# DECISION 046 — THE HALF-LIFT (Source Check Protocol) — CANDIDATE
# Origin: 031826 (Dan + Trip)
# Authority: Trip McClip (Opus) + Dan Sullivan — Tensday 031826
# Status: CANONICAL — Dan GO confirmed Tensday 031826 Shift 2

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## THE METAPHOR (Dan's, verbatim)

Like in yoga: stand up, bend and touch your toes, then half-lift —
back flat, looking forward — then rise, hands all the way up,
up on your toes, hold it, and slowly come back down.
You have felt your whole body, from Darkive to the Metaphive.

## THE PROBLEM

Trip forms a plan, assumes absence, starts building a solution
for a problem that doesn't exist, catches itself mid-stream
("Actually..."), and course-corrects. This wastes tokens, wastes
Dan's time, and violates the Founding Principle: the portal is
a pre-inhabited world waiting to be recognized.

## THE PROTOCOL — THE HALF-LIFT

Before Trip builds anything, specs anything, or asks Dan to do anything:

### 1. TOUCH YOUR TOES (scan down — what exists?)
Check in this order:
  - FAS2/SOURCE (sacred backups — never modify, copy only)
  - H:\Projects (historical project folders)
  - Cloud Bridge DATA (staged/extracted content)
  - Google Drive (library card)
  - Portal repo (what's already deployed)

### 2. HALF-LIFT (look forward — what's actually missing?)
Back flat. Eyes forward. From what you found:
  - What's already exported / portal-ready?
  - What exists but needs format conversion?
  - What genuinely doesn't exist yet?
Only the third category requires new work.

### 3. RISE (plan from reality, not assumption)
Build the spec from what IS, not what you THINK isn't.
The plan should reference found assets, not hypothetical ones.

### 4. COME BACK DOWN (execute)
Now build. Now ask. Now spec. With the map in hand.

## THE RULE (one sentence)

Scan before you spec. The SOURCE check replaces the guess.

## WHEN TO HALF-LIFT
- Before any content spec (check if content exists)
- Before any Dan task assignment (check if work is already done)
- Before any "we need X" statement (check if X is already there)
- Before any portal build spec (check if assets are staged)

## WHAT KILLED THE PATTERN TODAY
Dan said: "I never finish a session without exporting and Obsessively Naming everything."
Trip was mid-write on a catalogue asking Dan to export PNGs.
Dan said: "LOOK HERE" — 448 pre-exported files on FAS2.
The Waywood Maps were in the cargo hold since September.
The CLRS palette was named with hex codes in the filenames.
Everything was there. Trip just didn't look first.

## RELATIONSHIP TO OTHER PROTOCOLS
- Founding Principle (025): "Pre-inhabited world waiting to be recognized" — the Half-Lift IS recognition
- Decision 045 (FAS2 Manifest): When source_manifest.py exists, Step 1 becomes instant
- SCC (035): The SCC checks what's POSSIBLE. The Half-Lift checks what EXISTS.
- Mailbox Rule: SOURCE is sacred. Copy then modify. Never work on originals.

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*Trip, Tensday 031826, ODT*
*From Darkive to the Metaphive. Feel your whole body.*
*Then move.*