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Quickstart

Get started with Whether and make your first climate-informed decision in under 5 minutes.

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Prerequisites

Whether is a web-based platform that requires:
  • A modern web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge)
  • Internet connection for live Treasury data
Whether works offline with cached snapshot data if the Treasury API is unavailable.

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Step 1: Access the Platform

1

Navigate to the home page

Open Whether in your browser. You’ll land on the Current Climate page showing today’s regime reading.The home page displays:
  • Current regime label (SCARCITY, DEFENSIVE, VOLATILE, or EXPANSION)
  • Tightness and risk appetite scores
  • Operating constraints and immediate guidance
  • Data source and freshness timestamps
2

Check data freshness

Look for the Trust Status indicator in the top-right corner:
  • Green badge: Live data, safe for near-term planning
  • Yellow badge: Cached data, pause irreversible decisions
  • Blue badge: Historical mode, use for retrospectives only
All regime readings include:
  • record_date - Date of Treasury data
  • fetched_at - When Whether retrieved the data
  • source - US Treasury Fiscal Data API endpoint
3

Understand your current regime

The regime hero section explains:
  • What the regime means (e.g., “Capital is expensive and risk appetite is low”)
  • Operating constraints (e.g., “Shorten payback windows and preserve cash”)
  • Net operating stance (e.g., “Maintain constraint discipline. No expansion moves.”)
Bookmark the home page for quick access during planning meetings.

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Step 2: Understand Your First Regime Reading

Whether classifies market conditions into four regimes based on two scores:

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Tightness Score (0-100)

What it measures: How expensive is capital right now? Inputs:
  • Base rate (1-month or 3-month Treasury yield): Cost of short-term money
  • Curve inversion (10Y - 2Y slope): Stress signal when negative
Threshold: Tightness > 70 signals expensive capital
Example reading:
  • Base rate: 5.2%
  • Curve slope: -0.2%
  • Tightness: 88 (Capital is expensive)

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Risk Appetite Score (0-100)

What it measures: How willing are investors to take risk? Inputs:
  • Curve slope (10Y - 2Y): Steeper slope = more confidence
Threshold: Risk appetite > 50 signals healthy confidence
Example reading:
  • Curve slope: +0.3%
  • Risk Appetite: 52 (Moderate confidence)

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Regime Classification

Once scored, Whether maps these dimensions to one of four regimes:

SCARCITY

Tightness > 70, Risk ≤ 50Capital is expensive, risk appetite is low.→ Prioritize survival over growth

DEFENSIVE

Tightness > 70, Risk > 50Capital is expensive, risk appetite is moderate.→ Operate for efficiency

VOLATILE

Tightness ≤ 70, Risk ≤ 50Capital is cheaper, risk appetite is weak.→ Build trust and resilience

EXPANSION

Tightness ≤ 70, Risk > 50Capital is cheap, risk appetite is healthy.→ Move quickly to capture share

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Step 3: Make Your First Decision with Decision Shield

Decision Shield converts regime reads into concrete verdicts for specific planning decisions.
1

Navigate to Decision Shield

From the home page, click Operations in the navigation menu, then select Decision Shield.
2

Describe your decision

Use the dropdown inputs to describe what you’re planning:Lifecycle:
  • Early (prototype, MVP)
  • Growth (scaling, expansion)
  • Mature (optimization, maintenance)
Category:
  • Hiring (new roles, team expansion)
  • Product (features, new products)
  • Platform (infrastructure, tooling)
  • Marketing (campaigns, brand)
Action:
  • Add (new initiative)
  • Expand (scale existing)
  • Cut (reduce or pause)
  • Hold (maintain current level)
3

Review the verdict

Decision Shield returns a verdict based on the current regime:Safe: Green light—proceed with normal approval flowRisky: Yellow light—requires extra scrutiny, add milestones or guardrailsDangerous: Red light—delay or cancel unless business-criticalEach verdict includes:
  • 2-4 bullets grounded in current sensors
  • Guardrail constraint (e.g., “Cap experiment spend at 5% of runway”)
  • Reversal trigger (e.g., “Reverse if tightness crosses 80”)
4

Copy to clipboard

Click Copy to Clipboard to export the verdict for Slack, email, or planning docs.The copied output includes:
  • Decision inputs
  • Verdict and reasoning
  • Current regime and sensor values
  • Source URLs and timestamps
Example decision:
  • Lifecycle: Growth
  • Category: Hiring
  • Action: Add
  • Regime: DEFENSIVE
  • Verdict: Risky — “Hiring in DEFENSIVE regime requires proven ROI. Stage offers behind revenue milestones.”

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Step 4: Set Up Alerts

Signal Ops sends alerts when regime changes or key thresholds are crossed.
1

Navigate to Signal Ops

From the navigation menu, click Operations → Signal Ops.
2

Configure alert channels

Choose where to receive alerts:
  • Email (weekly digest)
  • Slack (real-time regime changes)
  • Webhook (custom integrations)
3

Set threshold watch rules

Configure which events trigger alerts:
  • Regime change (EXPANSION → DEFENSIVE)
  • Tightness crosses 70 (capital tightening)
  • Risk appetite crosses 50 (confidence weakening)
  • Curve inverts (10Y < 2Y)
4

Test your alert setup

Click Send Test Alert to confirm delivery to your chosen channels.
Alerts fire only on changes, not on every data refresh. This prevents alert fatigue.

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What to Do Next

Review Signals

Explore the evidence behind regime classifications (base rate, curve slope, macro adjustments)

Use Time Machine

Replay historical regimes to see how past conditions compared to today

Export Briefs

Generate executive summaries for leadership meetings (Slack, email, PDF)

Understand How It Works

Deep-dive into the Regime Engine formulas and classification logic

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Common Questions

Whether fetches Treasury data once per day (end-of-day updates from the US Treasury). Regime readings are cached for 24 hours with revalidation.The fetched_at timestamp shows when Whether last retrieved data.
If the Treasury API is unavailable, Whether serves cached snapshot data from data/ and displays an OFFLINE badge.Operators should pause irreversible decisions until the live feed returns or they confirm the cached data.
Yes. Operators can override thresholds via URL query parameters:
  • ?baseRateTightness=4.5 (default: 5.0)
  • ?tightnessRegime=65 (default: 70)
  • ?riskAppetiteRegime=55 (default: 50)
Overrides are tracked in an on-screen audit trail.
No. Whether provides operational strategy guidance, not investment advice. It helps teams align internal planning with macro conditions—it does not recommend trading or portfolio allocation.
Whether uses deterministic, testable rules—no opaque ML. Accuracy depends on:
  • Freshness of Treasury data (tracked via fetched_at)
  • Appropriateness of thresholds for your context (customizable)
  • Quality of your decision inputs (garbage in, garbage out)
Whether is designed to reduce common mistakes, not eliminate judgment.

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Get Help

If you need assistance:
  • Check the How It Works guide for technical details
  • Review SPECS.md for MVP scope and data sourcing
  • Open an issue on GitHub for bugs or feature requests

Next: How It Works

Understand the Regime Engine formulas and classification logic

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