The Stop List for Free Inference and Free Hosts

Description and use

Teams use a stop list to decide when to stop using free inference endpoints, employing a capability ledger and a port‑refusal detach drill.

Problem

Teams adopt free inference endpoints or servers without clear criteria for when to abandon them, leading to hidden risks beyond cost.

Outcome

Teams can identify and address risky free dependencies early, preventing silent failures and ensuring maintainable architecture.

Workflow

• Define capability ledger JSON per job
• Lint ledger against red‑line capabilities in CI
• Run detach drill by pointing provider URLs to a refusing port
• Observe job behavior in detached run
• Decide to add fallback, second writer, or accept exception

Evidence

A stop list fixes this. It is a short document, dated, that pairs each free dependency with an observable signal and a pre‑agreed action.

Source

Running it against the sample above exits 1 with one line naming the durable write.

Source

Exit criteria are worthless if nobody can measure the exit. The drill runs one command twice: once normally, once with every provider base URL pointed at a port that refuses connections.

Source