Operationalize Rules Against Live Data

Connect extracted IF-THEN rules to real-world data sources. Load one or more bdistill rules exports, fetch current values from free APIs or local files, check each rule's conditions against reality, and produce a decision report listing which rules triggered, with current values, thresholds, and impact estimates.

When to use

• Check AML transaction rules against a batch of transactions
• Monitor weather thresholds against crop yield rules
• Compare current market prices against trading signal thresholds
• Verify lab results against clinical trial criteria
• Run scheduled compliance checks against regulatory rules
• Any domain where you have IF-THEN rules and a data feed

Input contract

required:
  rules_path: string | string[]   # Path(s) to bdistill rules export JSON (multi-domain supported)
  data_source: enum               # open-meteo | fred | yahoo-finance | csv | json-url | custom
optional:
  lat: float                      # Latitude (required for open-meteo)
  lon: float                      # Longitude (required for open-meteo)
  ticker: string                  # Ticker symbol (required for yahoo-finance)
  series_id: string               # FRED series ID (required for fred)
  data_path: string               # Local file path (required for csv)
  data_url: string                # Remote JSON endpoint (required for json-url)
  api_key: string                 # API key (required for fred, gnews)
  context: object                 # Free-form context passed to condition matching
output:
  rules_checked: int
  triggered: array
  data_source: string
  checked_at: string              # ISO 8601 timestamp
  report_path: string             # Path to saved decision report JSON

Output contract

format: JSON decision report
path: data/reports/{domain}-{YYYY-MM-DD}.json
schema:
  context:
    domain: string
    data_source: string
    fetched_at: string
  checked_at: string
  rules_checked: int
  rules_source: string | string[]
  triggered:
    - rule_id: string
      confidence: float
      conditions: string
      current_value: float | string
      threshold: float | string
      unit: string
      impact: string
  skipped:                         # Rules that couldn't be mapped to available data
    - rule_id: string
      reason: string               # "Could not map 'soil_moisture' to available fields"
  data_source: object              # Raw or summary of fetched data

The chain

This skill is the final step in the bdistill production pipeline:

bdistill-extract  -->  bdistill-export (format=harness-json)  -->  bdistill-operationalize
    (build KB)            (export rules)                           (check against reality)

Standalone mode (primary — no MCP needed)

1. Load rules from one or more exported JSON files. Filter to verified/solid tier entries only.
2. Fetch current data from the specified source:

- open-meteo: HTTP GET with lat/lon, returns daily weather (precipitation, temperature, wind) - fred: HTTP GET series observations with api_key, returns economic data points - yahoo-finance: HTTP GET quote endpoint, returns latest price data - csv: Read local CSV file into records - json-url: HTTP GET any JSON endpoint, parse response - custom: User provides data inline via the context object

1. Map conditions to data fields. This is the hard step. Rule conditions are natural language ("cumulativeprecip < 50mm during flowering"), but API responses have structured fields ("precipitationsum": [1.2, 0.0, 3.4, ...]). The agent must build a mapping:

Mapping strategy: - For each rule, identify the metric (what to measure), operator (< > = !=), threshold (the number), and unit - Match the metric to an available data field by keyword similarity: - "precip" / "precipitation" / "rainfall" → precipitationsum - "temp" / "temperature" / "Tmax" → temperature2mmax - "spread" / "10Y-2Y" → compute from multiple FRED series - "price" / "close" → regularMarketPrice (Yahoo Finance) - If a condition references a derived metric (e.g., "cumulative30d", "consecutivedrydays"), compute it from raw data before checking - If a condition cannot be mapped to any available data field, skip it and log: "SKIPPED: rule {id} — could not map '{metric}' to available fields: {list of fields}"

Do not guess. If the mapping is ambiguous, skip the rule rather than check against the wrong field. A false "not triggered" is worse than an honest "could not check."

1. Check each mapped rule: Compare current value against threshold using the parsed operator.
2. If conditions are met → rule triggered → add to report with current value, threshold, and impact.
3. Write decision report JSON to data/reports/{domain}-{YYYY-MM-DD}.json. Include a skipped array alongside triggered for rules that couldn't be mapped.
4. Print summary: "X of Y rules triggered, Z skipped (unmappable conditions)".

Domain examples

The feedback loop

When rules miss (predicted 15% yield loss, actual was 35%), feed back to bdistill-extract:

1. Identify which rules were wrong or missing coverage
2. Re-extract with bdistill-extract using narrower custom_terms targeting the gap
3. Re-export updated rules with bdistill-export (format=harness-json)
4. Re-run operationalize with the updated rules file

This creates a closed loop: extract -> export -> operationalize -> measure -> re-extract.

Edge cases

• Rule conditions can't be parsed: Skip rule, log warning "Could not match rule {id} to available data fields". Include in report as skipped.
• API returns no data: Report error with API response details. Do not trigger any rules. Set rules_checked: 0.
• Multiple rules triggered: Report all, sorted by confidence descending.
• Stale data: If fetched data is older than 24 hours, add a stale_warning field to the report.
• Multi-domain: When rules_path is an array, check each file independently and merge triggered rules into a single report.

Example

Load AML rules, check against a transaction batch:

Input:
  rules_path: "data/rules/base/aml-compliance-brazil.json"
  data_source: "csv"
  data_path: "transactions.csv"

Output:
  rules_checked: 14
  triggered:
    - rule_id: "aml-003"
      confidence: 0.92
      conditions: "cumulative_30d > 100000"
      current_value: 127500
      threshold: 100000
      unit: "BRL"
      impact: "Trigger Enhanced Due Diligence (EDD) review"
  report_path: "data/reports/aml-compliance-brazil-2026-03-30.json"

Composes with

• bdistill-export: Produces the rules JSON this skill consumes (use format=harness-json)
• bdistill-extract: Re-extract when rules miss -> re-export -> re-operationalize
• bdistill-calendar: Schedule operationalize runs around known events (e.g., WASDE release day)
• bdistill-predict: Use triggered rules as evidence inputs for structured predictions
• See references/api-catalog.md for free API details
• See scripts/rules_monitor.py for a reference Python implementation