# The case lead's contract (CONTRACT-case-lead.md)

What the case lead does beyond the coder contract: the openings file, the gate, the fleet, the forest, and steps 4 and 5.

**What it holds**

§1a the openings file, read after the brief and before the gate. §1b the gate: `tools/fleet.py plan` decides branch A (500 items in the window or fewer, the lead reads the room) or branch B (a fleet reads it). §2 the order of the work. §3 the fleet: slices of whole threads, one coder per slice in turn, the ledger, redispatch, and the rule that the lead does not read or search raw threads before step 4 is done. §4 the forest. §5 the audit gate. §6 steps 4 and 5 over the pooled codes. §7 the outputs and the closing `close_run.py . --role lead --preflight`.

**Who writes it, and when**

The instrument's author. `newrun.py` copies it into `run/` with the placeholders filled. The lead reads it after `AGENT.md` and `CONTRACT.md`.

**Why it exists**

A room of more than 500 items is "too big for one reading". The contract records the branch as an output because "two branches are two instruments over one census", and it keeps the lead from reading raw threads during the fleet because "a lead who reads the raw threads is a coder who also adjudicates".

**Where**

[CONTRACT-case-lead.v32.md](../../../coder/instrument/v32/CONTRACT-case-lead.v32.md); a filled copy at `run/CONTRACT-case-lead.md` in each room's run archive.

Checked against: CONTRACT-case-lead.v32.md, CONTRACT.v32.md, newrun.py