The canonical validation command is:
aethermor validate
aethermor validate --json
run_root="$(mktemp -d /tmp/aethermor-external-XXXXXX)"
aethermor validate --external \
--hotspot-source "$run_root/hotspot-v7" \
--external-output-dir "$run_root/evidence"External validation fails closed unless its output directory is absent or empty. Do not point it at the committed review evidence.
It runs analytical plane-wall, Robin-slab, multilayer-wall, package-resistance, and lumped-transient cases; a 3-D manufactured solution; fixed-power mesh invariance; and localized-hotspot grid convergence. It exits nonzero when a release-critical case fails.
The external form is a separate long-running Linux workflow. It fetches/builds the pinned HotSpot v7.0 comparator and runs six forward ladders, three inverse searches, decisions, uncertainty, hashes, plots, and the generated report.
Evidence categories remain separate. Repository-authored analytical and
numerical verification are not called independent. HotSpot is independently
authored cross-code evidence, not reality. Hardware remains NOT RUN because
no Grade-A holdout exists. Stable material provenance is a separate data gate.
See PHYSICS.md, CLAIM_EVIDENCE_MATRIX.md, and TRUST.md.