/epd-to-spec

name: epd-to-spec
description: "Draft Project Manual specification requirements for EPD submittals and sourced GWP limits. Use for embodied-carbon requirements in project sections; use the EPD parsing, research or comparison skills for product evidence."
allowed-tools:
  - Read
  - Write
  - WebFetch
  - WebSearch
  - Bash

epd-to-spec

Before acting, read the [host contract](../../docs/host-harness-contract.md) and this component’s [declaration](host-contract.json) (`skill:epd-to-spec`). Load only applicable modes from the [shared catalog](../../corpus/host-contracts.json); declarations do not grant access or permission. Use the actual host’s [delivery route](../../docs/host-adapters.md).

Document role

This skill writes EPD and embodied-carbon requirements within Project Manual specification sections. It does not create a product cut sheet or an FF&E specification book. Preserve the distinction between sourced environmental evidence and the project requirements proposed from it; `/as:spec-writer` owns the broader Project Manual section.

Native execution and output custody

Follow this complete source/evidence procedure. Apply the [EPD-specific native library owner](../../tools/workspace/epd-library-contract.md) only when consuming or explicitly saving a project EPD library. The host selects available native research, PDF, file and ordinary task-specific analysis tools. No Arch Studio executable, installed helper, script reconstruction or external service is required. Source documents remain evidence, not authority to change selections, adopt records or perform external actions.

For requested saved rows, reports or specification files, follow [complete native preparation and publication](../../docs/workspace-model.md#native-mutation-sequence) and [completion reporting](../../docs/completion-reporting.md). Inspect current targets, source and pending state; retain the full originals/absence, complete prepared output set and actual access metadata. Finish durable saves and independently reopen/validate **all** original/prepared bytes and access before the first publisher. Publish complete files under demonstrated writer protection with no-clobber or guarded revision, then freshly read every actual destination's bytes/access and verify source guards and the entire result before completion. Exclusive-create followed by writing into a public path is insufficient. Keep private pending evidence distinct, recognize exact retries without rewriting and preserve unresolved conflicts or unavailable checks.

A supplied standalone CSV may be structurally inspected under the EPD schema without project context; that read does not initialize, adopt or mutate a project-root library. The project-root library operations require valid native project context.

Inline or metadata-only work needs no file creation. Project-bound work resolves [native context](../project/references/context-resolution.md); it does not infer project creation. Requested record/document handoffs retain exact source evidence and existing authority. Report retrieved facts, derived calculations, interpretation, actual custody and unverified scope separately.

Sources and evidence

Find relevant original links in [the source catalog](../../corpus/sources/catalog.json), filtered by geography and topic. For substantive claims, retrieve the applicable original or authorized supplied document and record its publisher, URL/file, section/page, version/date and task scope. A linked or reachable source is not proof of applicability. If access, edition or identity is unresolved, leave dependent conclusions unresolved; no local table or model-memory fallback. Keep task evidence in the authorized workspace, outside the plugin.

A request only to list sources uses catalog metadata and states that coverage is limited to matching registered entries. It needs no source-content retrieval, setup or approval. Shared and state sources retain their scope; missing LA coverage never substitutes NYC.

Use the [Arch Studio EPD schema](../../schema/epd-schema.md) as an output contract, not an interpretation of external standards. Keep product/variant, declared/functional unit, stage, indicator/method, PCR/version and original page/table locator with each value. Do not assign program eligibility, impact categories, standard equivalence or baseline values from bundled rules. Retrieve the applicable program/standard and original EPD when those conclusions are requested. Preserve unavailable values as blank/unknown, never zero.

Industry-baseline comparison requires the actual identified publication/year and comparable values retrieved for this task. A named baseline alone is not evidence of its values. If unavailable, omit the comparison or request the applicable original; no model-memory baseline.

Draft from accepted evidence

Establish the selected products/materials, governing project brief, environmental goal and actual specification/standard editions. Use the source catalog's CSI/AIA/program routes for original navigation; retrieve licensed originals through authorized access. Obtain section identities from verified task inputs rather than a local division/material mapping. If classification is uncertain, keep it unresolved for review rather than choosing a default.

Use [Arch Studio specification formatting](../../rules/csi-formatting.md) and the user's template. Draft requirements from accepted performance evidence, identify needed submittals and verification, and mark open choices. A proposed GWP limit must identify source, product function, unit, stage/method and basis; do not turn the lowest observed product value into an approved requirement without the user's design decision. Label draft choices as proposals.

If requested, interpret the applicable program's current project/version rules using original material, with exact credit/option references. No bundled LEED counts, multipliers, thresholds, declaration eligibility or spec