User asks
Dallas starting pay, clarified to the bachelor's first-year salary lane.
This page traces one local gated answer-layer turn from user question to typed plan, deterministic data artifact, sealed Opus packet, structured draft, validation, and final UI.
Captured after the answer layer was made the default gated path.
This staging session shows the older deterministic wording for the same Dallas lookup flow.
Opus rewrote the body, validation accepted it, and Compass returned the improved answer.
I looked up Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree for selected districts. | District | State | Academic year | Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree | Sources | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Dallas Independent School District | TX | 2024 - 2025 | $62,000 | [1] [2] | Methodology - Sources cite the specific document for each row when available. - Rows are ordered by district name unless a supported sort is requested. - Results are restricted to the bachelor's-degree teacher salary lane as requested in the query.
In **Dallas Independent School District (TX)**, the annual base salary for a first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree is **$62,000** for the **2024–2025** academic year. | District | State | Academic year | Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree | Sources | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Dallas Independent School District | TX | 2024 - 2025 | $62,000 | [1] [2] | **Methodology** - Sources cite the specific document for each row when available. - Results are restricted to the bachelor's-degree teacher salary lane as requested.
Dallas starting pay, clarified to the bachelor's first-year salary lane.
Produces a typed lookup plan: named district, starting salary metric, BA lane, current year.
Resolves Dallas ISD and metric 89, then pulls one covered 2024-2025 salary row.
Proves the artifact and renders the deterministic table, methodology, CSV data, and source markers.
Seals the rendered answer, table, numeric tokens, source markers, and safe metadata into a JSON packet.
Uses the answer-layer prompt and structured AnswerDraft output to rewrite only the reading experience.
Checks table preservation, numbers, source markers, caveats, and unsupported policy language.
Accepted gated draft becomes the visible message; source cards and CSV still come from deterministic artifacts.
| Route | execute |
|---|---|
| Operation | lookup |
| District | Dallas ISD -> Dallas Independent School District |
| Metric | starting salary, BA lane |
| Temporal | current data; resolved result year is 2024 - 2025 |
| District ID | 150 |
|---|---|
| Metric ID | 89 |
| Academic year | 2024 - 2025 |
| Value | $62,000 |
| Coverage | covered / answer_value |
| Marker | Title | Type | Page |
|---|---|---|---|
| [1] | Dallas Independent School District Salary Schedule, 2024-2025 | Salary Schedule | pp. 11& 12 |
| [2] | Dallas Independent School District Board Policy | Board Policy | not page-specific |
| Universe | 1 |
|---|---|
| In scope | 1 |
| Addressed | 1 |
| Real data rows | 1 |
| Not reviewed | 0 |
Compass sends this sealed evidence packet as JSON to the answer stylist. This is the important part: it is a rewrite brief, not a data-retrieval tool.
{
"deterministic_body": "I looked up Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree for selected districts.\n\n| District | State | Academic year | Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree | Sources |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Dallas Independent School District | TX | 2024 - 2025 | $62,000 | [1] [2] |\n\nMethodology\n- Sources cite the specific document for each row when available.\n- Rows are ordered by district name unless a supported sort is requested.\n- Results are restricted to the bachelor's-degree teacher salary lane as requested in the query.",
"user_question": "What is the annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree for Dallas ISD?",
"route": "execute",
"result_type": "metric_lookup",
"artifact_id": "0e969fd6d4b5642f",
"manifest_metadata": {
"question": "What is the annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree for Dallas ISD?",
"artifact_id": "0e969fd6d4b5642f",
"row_count": 1
},
"facts": [],
"immutable_blocks": [
{
"kind": "table",
"text": "| District | State | Academic year | Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree | Sources |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Dallas Independent School District | TX | 2024 - 2025 | $62,000 | [1] [2] |",
"block_id": "table-1"
}
],
"numeric_tokens": [
"2024",
"2025",
"$62,000"
],
"source_markers": [
"[1]",
"[2]"
],
"caveat_fragments": [],
"allowed_nctq_context": [],
"suggested_followups": [],
"style_notes": []
}| Model | gateway/anthropic:claude-opus-4-6 |
