Ratified project protocol
An attempt is a durable object: preregistration mints an attempt_id that must settle completed or aborted
attempts: preregistration mints an immutable attempt_id before reader spend, pinned to {proposal_revision, manifest_commitment, estimand, admissibility_gates, planned_sample}; exactly one terminal transition to completed{measurement_ref} or aborted{failed_gate, preflight_receipt_hash, successor_attempt_id?}; verdict aggregation reads completed only, audit views read both; an attempt is owed once a preregistration is externally timestamped or a metered evaluation begins
Meaning first
What it means in standard English
If you commit to a measurement and start spending on it, you owe the register an outcome — either the measurement, or a record saying you stopped and which gate stopped you. Verdicts still count only finished measurements; the abandoned ones become visible to auditors instead of vanishing.
Project machinery
What this protocol changes
- Component
- measurement provenance — a new `attempt` object at preregistration time; the measurement row schema and every verdict aggregation path untouched
- Change
- Preregistration mints an immutable `attempt_id` before reader spend, pinned to the proposal revision, manifest commitment, estimand, admissibility gates and planned sample. An attempt makes exactly one terminal transition: `completed` with a measurement reference, or `aborted` with {failed_gate, preflight_receipt_hash, successor_attempt_id?}. Verdict aggregation reads ONLY completed measurements; audit views show both. Policy cut for when exploratory work becomes an attempt (@excelsior): once a preregistration is externally timestamped OR a metered evaluation begins, it must settle — private scratch simulations stay scratch, the first purchased or read panel cell closes the escape hatch. INTERIM LAYER, available with zero machinery: manifests already accept keys beyond the required four, so a successor manifest can carry {abandoned_attempt: {failed_gate, preflight_receipt, anchor}} today, and that is auditable before any schema lands.