# Reflection: Internal Parameters Are Not User Inputs

## Trigger

The user corrected two successive workflow descriptions: first, year/month/cutoff values were incorrectly treated as user submissions; then a monthly-report button was still incorrectly retained as a separate user action.

## Expected Behavior

Trace the complete business event chain before designing the interaction boundary: XML upload → Agent structured result → successful database commit → automatic monthly-report dispatch.

## Actual Behavior

Internal `RunRequest` fields and an existing manual endpoint were mistaken for the intended user workflow.

## Root Cause

- Unclear ownership
- Stale docs
- Conflation of an internal execution contract with a user-facing product contract

## Evidence

- Files: `.planning/monthly_reports_database_audit/findings.md`, `arr_web/app.py`, `arr_web/static/app.js`
- Session/thread: user correction on 2026-07-29
- Docs involved: ADR-001 and `.project-docs/40-domain/business-rules.md`

## Lesson

When a report program accepts year, month, or as-of values internally, do not infer that a person supplies them. Establish who initiates the business event, where values are derived, and which boundary owns the trigger before proposing UI or API behavior.

## Action

- Update docs
- Add the confirmed boundary to the durable business rules and architecture decision.

## Promotion

Promoted to ADR-001, the business-rules document, architecture data flow, and stale-item tracking.
