Why AI trading tools need unavailable states

The most dangerous failure mode for an AI trading tool is a confident answer built on data that does not exist. Dome Terminal is designed so that never happens.

Surfacing, not fabricating

When a provider is unreachable or a feature isn't configured, the terminal shows an explicit unavailable state — "AI provider configuration required", "market data unavailable", "cached feed" — instead of a plausible-looking number.

Grounded reasoning

Every AI surface receives Quant Brain context that includes the data source and quality. The model is instructed to treat tool results as ground truth and to state plainly when a requested result is unavailable.

This is an engineering note on a core design principle.