promotion log.
How “live” claims stay honest
- No page claims real-time data, live market prices, or live vessel positions.
- Dated snapshots are labeled with their as-of date; stale values are flagged for re-check, not silently refreshed.
- Schematics and explainers are clearly marked as conceptual, not live monitors.
- Caveats state plainly what the data is not (not investment, legal/compliance advice, or complete coverage).
Future indicator families (provider-gated, not built)
Where a delayed/static indicator could be useful later, and what blocks it today. No implementation; no numbers.
Official transit / canal indicators
Could be useful: Dated transit counts, tonnage, or revenue from a canal/transit authority or intergovernmental body.
Constraint: Best fit for the static model — but several are PDF-only or behind inaccessible pages today (see the operator workbench).
Oil & gas benchmarks
Could be useful: Source-reported benchmark levels (e.g. an official statistical agency series), dated and re-verifiable.
Constraint: Some official levels are in downloadable spreadsheets (binary), not readable HTML; no binary parsing.
Freight & shipping-cost indicators
Could be useful: War-risk insurance or freight-rate indicators associated with chokepoint disruption.
Constraint: Frequently paywalled or licensed; would need an accessible, reusable source. Associative context, not causal.
Maritime / AIS indicators
Could be useful: Delayed vessel-density or tanker/LNG transit counts for a chokepoint region.
Constraint: Covered in detail by the maritime data evaluation; spoofing and reuse-rights risks make links-only the safe default.
Related
- Maritime data evaluation — the maritime-specific version of this framework.
- Operator workbench — the manual data tasks and future investigations.
- Refresh policy · data caveats · static API.
- Methodology overview. Machine-readable: /methodology/live-data/data.json.