inire/DOCS.md

# Inire Configuration & API Documentation

This document describes the current public API for `inire`.

## 1. Primary API

### `RoutingProblem`

`RoutingProblem` describes the physical routing problem:

- `bounds`
- `nets`
- `static_obstacles`
- `initial_paths`
- `clearance`
- `safety_zone_radius`

### `RoutingOptions`

`RoutingOptions` groups all expert controls for the routing engine:

- `search`
- `objective`
- `congestion`
- `refinement`
- `diagnostics`

Route a problem with:

```python
run = route(problem, options=options)
```

If you omit `options`, `route(problem)` uses `RoutingOptions()` defaults.

The package root is the stable API surface. Deep imports under `inire.router.*` and `inire.geometry.*` remain accessible for advanced use, but they are unstable semi-private interfaces and may change without notice.

Stable example:

```python
from inire import route, RoutingOptions, RoutingProblem
```

Unstable example:

```python
from inire.router._router import PathFinder
```

### Incremental routing with locked geometry

For incremental workflows, route one problem, reuse the result's locked geometry, and feed it into the next problem:

```python
run_a = route(problem_a)
problem_b = RoutingProblem(
    bounds=problem_a.bounds,
    nets=(...),
    static_obstacles=run_a.results_by_net["netA"].locked_geometry,
)
run_b = route(problem_b)
```

`RoutingResult.locked_geometry` stores canonical physical geometry only. The next run applies its own clearance rules when treating it as a static obstacle.

### Initial paths with `PathSeed`

Use `RoutingProblem.initial_paths` to provide semantic per-net seeds. Seeds are materialized with the current width, clearance, and bend collision settings for the run, and partial seeds are retried by normal routing in later iterations.

## 2. Search Options

`RoutingOptions.search` is a `SearchOptions` object.

| Field | Default | Description |
| :-- | :-- | :-- |
| `node_limit` | `1_000_000` | Maximum number of states to explore per net. |
| `max_straight_length` | `2000.0` | Maximum length of a single straight segment. |
| `min_straight_length` | `5.0` | Minimum length of a single straight segment. |
| `greedy_h_weight` | `1.5` | Heuristic weight. `1.0` is optimal but slower. |
| `bend_radii` | `(50.0, 100.0)` | Available radii for 90-degree bends. |
| `sbend_radii` | `(10.0,)` | Available radii for S-bends. |
| `sbend_offsets` | `None` | Optional explicit lateral offsets for S-bends. |
| `bend_collision_type` | `"arc"` | Bend collision/proxy model: `"arc"`, `"bbox"`, `"clipped_bbox"`, or, for backward compatibility, a custom polygon. A legacy custom polygon here is treated as both the physical bend and its proxy unless overridden by the split fields below. |
| `bend_proxy_geometry` | `None` | Optional explicit bend proxy geometry. Use this when you want a custom search/collision envelope that differs from the routed bend shape. Supplying only a custom polygon proxy warns and keeps the physical bend as the standard arc. |
| `bend_physical_geometry` | `None` | Optional explicit bend physical geometry. Use `"arc"` or a custom polygon. If you set a custom physical polygon and do not set a proxy, the proxy defaults to the same polygon. |
| `bend_clip_margin` | `None` | Optional legacy shrink margin for `"clipped_bbox"`. Leave `None` for the default 8-point proxy. |
| `visibility_guidance` | `"tangent_corner"` | Visibility-derived straight candidate strategy. |

## 3. Objective Weights

`RoutingOptions.objective` and `RoutingOptions.refinement.objective` use `ObjectiveWeights`.

| Field | Default | Description |
| :-- | :-- | :-- |
| `unit_length_cost` | `1.0` | Cost per unit length. |
| `bend_penalty` | `250.0` | Flat bend penalty before radius scaling. |
| `sbend_penalty` | `500.0` | Flat S-bend penalty. |
| `danger_weight` | `1.0` | Weight applied to danger-map proximity costs. |

## 4. Congestion Options

`RoutingOptions.congestion` is a `CongestionOptions` object.