|---|---|
| Temperature | 0.0 |
| Max tokens | 4096 |
| Output contract | AnswerDraft: body, used_fact_labels, preserved_block_ids |
# Compass Answer Layer Prompt You are Compass's answer layer. You improve the user's final reading experience after Compass has already planned, resolved, executed, validated, and rendered a deterministic answer. Your job is to make the answer clearer, more useful, and more human without changing the facts. ## Inputs You Receive You receive a sealed answer brief. Treat it as the complete universe of facts you may use. The brief may include: - the user's original question - the deterministic answer body - the answer route and result type - validated rows, values, ranks, coverage states, academic year, and source markers - required caveats - allowed NCTQ policy context - immutable markdown blocks such as tables and source lists - suggested follow-up options that Compass can actually answer ## Non-Negotiable Rules 1. Do not add facts, numbers, districts, metrics, source markers, citations, or policy claims that are not present in the answer brief. 2. Do not change numeric values, percentages, ranks, academic years, district names, state names, metric names, or source markers. 3. Preserve immutable markdown blocks exactly when the brief marks them as immutable. 4. Do not invent NCTQ positions, rationales, publications, or exemplars. 5. Do not imply Compass has complete coverage when the brief says coverage is partial, not reviewed, older-year only, not applicable, out of universe, or unsupported. 6. Do not apologize repeatedly or sound defensive. Be candid, helpful, and calm. 7. Do not mention internal implementation details such as validators, ResultSet, artifact IDs, planner routes, coverage frames, schemas, or runtime traces. If following these rules prevents you from improving the answer, return a light touch revision that preserves the deterministic answer almost exactly.
These are not blockers for the MVP. They are the next tightening points as we make the packet richer and the contract more reviewable.
{
"local_session_id": "81e13dfa-0be1-4d5a-9deb-0ac0a169e438",
"staging_session_id": "b10a19c0-6c76-42c4-b4b3-de315380a545",
"prompt": "What is the annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree for Dallas ISD?",
"planner": {
"route": "execute",
"operation": "lookup",
"confidence": 0.95,
"selection": {
"scope": "named_districts",
"districts": [
"Dallas ISD"
],
"states": []
},
"metrics": [
{
"name": "starting salary",
"role": "primary",
"degree_lane": "ba"
}
],
"temporal": {
"intent": "current",
"academic_year": null
}
},
"execution_row": {
"district_id": 150,
"district_name": "Dallas Independent School District",
"state": "TX",
"metric_id": 89,
"metric_name": "Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree",
"academic_year": "2024 - 2025",
"value": "$62,000",
"coverage_state": "covered",
"coverage_reason": "answer_value",
"citation_markers": [
1,
2
]
},
"citations": [
{
"marker": 1,
"title": "Dallas Independent School District Salary Schedule, 2024-2025",
"document_type": "Salary Schedule",
"page_ref": "pp. 11& 12",
"url": "https://nctqdocs.blob.core.windows.net/tcd-salaryschedule/Dallas_Independent_School_District_TX_Salary_Schedule_2024-2025_ID18665.pdf"
},
{
"marker": 2,
"title": "Dallas Independent School District Board Policy",
"document_type": "Board Policy",
"page_ref": null,
"url": "https://pol.tasb.org/PolicyOnline?key=361"
}
],
"coverage_frame": {
"universe_count": 1,
"in_scope_count": 1,
"addressed_count": 1,
"real_data_count": 1,
"not_reviewed_count": 0,
"out_of_universe_count": 0,
"coverage_ratio": 1.0
},
"deterministic_body": "I looked up Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree for selected districts.\n\n| District | State | Academic year | Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree | Sources |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Dallas Independent School District | TX | 2024 - 2025 | $62,000 | [1] [2] |\n\nMethodology\n- Sources cite the specific document for each row when available.\n- Rows are ordered by district name unless a supported sort is requested.\n- Results are restricted to the bachelor's-degree teacher salary lane as requested in the query.",
"answer_brief": {
"deterministic_body": "I looked up Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree for selected districts.\n\n| District | State | Academic year | Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree | Sources |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Dallas Independent School District | TX | 2024 - 2025 | $62,000 | [1] [2] |\n\nMethodology\n- Sources cite the specific document for each row when available.\n- Rows are ordered by district name unless a supported sort is requested.\n- Results are restricted to the bachelor's-degree teacher salary lane as requested in the query.",
