PDFToMD/phases/1-core-runtime-contracts/step3.md

Step 3: runtime-cache-policy

Read First

• /AGENTS.md
• /PLAN.md
• /PROGRESS.md
• /docs/HARNESS.md
• /docs/IMPLEMENTATION_PLAN.md
• /docs/TOOLCHAIN.md
• /docs/CONVERSION_POLICY.md
• /phases/1-core-runtime-contracts/step1.md
• /phases/1-core-runtime-contracts/step2.md

Task

Establish model cache, log path, and resume state policy as typed contracts and documented path helpers.

The result should prepare later CLI/runtime phases to use local model cache paths and offline-preferred model loading.

Sprint Contract

• Done means: model cache and runtime cache path contracts are tested and documented without downloading models.
• Hard thresholds: no network download is triggered; logs/state remain outside generated Markdown content; environment variable overrides are deterministic.
• Files owned: src/pdftomd/, tests/, docs/TOOLCHAIN.md, PROGRESS.md, phases/1-core-runtime-contracts/index.json.
• Dependencies: Steps 1 and 2.

Acceptance Criteria

python scripts\validate_workspace.py
.\venv\python.exe -m pytest tests

Verification

1. Run the acceptance commands.
2. Confirm docs/TOOLCHAIN.md stays consistent with any cache path decisions.
3. Update PROGRESS.md and this phase index.

Do Not

• Do not download Marker or Nougat weights.
• Do not add hosted storage or cloud cache behavior.
• Do not write warnings into Markdown output.