| Field | Default | Description |
| :-- | :-- | :-- |
| `max_iterations` | `10` | Maximum rip-up and reroute iterations. |
| `base_penalty` | `100.0` | Starting overlap penalty for negotiated congestion. |
| `multiplier` | `1.5` | Multiplier applied after an iteration still needs retries. |
| `use_tiered_strategy` | `True` | Use cheaper collision proxies in the first pass when applicable. |
| `net_order` | `"user"` | Net ordering strategy for warm-start seeding and routed iterations. |
| `warm_start_enabled` | `True` | Run the greedy warm-start seeding pass before negotiated congestion iterations. |
| `shuffle_nets` | `False` | Shuffle routing order between iterations. |
| `seed` | `None` | RNG seed for shuffled routing order. |

## 5. Refinement Options

`RoutingOptions.refinement` is a `RefinementOptions` object.

| Field | Default | Description |
| :-- | :-- | :-- |
| `enabled` | `True` | Enable post-route refinement. |
| `objective` | `None` | Optional override objective for refinement. `None` reuses the search objective. |

## 6. Diagnostics Options

`RoutingOptions.diagnostics` is a `DiagnosticsOptions` object.

| Field | Default | Description |
| :-- | :-- | :-- |
| `capture_expanded` | `False` | Record expanded nodes for diagnostics and visualization. |
| `capture_conflict_trace` | `False` | Capture authoritative post-reverify conflict trace entries for debugging negotiated-congestion failures. |
| `capture_frontier_trace` | `False` | Run an analysis-only reroute for reached-but-colliding nets and capture prune causes near their final conflict hotspots. |

## 7. Conflict Trace

`RoutingRunResult.conflict_trace` is an immutable tuple of post-reverify conflict snapshots. It is empty unless `RoutingOptions.diagnostics.capture_conflict_trace=True`.

Trace types:

- `ConflictTraceEntry`
  - `stage`: `"iteration"`, `"restored_best"`, or `"final"`
  - `iteration`: Iteration index for `"iteration"` entries, otherwise `None`
  - `completed_net_ids`: Nets with collision-free reached-target paths at that stage
  - `conflict_edges`: Undirected dynamic-conflict net pairs seen after full reverify
  - `nets`: Per-net trace payloads in routing-order order
- `NetConflictTrace`
  - `net_id`
  - `outcome`
  - `reached_target`
  - `report`
  - `conflicting_net_ids`: Dynamic conflicting nets for that stage
  - `component_conflicts`: Dynamic component-pair overlaps for that stage
- `ComponentConflictTrace`
  - `other_net_id`
  - `self_component_index`
  - `other_component_index`

The conflict trace only records dynamic net-vs-net component overlaps. Static-obstacle and self-collision details remain count-only in `RoutingReport`.

Use `scripts/record_conflict_trace.py` to capture JSON and Markdown trace artifacts for the built-in trace scenarios. The default target is `example_07_large_scale_routing_no_warm_start`.

## 8. Frontier Trace

`RoutingRunResult.frontier_trace` is an immutable tuple of per-net post-run frontier analyses. It is empty unless `RoutingOptions.diagnostics.capture_frontier_trace=True`.

Trace types:

- `NetFrontierTrace`
  - `net_id`
  - `hotspot_bounds`: Buffered bounds around the net's final dynamic component-overlap hotspots
  - `pruned_closed_set`
  - `pruned_hard_collision`
  - `pruned_self_collision`
  - `pruned_cost`
  - `samples`: First traced prune events near those hotspots
- `FrontierPruneSample`
  - `reason`: `"closed_set"`, `"hard_collision"`, `"self_collision"`, or `"cost"`
  - `move_type`
  - `hotspot_index`
  - `parent_state`
  - `end_state`

The frontier trace is observational only. It reruns only the final reached-but-colliding nets in analysis mode, with scratch metrics, after the routed result is already fixed.

Use `scripts/record_frontier_trace.py` to capture JSON and Markdown frontier-prune artifacts for the built-in trace scenarios. The default target is `example_07_large_scale_routing_no_warm_start`.

Separately from the observational trace tooling, the router may run a bounded post-loop pair-local scratch reroute before refinement when the restored best snapshot ends with final two-net reached-target dynamic conflicts. That repair phase is part of normal routing behavior and is reported through the `pair_local_search_*` counters below.

## 9. RouteMetrics

`RoutingRunResult.metrics` is an immutable per-run snapshot.

