Configure launches

Every builder reads the same site catalogue. Pass its path with --sites; the file can live outside the Windgram checkout and the CLI resolves it to an absolute path for that dispatch.

Catalogue shape

club-sites.json

{
  "schemaVersion": 1,
  "sites": [
    {
      "slug": "test-hill",
      "name": "Test Hill",
      "latitude": 49.0,
      "longitude": -117.0,
      "elevationM": 1000,
      "timeZone": "America/Vancouver"
    }
  ]
}

The catalogue must satisfy sitesCatalogueSchema from windgram/contract or the generated toolkit/schema/sites.schema.json artifact.

Field	Meaning
schemaVersion	Site-catalogue contract version; 1
slug	Stable lowercase, hyphenated identity used in output paths
name	Reader-facing launch name
latitude, longitude	Decimal degrees
elevationM	Surveyed launch elevation, metres MSL
timeZone	IANA timezone used to read local days and clock times

Launch elevation and model elevation differ

elevationM is the launch fact. Each profile records the sampled grid terrain separately as site.modelElevationM; the pipeline uses model elevation for pressure-level filtering and model-column derivations.

Add a site safely

1. Choose a stable slug. Renaming it changes every profile and history path.

2. Record coordinates and surveyed elevation from an appropriate source for your club. Do not infer elevation from a forecast grid.

3. Declare the launch’s IANA timezone. Local time changes day windows and the meaning of timing findings, so builders echo this value into each profile as site.timeZone; do not infer it from longitude in presentation code.

4. Validate the whole file without fetching provider data:

   Terminal

   uv run --project pipeline windgram build --model hrrr-conus --sites ./club-sites.json --output ./public/data --dry-run

5. Run the chosen model. If any configured site falls outside that model’s sampling guard, the build fails with an out-of-grid error rather than publishing a clamped boundary value. Use a site catalogue appropriate to the selected model domain.

6. Regenerate the static site context and commit it with the catalogue change, so the published terrain and land-cover context stays joined to the sites it describes:

   Terminal

   uv sync --project pipeline --extra terrain
   uv run --project pipeline windgram terrain

   The one-shot command reads ./sites.json and rewrites ./site-context.json (both paths accept overrides via --sites and --output). Its shape and sources are in the site context reference.

The catalogue chooses sampling locations and their local clocks. It does not choose audience, launch suitability, display windows, or access policy. Those belong to the downstream publisher.