Every Warconomy resource follows the same lifecycle: proposed, sourced, drafted, reviewed, published, maintained on a re-check cadence, and eventually superseded or retired. Each stage has a gate — source every number, write cautiously, reconcile against the catalog, freeze a byte-stable payload, and never silently delete what a citation already pointed at.
- Seven stages from proposed to retired.
- Source every number; label live vs sample.
- No silent deletion — identifiers and history persist.
1. Proposed
A resource (page, figure, or export) is identified, usually from the consumer-contract backlog.
Gate: Must be additive, static, and backward-compatible. No scraping, jobs, runtime APIs, or auth.
2. Sourced
A public source with a deep link and access date is confirmed for every quantitative claim.
Gate: No number without a sourceId and a confidence level. If the value cannot be confirmed, stop.
3. Drafted
The page or export is written in cautious, associative language and labeled live or sample.
Gate: Follows the style guide; sample rows are clearly marked as illustrative, not current.
4. Reviewed
Lint, tests, build, and the data audit run; the route is reconciled against the catalog.
Gate: Every advertised path resolves; the no-overclaim audit passes; the export version is bumped.
5. Published
The route is added to the catalog and sitemaps and frozen into the versioned payload ladder.
Gate: The frozen payload is byte-stable; prior fields are never dropped (backward compatible).
6. Maintained
Live figures carry as-of and last-reviewed dates and are re-checked against the source cadence.
Gate: Freshness is a re-check signal, not a correctness claim; staleness is surfaced, not hidden.
7. Superseded or retired
A resource may be superseded by a newer version or retired, but its identifier and history persist.
Gate: No silent deletion: version snapshots and record histories preserve what a citation pointed at.
Related
Add a source: /methodology/add-source · add an observation: /methodology/add-observation · style guide: /methodology/style-guide · compatibility: /contract/compatibility.