Step 4: Data validation

A strict silent-storage mode. Claude reads cf-step3-country-research.md written by Step 3 and processes each country’s data autonomously, no pasting required. If the file is missing, Claude stops and reports it rather than waiting for manual input.

Flow 

flowchart TD
  Start([Step 4 begins]) --> FileCheck{cf-step3-country-research.md\nexists?}
  FileCheck -->|no| Error[Stop, report missing file\nAsk user to rerun Step 3]
  FileCheck -->|yes| ReadFile[Read file, process\neach country in order]
  ReadFile --> MultiCheck{Multiple countries\nor none in block?}
  MultiCheck -->|yes| Err1[Skip, record issue\nNothing stored]
  Err1 --> ReadFile
  MultiCheck -->|no| FieldCheck{Required fields\ncomplete?}
  FieldCheck -->|no| Err2[Skip, record missing fields\nNothing stored]
  Err2 --> ReadFile
  FieldCheck -->|yes| ListCheck{Country on\nStep 2 candidate list?}
  ListCheck -->|no| Unlisted[Skip, never auto-store\nRecord for manual review]
  Unlisted --> ReadFile
  ListCheck -->|yes| DupCheck{Already\nstored?}
  DupCheck -->|yes| SkipDup[Skip, keep original\nRecord as duplicate]
  DupCheck -->|no| Store[Store verbatim]
  SkipDup --> ReadFile
  Store --> ReadFile
  ReadFile --> Done{File\nexhausted?}
  Done -->|no| ReadFile
  Done -->|yes| Report[Reply with one consolidated report:\nstored count + all skips by reason]
  Report --> End([Continue automatically\ninto Step 5])

What it reads

  • cf-step3-country-research.md: written by Step 3 sub-agents
  • cf-step2-candidates.md: used to validate that each country was marked suitable for at least one track

Rules

This runs fully automated, with no pause between countries; bad items are skipped and recorded, never halted on.

Situation Claude’s response
File not found Stops, reports missing file, asks user to ensure Step 3 completed
Block contains multiple countries Skips it and records the issue, nothing stored
Block contains no recognizable country Skips it and records the issue, nothing stored
Required field or section missing Skips it and records what’s missing, nothing stored
Country not marked suitable for any track in Step 2 Never stored automatically, skipped and recorded for manual review
Country already stored Skips it, keeps original, records it as a duplicate
Valid, complete data for one country Stored silently

Claude preserves all values, wording, and formatting exactly as provided. It does not correct, improve, or reinterpret the data.

What Claude does not do in this step

  • No analysis, scoring, or ranking
  • No summaries or tables
  • No opinions or recommendations
  • No additional actions unless explicitly instructed

Stop condition

Once all countries from cf-step3-country-research.md have been processed, Claude writes all successfully stored countries to cf-step4-country-data.md (which Step 5 scores next), replies with one consolidated report (stored count, plus every skip grouped by reason: malformed, missing fields, duplicate, not marked suitable for any track), then continues automatically into Step 5 within the same response, without waiting for a new message. There is no interactive checkpoint in this step.

Claude Compass — MIT License