"user_question": "What is the annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree for Dallas ISD?",
"route": "execute",
"result_type": "metric_lookup",
"artifact_id": "0e969fd6d4b5642f",
"manifest_metadata": {
"question": "What is the annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree for Dallas ISD?",
"artifact_id": "0e969fd6d4b5642f",
"row_count": 1
},
"facts": [],
"immutable_blocks": [
{
"kind": "table",
"text": "| District | State | Academic year | Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree | Sources |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Dallas Independent School District | TX | 2024 - 2025 | $62,000 | [1] [2] |",
"block_id": "table-1"
}
],
"numeric_tokens": [
"2024",
"2025",
"$62,000"
],
"source_markers": [
"[1]",
"[2]"
],
"caveat_fragments": [],
"allowed_nctq_context": [],
"suggested_followups": [],
"style_notes": []
},
"opus_model": "gateway/anthropic:claude-opus-4-6",
"model_settings": {
"temperature": 0.0,
"max_tokens": 4096,
"timeout_seconds": 90
},
"answer_layer_prompt_excerpt": "# Compass Answer Layer Prompt\n\nYou are Compass's answer layer. You improve the user's final reading experience\nafter Compass has already planned, resolved, executed, validated, and rendered a\ndeterministic answer.\n\nYour job is to make the answer clearer, more useful, and more human without\nchanging the facts.\n\n## Inputs You Receive\n\nYou receive a sealed answer brief. Treat it as the complete universe of facts\nyou may use.\n\nThe brief may include:\n\n- the user's original question\n- the deterministic answer body\n- the answer route and result type\n- validated rows, values, ranks, coverage states, academic year, and source markers\n- required caveats\n- allowed NCTQ policy context\n- immutable markdown blocks such as tables and source lists\n- suggested follow-up options that Compass can actually answer\n\n## Non-Negotiable Rules\n\n1. Do not add facts, numbers, districts, metrics, source markers, citations, or\n policy claims that are not present in the answer brief.\n2. Do not change numeric values, percentages, ranks, academic years, district\n names, state names, metric names, or source markers.\n3. Preserve immutable markdown blocks exactly when the brief marks them as\n immutable.\n4. Do not invent NCTQ positions, rationales, publications, or exemplars.\n5. Do not imply Compass has complete coverage when the brief says coverage is\n partial, not reviewed, older-year only, not applicable, out of universe, or\n unsupported.\n6. Do not apologize repeatedly or sound defensive. Be candid, helpful, and calm.\n7. Do not mention internal implementation details such as validators,\n ResultSet, artifact IDs, planner routes, coverage frames, schemas, or runtime\n traces.\n\nIf following these rules prevents you from improving the answer, return a light\ntouch revision that preserves the deterministic answer almost exactly.\n",
"answer_draft": {
"body": "In **Dallas Independent School District (TX)**, the annual base salary for a first-year teacher with a bachelor's degree is **$62,000** for the **2024–2025** academic year.\n\n| District | State | Academic year | Annual base salary for a first year teacher with a bachelor's degree | Sources |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Dallas Independent School District | TX | 2024 - 2025 | $62,000 | [1] [2] |\n\n**Methodology**\n- Sources cite the specific document for each row when available.\n- Results are restricted to the bachelor's-degree teacher salary lane as requested.",
"used_fact_labels": [],
"preserved_block_ids": [
"table-1"
]
},
"answer_layer_report": {
"mode": "gated",
"attempted": true,
"accepted": true,
"status": "accepted"
},
"validation_checks": [
{
"check": "Rendered manifest status",
"evidence": "status=rendered",
"result": "pass"
},
{
"check": "Execution validation",
"evidence": "validation_valid=true",
"result": "pass"
},
{
"check": "Immutable table",
"evidence": "table-1 appears unchanged in draft",
"result": "pass"
},
{
"check": "Numeric tokens",
"evidence": "2024, 2025, and $62,000 only",
"result": "pass"
},
{
"check": "Source markers",
"evidence": "only [1] and [2]",
"result": "pass"
},
{
"check": "NCTQ policy claims",
"evidence": "no unsupported policy stance added",
"result": "pass"
}
],
"known_gaps": [
"facts is currently empty, so Opus relies mostly on the deterministic body plus table/source/numeric guards.",
"Methodology is not immutable yet, so Opus can simplify redundant methodology bullets.",
"Source cards are UI metadata, not part of the markdown body sent as immutable source-list text in this example."
]
}Generated from local branch codex/answer-layer-mvp. Source packet saved beside this page as dallas-salary-answer-layer-packet.json.