# Stage README

Drop this file into every stage folder. Fill in the four sections, save, move on.

The whole point: when you come back in two days, you can rerun **this stage and only this stage** without re-reading the rest of the workflow.

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## What this stage does

One sentence. The verb is the important part.

> Example: turn a prompt set into a folder of graded stills.

---

## Input contract

What this stage reads from `input/`. Be specific about format.

- File types expected
- Naming convention (if any)
- Where this input came from (which previous stage's `output/`)

> Example: `*.txt` prompt files from `01_prompts/output/`, one per shot.

---

## Output contract

What this stage writes to `output/`. Be specific about format.

- File types produced
- Naming convention
- Resolution / quality / duration / count

> Example: 24 stills, 1920×1080, PNG, named `shot-{nn}.png` matching prompt index.

---

## QC checklist

What goes in `qc/` after the stage runs. The questions you ask before approving.

- [ ] Output matches the contract above
- [ ] Output passes the brand / brief check
- [ ] Known failure modes from previous runs are not present
- [ ] Files needed by the next stage's `input/` are present

If any box is unchecked, the stage is not done. Rerun, do not advance.

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## Rerun command

The one command that redoes this stage from its current `input/`. Nothing upstream.

```bash
# example
make stage-02-images   # or: python3 stages/02_images.py
```

When you change something upstream, you delete this stage's `output/`, refresh the `input/`, and rerun **this command only**.

---

## Notes

Free-form. What broke last time. What you'd do differently. Why a certain decision was made.

> This is the bit that pays you back in three months when you reopen the project.