Funder rule packs - GrantKit Docs

A rule pack is a declarative YAML file describing everything the engine needs to lint and scaffold a grant for one funder: its sections and limits, formatting rules (each with a citation), budget caps, portal quirks, spelling locale, and review rubric. Packs live under grantkit/data/funders/; the stem of the filename is the pack id (nsf-pappg.yaml → nsf-pappg).

Packs that ship today¶

Pack id	Funder	Notes
`nsf-pappg`	National Science Foundation	PAPPG 24-1; full content engine + merit-review rubric.
`nuffield-rda`	Nuffield Foundation	RDA full application; `en-GB`; plain-text portal.
`pbif`	Public Benefit Innovation Fund	Section list only; no limits are published.

Using a pack¶

grantkit init --funder <id> scaffolds from a pack. At runtime a grant is matched to a pack by its pack: field, then by funder name.

Schema¶

The full schema is documented in grantkit/packs/schema.py. Top-level keys:

Key	Type	Notes
`id`	string, required	Matches the filename stem.
`name`	string, required	Funder name.
`program`	string	Default program/solicitation.
`version`	string	Funder-guidance version (e.g. PAPPG `24-1`).
`source_url`	string	Canonical solicitation/policy URL.
`locale`	`en-US` \| `en-GB`	Spelling locale enforced by `check`.
`provenance`	string	How the pack’s values were sourced.
`content_engine`	`nsf_pappg` \| null	A named programmatic content checker.
`sections`	list	`id`/`title`/`word_limit`/`char_limit`/`page_limit`/`required`/`description`/`file`.
`formatting_rules`	list	`id`/`description`/`severity`/`citation`/`url`/`quote`/`applies_to`.
`budget_rules`	mapping	`total_cap`/`annual_cap`/`indirect_rate_max`/`mtdc_excludes`/`currency`.
`portal`	mapping	`accepts_markdown`/`plain_text_boxes`/`url`.
`review_rubric`	list	Assessment criteria for `grantkit review`.

Contributing a pack¶

Copy an existing pack and rename it to <funder>.yaml.
Only encode what you can source. Leave a limit null if the funder does not publish one — never invent a number. Absence of a limit is unknown, not unlimited.
Record provenance. Add a provenance: field and inline comments citing where each value came from (URL, solicitation, or a reference application).
Set the essentials: locale and portal.accepts_markdown drive the spelling and plain-text checks.
Cite formatting rules. Every formatting_rules entry should carry a citation (and ideally a url and verbatim quote).
Validate and test:
```
python -c "from grantkit.packs import load_pack; load_pack('your-pack')"
```
load_pack validates against the schema and raises on any error. Add a case to tests/test_packs.py asserting your sourced values.

Content engines¶

Most formatting rules are documentation the linter surfaces but cannot verify from Markdown (font size, margins — these are PDF-level). A pack can opt into a content engine — a named programmatic checker — via content_engine. Today the only engine is nsf_pappg, which runs the NSF PAPPG content validator (prohibited URLs/emails, required Intellectual Merit / Broader Impacts statements, non-ASCII detection) over the response sections.