Cadence Protocol
When the framework MUST update, by named catalyst. Discipline contract — not a vague "I'll refresh weekly" promise.
Weekly base cadence
Every Monday morning Asia time. All 8 regimes reviewed; last_refresh_at bumped only under the refresh-discipline rules below. Regime change log gets an entry only if at least one regime's label or driver changes — otherwise the steady-state weekly snapshot in tools/data/archive/ captures the unchanged state.
Event-driven catalysts
These force an unscheduled update outside the Monday cadence. SLAs are commitments — missing them is a discipline failure logged in the change log.
| Catalyst | Detection | SLA | What refreshes |
|---|---|---|---|
| FOMC rate decision / statement | Federal Reserve press release; FedWatch CME | 24h | Global context · all 8 regimes (DXY transmission) |
| BOJ rate decision / policy statement | BOJ press release; Reuters JP feed | 24h | Japan · Asia bonds (carry math) |
| PBOC RRR cut / fix break >0.5% in a day | PBOC press; China Money Network; FXStreet | 48h | China · Korea · Taiwan (semis exposure to CNY) |
| US-China trade action (tariffs / Section 301) | USTR press; WSJ; SCMP | 48h | China · Taiwan · ASEAN (China+1 exposure) |
| Any major Asian currency >3% in a single day | BNM rates; CBC; PBOC; RBI; HKMA | 24h | Affected regime · Global context (DXY) |
| Single hyperscaler capex guidance change >10% | MSFT / META / GOOGL / AMZN / ORCL earnings | 48h | Taiwan (TSMC order book transmission) |
| Cross-Strait military escalation (named exercise within 24nm of Taiwan) | Taiwan MND; Reuters; AP | 24h | Taiwan · China · Korea (regional risk premium) |
| Kill-switch trigger (VIX>40 sustained 5d OR Asian FX move >10% in a week) | VIX feed; FX feeds | Same day | Framework SUSPENDED — switch to daily monitoring; revert to ranges, not regimes |
Refresh workflow (when a catalyst fires)
- Log the catalyst event in the change log immediatelyEven if no regime label changes, log the event with the trigger description. This preserves the audit trail of "the framework saw this; here's what changed (or didn't)."
- Review affected regimes against the catalystPer the table above, identify which regimes' drivers may have changed. Re-classify each leg if the driver value crossed a threshold.
- Update last_refresh_at on every reviewed regimeEven if no driver changed — the timestamp signals "this regime was reviewed today against this catalyst."
- If any regime label changes, append entry to change logEntry must include: regime_id, from_state, to_state, trigger (cite the catalyst).
- Snapshot the JSON to archiveSave current state as
tools/data/archive/asia-checklist-YYYY-MM-DD.json. Append-only; never edit a snapshot. - Deploy the updated checklistWithin the catalyst's SLA. Missing the SLA is a logged discipline failure — not a silent skip.
Refresh-discipline rules
What counts as a refresh — and what doesn't. The traffic-light staleness indicator on each regime card depends on the integrity of this rule.
A last_refresh_at bump requires one of:
- (a) Review confirmed. All drivers in the regime reviewed and confirmed current. Even no-change reviews count if the review actually happened.
- (b) Driver updated. At least one driver in the regime updated with new data.
- (c) No-change review logged. Drivers reviewed with no changes, AND the review fact is explicitly logged in the regime change log with a "no-change review" entry.
What doesn't count: bumping the timestamp to keep the page green without actually reviewing the regime. Silent bumps are the framework lying to itself. The discipline only holds if you don't game it.
Staleness thresholds
Archive policy
Weekly JSON snapshots preserve the steady-state record that the change log cannot capture.
The regime change log captures regime CHANGES. It does not capture STEADY STATES. If China holds MIXED·MEDIUM for 12 weeks, the log is silent and the steady-state record is lost.
Solution: weekly snapshot of tools/data/asia-checklist.json archived to tools/data/archive/asia-checklist-YYYY-MM-DD.json. Tiny files (~70KB). Append-only; snapshots are never edited after creation. All snapshots retained indefinitely; no automatic pruning.
Six months from now, the question "what did the framework say on May 12, 2026?" has a precise answer at asia-checklist-2026-05-12.json.