### Search Counters

- `nodes_expanded`: Total nodes expanded during the run.
- `moves_generated`: Total candidate moves generated during the run.
- `moves_added`: Total candidate moves admitted to the open set.
- `pruned_closed_set`: Total moves pruned because the state was already closed at lower cost.
- `pruned_hard_collision`: Total moves pruned by hard collision checks.
- `pruned_cost`: Total moves pruned by cost ceilings or invalid costs.
- `route_iterations`: Number of negotiated-congestion iterations entered.
- `nets_routed`: Number of net-routing attempts executed across all iterations.
- `nets_reached_target`: Number of those attempts that reached the requested target port.
- `warm_start_paths_built`: Number of warm-start seed paths built by the greedy bootstrap pass.
- `warm_start_paths_used`: Number of routing attempts satisfied directly from an initial or warm-start path.
- `refine_path_calls`: Number of completed paths passed through the post-route refiner.
- `timeout_events`: Number of timeout exits encountered during the run.
- `iteration_reverify_calls`: Number of end-of-iteration full reverify passes against the final installed dynamic geometry.
- `iteration_reverified_nets`: Number of reached-target nets reverified at iteration boundaries.
- `iteration_conflicting_nets`: Total unique nets found in end-of-iteration dynamic conflicts.
- `iteration_conflict_edges`: Total undirected dynamic-conflict edges observed at iteration boundaries.
- `nets_carried_forward`: Number of nets retained unchanged between iterations.

### Cache Counters

- `move_cache_abs_hits` / `move_cache_abs_misses`: Absolute move-geometry cache activity.
- `move_cache_rel_hits` / `move_cache_rel_misses`: Relative move-geometry cache activity.
- `guidance_match_moves`: Number of moves that matched the reroute guidance seed and received the guidance bonus.
- `guidance_match_moves_straight`, `guidance_match_moves_bend90`, `guidance_match_moves_sbend`: Guidance-match counts split by move type.
- `guidance_bonus_applied`: Total reroute-guidance bonus subtracted from move costs across the run.
- `guidance_bonus_applied_straight`, `guidance_bonus_applied_bend90`, `guidance_bonus_applied_sbend`: Guidance bonus totals split by move type.
- `static_safe_cache_hits`: Reuse count for the static-safe admission cache.
- `hard_collision_cache_hits`: Reuse count for the hard-collision cache.
- `congestion_cache_hits` / `congestion_cache_misses`: Per-search congestion-cache activity.

### Index And Collision Counters

- `dynamic_path_objects_added` / `dynamic_path_objects_removed`: Dynamic-path geometry objects inserted into or removed from the live routing index.
- `dynamic_tree_rebuilds`: Number of dynamic STRtree rebuilds.
- `dynamic_grid_rebuilds`: Number of dynamic congestion-grid rebuilds.
- `static_tree_rebuilds`: Number of static dilated-obstacle STRtree rebuilds.
- `static_raw_tree_rebuilds`: Number of raw static-obstacle STRtree rebuilds used for verification.
- `static_net_tree_rebuilds`: Number of net-width-specific static STRtree rebuilds.
- `visibility_corner_index_builds`: Number of lazy corner-index rebuilds.
- `visibility_builds`: Number of exact corner-visibility graph rebuilds.
- `visibility_corner_pairs_checked`: Number of corner-pair visibility probes considered while building the exact graph.
- `visibility_corner_queries_exact` / `visibility_corner_hits_exact`: Exact-corner visibility query activity.
- `visibility_point_queries`, `visibility_point_cache_hits`, `visibility_point_cache_misses`: Arbitrary-point visibility query and cache activity.
- `ray_cast_calls`: Number of ray-cast queries issued against static obstacles.
- `ray_cast_candidate_bounds`: Total broad-phase candidate bounds considered by ray casts.
- `ray_cast_exact_geometry_checks`: Total exact non-rectangular geometry checks performed by ray casts.
- `congestion_check_calls`: Number of congestion broad-phase checks requested by search.
- `congestion_presence_cache_hits` / `congestion_presence_cache_misses`: Reuse of cached per-span booleans indicating whether a move polygon could overlap any other routed net at all.
- `congestion_presence_skips`: Number of moves that bypassed full congestion evaluation because the presence precheck found no other routed nets in any covered dynamic-grid span.
- `congestion_candidate_precheck_hits` / `congestion_candidate_precheck_misses`: Reuse of cached conservative per-span booleans indicating whether any candidate nets survive the net-envelope and grid-net broad phases.
- `congestion_candidate_precheck_skips`: Number of moves that bypassed full congestion evaluation because the candidate-net precheck found no surviving candidate nets after those broad phases.
- `congestion_candidate_nets`: Total candidate net ids returned by the dynamic net-envelope broad phase during routing.
- `congestion_net_envelope_cache_hits` / `congestion_net_envelope_cache_misses`: Reuse of cached dynamic net-envelope candidate sets keyed by the queried grid-cell span.
- `congestion_grid_net_cache_hits` / `congestion_grid_net_cache_misses`: Reuse of cached per-span candidate net ids gathered from dynamic grid occupancy.
- `congestion_grid_span_cache_hits` / `congestion_grid_span_cache_misses`: Reuse of cached dynamic-path candidate unions keyed by the queried grid-cell span.
- `congestion_lazy_resolutions`: Number of popped nodes whose pending congestion was resolved lazily.
- `congestion_lazy_requeues`: Number of lazily resolved nodes requeued after a positive congestion penalty was applied.
- `congestion_candidate_ids`: Total dynamic-path object ids returned by the congestion broad phase before exact confirmation.
- `congestion_exact_pair_checks`: Number of exact geometry-pair checks performed while confirming congestion hits.

