Codev Optimizer

Immediate Rules

• For interactive optimization, automatically launch the visible CODE V UI at the start of the task.
• Prefer opening the target .len directly into the visible CODE V session. Do not default to /input= startup for GUI work.
• After the window exists, reuse that same visible CODE V window for later stages. Let each stage script RES its source lens internally instead of opening a new GUI window every time.
• If the visible CODE V window has been closed, reopen the target .len first, then continue.
• If the user wants to watch optimization progress cycle by cycle, prefer an interactive CODE V session over /background. Do not assume a background .lis file will flush per-cycle updates in real time.
• If the user wants 2D layout visualization during optimization, enable DRA as part of the normal optimization run. Treat it as a stage output aid, not as a separate fake visualization mode.
• Treat physical rules as prerequisites. If performance conflicts with real gaps, air thickness, stow length, or package limits, keep the physical rules and change the structure or glass strategy instead.
• Add standards gradually. Use a loose target first, then tighten only after the system shows it can carry the new requirement.
• When a thickness or physical quantity is identical across configurations, constrain it only once.
• Before every AUT block, run SET APE -> SET VIG -> DEL APE SA.
• Before final acceptance, run SET APE -> SET VIG -> DEL APE SA again.
• If you intentionally change the true limiting aperture, establish it with real aperture changes first, then regenerate vignetting.
• Do not use FCT_FTGT for every air gap. Use it only for key real-surface gaps, non-spherical gaps, moving groups, or cases with virtual surfaces between real surfaces.

Read These References As Needed

• Read references/workflow.md for phase ordering, error-function choice, variable-release order, and result-saving rules.
• Read references/system-settings.md when deciding conjugate type, aperture definition, field definition, field sampling density, and configuration priority.
• Read references/variables.md when deciding which curvature, thickness, glass, or motion variables are valid, high-efficiency, low-efficiency, coupled, or invalid.
• Read references/physical-rules.md for vignetting, aperture clipping, air-gap logic, FTGT, and stow-length rules.
• Read references/material-and-structure.md when geometry stalls and you need to change glass, add non-spherical power, split or merge groups, or consider floating groups.
• Read references/diagnostics.md when a run misses targets and you need to diagnose whether the blocker is settings, structure, color, pupil, or architecture.
• Read references/ui-session.md when the user wants a visible CODE V session, interactive progress, or stage-by-stage GUI execution.
• Read references/stage-templates.md when the task needs reusable visible-session .seq skeletons for prepare, AUT, and finish/export stages.
  • Use that same diagnostics reference to decide whether a stage result becomes the new base, stays only as a diagnostic branch, or must be rolled back.

Workspace Conventions

• If the workspace already contains helper files such as templates/FCT_FTGT.seq, templates/FCT_CRA.seq, playbooks, or acceptance scripts, prefer reusing them.
• Keep optimization scripts and acceptance scripts separate.
• Save new results with timestamps and keep the latest validation log readable.
• When the user has established house rules, follow them even if CODE V offers looser defaults.

Bundled UI Helper Scripts

This skill can be paired with visible CODE V UI automation when the user wants to watch optimization progress in the real GUI.

• scripts/run_example_ui_visible.ps1
  • Opens a known-good .len directly in a visible CODE V session.
  • Use this pattern for the first visible launch of a task.
• scripts/ui_send_codev_command.ps1
  • Sends a command or IN "...seq" into the visible CODE V command input box by UI Automation.
  • Prefer this over raw SendKeys.
• scripts/ui_run_send_codev_command.vbs
  • Thin launcher for the PowerShell bridge when a desktop-session handoff is needed.
• scripts/ui_run_current_seq.vbs
  • Sends a single sequence file into the current visible CODE V window.
• scripts/interactive_prepare.template.seq
  • Skeleton for a visible-session prepare step: RES, refresh vignetting, set variables, save a clean pre-stage lens.
• scripts/interactive_cdv_stage.template.seq
  • Skeleton for a visible-session ERR CDV stage with bounded AUT, physical guardrails, and post-stage save/export.
• scripts/interactive_finish.template.seq
  • Skeleton for a visible-session finish/export step with final vignetting refresh and optional acceptance call.

Usage notes:

• For visible interactive work, first open the target .len, then inject later stage scripts into that same window.
• Do not default to opening a new GUI window for every stage.
• Let each stage script RES its source lens internally.
• Prefer the bundled interactive stage templates when building small visible-session steps instead of one oversized monolithic script.
• Treat these scripts as desktop-session bridge examples. They may need path or title adjustments when reused in another workspace.

House-Style Defaults To Preserve

• Physical rules win over performance.
• Add performance targets gradually: basic aberrations, then distortion, then color, and only then MTF.
• Treat all true optical refracting surfaces as valid curvature-variable candidates in principle; separate valid from invalid first, then high-efficiency from low-efficiency.
• Treat effective-variable all-open as the first-priority branch after invalid variables have been removed.
• Treat ordinary structural thickness variables, motion variables, pickup followers, and return/closure variables as different classes. Do not mix them casually.