.clinerules

# CRITICAL EVALUATION REQUIREMENTS

## Database Interaction Rules
- NO MOCKS, NO FALLBACKS, ONLY REAL DATABASE INTERACTION
- FAIL IF NO DATABASE CONNECTION AVAILABLE
- All pipeline evaluations MUST use actual IRIS database
- All evaluations MUST execute real pipelines with real data
- Mock modes are STRICTLY FORBIDDEN for production evaluations

## IRIS Database is FOUNDATIONAL - NO DEV/PROD DISTINCTION
- RAG systems are fundamentally database-dependent - RAG CANNOT WORK WITHOUT A DATABASE
- IRIS database availability is REQUIRED in ALL environments (dev, test, prod)
- There is NO distinction between development and production regarding database availability
- A RAG system without database access is a non-functional system
- Database unavailability = SYSTEM FAILURE, not "expected in development"
- Any code suggesting database absence is "normal" in development is ARCHITECTURALLY INCORRECT

## DOCKER INFRASTRUCTURE - EXTENSIVE STARTUP/TEARDOWN AUTOMATION
- Project has COMPLETE Docker infrastructure for IRIS database management
- Use `make docker-up` or `docker-compose up -d` to START IRIS container
- Use `make docker-down` or `docker-compose down` to STOP IRIS container
- Use `make docker-logs` to view container logs for debugging
- Files: docker-compose.yml (community), docker-compose.licensed.yml (enterprise)
- Container management utilities in tests/utils/ for automated lifecycle
- Makefile provides standardized commands for all Docker operations
- ALWAYS check if IRIS container is running before executing evaluations
- Connection failure means container is NOT STARTED, not missing infrastructure

## Pipeline Execution Rules
- Execute TRUE 10K+ document evaluations
- Use actual PMC biomedical documents
- Run complete RAGAS evaluation metrics
- Generate empirical statistical results
- All pipelines must be fully operational or evaluation fails

## PMC Document Requirements
- ONLY REAL PMC DOCUMENTS from PubMed Central
- NO synthetic or generated documents
- Minimum 1000+ real PMC documents for full evaluation
- Use PMC XML format with proper metadata
- Download from official PMC sources only

## Development Rules
- MUST perform codebase_search before creating any non-trivial new code file
- Search for existing implementations before writing new code
- Reuse and extend existing infrastructure when available
- Follow clean architecture and modular design principles

## No Compromises
- If database is not available, evaluation MUST FAIL
- If pipelines cannot connect, evaluation MUST FAIL
- No simulation, no approximation, no shortcuts
- Only real, production-quality evaluation results