Real Components As Advertised

A pipeline that advertises a component (e.g. "Cosmos Transfer 2.5", "FiftyOne curation") MUST actually run it. A stub that only echos or writes a contract_ready manifest while the spec advertises real output is a correctness bug: it looks green in validate/plan/smoke but produces no real artifacts, and downstream stages that consume them fail (or silently pass on fake data).

Rule

• Every advertised stage invokes the real component and writes real artifacts.
• A stage may be a stub ONLY if the spec description says so explicitly; never advertise a stub as the real capability.
• Verify on a live run that each stage's output artifact is real (a real video/frames/report), not a manifest or an echoed string.

Audit method

For each toolRef, inspect its argv in npa/src/npa/orchestration/npa_workflow/catalog.py:

• argv[0] == "echo" → stub (e.g. workbench.fiftyone.launch_app).
• a Python one-liner that writes "status": "contract_ready" or a fixed write_decision → stub / demo (e.g. workbench.sim2real.write_decision).
• invokes a real CLI (npa workbench <tool> ... with real flags) or a real module function → real.

Known stub toolRefs (do NOT advertise as real output):

Stub	Real replacement
workbench.fiftyone.launch_app (echo)	real npa workbench fiftyone load-dataset, or a real run.shell curation function
workbench.sim2real.write_decision (demo)	real run.shell module decision function for the advertised pipeline

run.shell stages count as real when they invoke a real npa workbench ... command or import a real, tested module (e.g. npa.workflows.data_factory_stages, npa.workflows.data_factory_viz). Put the logic in a tested module, not inline.

workbench.cosmos2.transfer_execute is the real Config-Gen-aware execution toolRef used by the Data Factory and the standalone procedural-input smoke. workbench.cosmos2.transfer_conditioned_execute is the real input-conditioned execution toolRef for workflows that do not carry a Config-Gen manifest. Both include --execute and --condition-on-input, so a missing runtime or input video fails closed. The direct workbench.cosmos2.transfer / npa workbench cosmos2 transfer surface retains reference/local augmentation behavior and must not be used by an advertised real Cosmos stage.

Name the real project, or run it

Advertising a named third-party component is a stronger claim than advertising "real work": it says that project's code produced the artifact. Two ways to honour it, both acceptable, and the difference must be visible in the artifact:

1. Run upstream's code. Preferred. Import upstream from a checkout baked into the tool's image and call its own classes (e.g. the cosmos-curate stage drives upstream's CuratorStage objects directly), or invoke upstream's documented CLI in upstream's container.
2. Implement upstream's published algorithm or protocol, cite it, and tag the artifact with which engine produced the number (e.g. the evaluator's hallucination check records engine: cosmos-evaluator-upstream vs cosmos-evaluator-npa-port, and the two agree to ~1e-3 on the same input).

What is never acceptable: a stage named after a project that neither runs it nor implements it. When upstream cannot run in an environment, record engine: unavailable with the reason (see npa workbench cosmos-curate engine) rather than emitting a plausible-looking report. Attribution belongs in a NOTICE file — see skills/NOTICE-NVIDIA-COSMOS-OSS for the level of specificity expected: which upstream modules run, which are reimplemented, and where NPA substitutes its own endpoint.

Reference implementation

physical-ai-data-factory.yaml uses only real components: Token Factory VLM caption, cosmos2.transfer_execute (real Cosmos Transfer 2.5 on GPU), cosmos_evaluator.evaluate (real NVIDIA Cosmos Evaluator hallucination + attribute-verification checks), cosmos_curate.curate (real NVIDIA Cosmos Curator stages), and real run.shell module functions for config-gen, grade gate, FiftyOne review, and finalize. build_run_rrd writes a real Rerun .rrd.

Enforced by

npa/tests/orchestration/npa_workflow/test_real_components.py fails if the blueprint uses a known-stub toolRef, if a run.shell stage isn't a real command/module call, if the augment stage isn't cosmos2.transfer_execute, if the grade loop stops grading with Cosmos Evaluator, or if curation stops running Cosmos Curator before FiftyOne review. Live-infra verification is a priority (skills/atomic/testing-conventions).