PROTOCOL.md

Standing Measurement Protocol

1. Re-run the identical five queries monthly. Same wording, character for character. data/queries.csv is the fixed instrument.
2. The primary instrument is a fresh Chrome Incognito session, logged out of all services, one system at a time, screenshots captured. Automated index checks (search APIs, agent tools) are supplementary and must be labeled as a different instrument in runs.csv.
3. Never test inside an existing conversation. An earlier test of a predecessor term was contaminated when the model referenced a prior turn. Contaminated measurements are worse than none because they look valid.
4. Record domain_appears, cited, and attributed as separate columns. A system can do any of these without the others.
5. The 31 July 2026 baseline is singular and unreproducible. Never overwrite it, never call a later run a baseline.
6. File each run as a new set of rows in data/runs.csv with run_date and t_plus_days (site launch = day 0, 2026-07-31 baseline = -1).
7. First attribution: capture the screenshot, record the row, preserve the raw output. That artifact paired with the baseline is the payoff of the entire protocol.