### Verification Counters

- `verify_path_report_calls`: Number of full path-verification passes.
- `verify_static_buffer_ops`: Number of static-verification `buffer()` operations.
- `verify_dynamic_candidate_nets`: Total candidate net ids returned by the dynamic net-envelope broad phase during final verification.
- `verify_dynamic_exact_pair_checks`: Number of exact geometry-pair checks performed during dynamic-path verification.

### Local Search Counters

- `pair_local_search_pairs_considered`: Number of final reached-target conflict pairs considered by the bounded post-loop pair-local-search phase.
- `pair_local_search_attempts`: Number of pair-local-search reroute attempts executed across all considered pairs.
- `pair_local_search_accepts`: Number of pair-local-search attempts accepted into the whole routed result set.
- `pair_local_search_nodes_expanded`: Total A* node expansions spent inside pair-local-search attempts.

## 10. Internal Modules

Lower-level search and collision modules are semi-private implementation details. They remain accessible through deep imports for advanced use, but they are unstable and may change without notice. The stable supported entrypoint is `route(problem, options=...)`.

The current implementation structure is summarized in **[docs/architecture.md](docs/architecture.md)**. The committed example-corpus counter baseline is tracked in **[docs/performance.md](docs/performance.md)**.
Use `scripts/diff_performance_baseline.py` to compare a fresh local run against that baseline. Use `scripts/record_conflict_trace.py` for opt-in conflict-hotspot traces and `scripts/record_frontier_trace.py` for hotspot-adjacent prune traces. The counter baseline is currently observational and is not enforced as a CI gate.

## 11. Tuning Notes

### Speed vs. optimality

- Lower `search.greedy_h_weight` toward `1.0` for better optimality.
- Raise `search.greedy_h_weight` for faster, greedier routing.

### Congestion handling

- Increase `congestion.base_penalty` to separate nets more aggressively in the first iteration.
- Increase `congestion.max_iterations` if congestion needs more reroute passes.
- Increase `congestion.multiplier` if later iterations need to escalate more quickly.

### Bend-heavy routes

- Increase `objective.bend_penalty` to discourage ladders of small bends.
- Increase available `search.bend_radii` when larger turns are physically acceptable.
- Use `search.bend_physical_geometry` and `search.bend_proxy_geometry` together when you need a real custom bend shape plus a different conservative proxy.

### Visibility guidance

- `"tangent_corner"` is the default and best general-purpose setting in obstacle-dense layouts.
- `"exact_corner"` is more conservative.
- `"off"` disables visibility-derived straight candidates.

### S-bends

- Leave `search.sbend_offsets=None` to let the router derive natural offsets automatically.
- Provide explicit `search.sbend_offsets` for known process-preferred offsets.
- S-bends are only used for offsets smaller than `2R`.