2026-04-27 - Phi-4-mini Bounded Run-Range Orchestration Landed

Intent: Record the outcome of adding bounded Phi-4-mini layer-range orchestration while preserving the ANE-only, quality-before-scale workflow and validation discipline.

Setup: the Phi orchestration script now has run-range with --layer-start inclusive, --layer-end exclusive, default safety cap --max-range-layers 4, preflight before each layer, skip of convert/compile when the compiled artifact already exists, and strict residency plus numerical smoke per layer. Validation commands: bash -n the Phi orchestration script; dry-run run-range --layer-start 4 --layer-end 6 --gatekeeper-go --dry-run.

Result: bash -n the Phi orchestration script passed. The dry-run generated the expected layer 4 and layer 5 commands without executing heavy work.

Surprise / hurdle: The range semantics and safety cap needed to make automation convenient without silently expanding into full scale-out.

Lesson: Bounded range orchestration is safest when every layer re-enters preflight and must pass residency plus numerical smoke before progressing.

Next: No conversion, compile, perf, energy, cleanup, or deletion was run by this validation; the next real range should remain capped and gated.

Refs: research/ANE_CHAIN_SCHEMA.md