compliance

Compliance Validation

You are validating a grant proposal against agency-specific requirements before final assembly.

Arguments

• --proposal-dir <path>: Proposal directory (required)

Parse from the user's message.

Procedure

1. Load Agency Requirements

uv run gw-agency sections <agency> <mechanism>

This returns the required sections, word limits, and formatting rules from agency.json.

2. Run Compliance Checker

uv run gw-compliance check <proposal_dir>

The checker validates:

• Word count per section: Each .md file in sections/ checked against limits from agency.json. Words are counted excluding Markdown syntax.
• Required sections present: All sections marked required: true in agency.json must exist.
• Bibliography completeness: Every in-text citation ([N] or (Author, Year)) has a matching entry in sections/bibliography.md.
• Figure references valid: Every ![...](<path>) Markdown image reference points to an existing file in sections/figures/.
• Budget within caps: Total, per-year, and indirect rate checked against agency limits.
• Personnel completeness: All named team members have CVs in supporting/.
• EU-specific checks (Horizon Europe, ERC, MSCA only): Ethics self-assessment present, DMP present, gender dimension addressed in relevant sections.

3. Classify Violations

Parse the checker output and classify each issue:

Critical violations (block assembly):

• Missing required section
• Word count exceeded by more than 10%
• Missing bibliography for cited references
• Budget exceeds agency cap

Warnings (allow proceeding with caution):

• Word count within 5-10% of limit
• Missing optional sections
• Minor formatting inconsistencies
• Missing figures referenced in text

For each violation, provide a specific fix suggestion (e.g., "Section excellence.md is 2,347 words — limit is 2,000. Cut 347 words, focusing on the methodology sub-section which is the most verbose.").

4. Run Supplementary Checks

Check word counts in detail:

uv run gw-compliance word-counts <proposal_dir>

Check budget specifically:

uv run gw-compliance budget-check <proposal_dir>

5. Save Compliance Report

Save the full report to <proposal_dir>/review/compliance_report.md with:

• Summary: total checks run, passed, failed (critical), warnings
• Per-check detail: check name, status, actual vs expected, fix suggestion
• Word count table: section name, current count, limit, status
• Budget summary: total vs cap, indirect rate vs cap

6. Gate Decision

If any critical violations exist:

• Print all critical violations with fix suggestions
• Do NOT allow assembly to proceed
• State: "Critical compliance violations must be fixed before assembly. Fix the issues above and re-run /gw:compliance."

If only warnings exist:

• Print warnings with suggestions
• State: "Compliance check passed with warnings. Assembly may proceed."

If all checks pass:

• State: "Compliance check passed. Ready for assembly."

7. Update State

uv run gw-state update <proposal_dir> --phase compliance --status <complete|failed>

Report:

• Total checks: N passed, N warnings, N critical
• Critical violations (if any) with fix instructions
• Path to review/compliance_report.md

Error Handling

• Proposal directory doesn't exist: Abort with a clear message and point the PI to uv run gw-state init.
• Agency manifest missing: gw-compliance depends on agency.json entries — if gw-agency sections fails, list supported agencies via uv run gw-agency list and ask the PI to correct the agency/mechanism in config.yaml.
• sections/ directory empty or missing: Treat as a critical failure — there is nothing to validate. Instruct the PI to run /gw:proposal first.
• budget/ missing when running budget-check: Downgrade to a warning only if the agency does not require budget at this phase; otherwise mark critical and instruct the PI to run /gw:budget.
• gw-compliance tool not installed: Run uv sync from the plugin root, then retry. If still failing, surface the underlying stderr so the PI can diagnose.