Weld Recipe System

Architected a YAML-based weld recipe system with a library of factory-default recipes covering multiple industrial welding processes. Built a recipe migration framework that runs on every welding node startup to handle version upgrades, and diagnosed a subtle production bug in the migration path.

Designed the YAML recipe schema covering core welding parameters, process type, arc start/end parameters, and weave parameters. A stock recipe library provides factory-default configurations for common material/thickness/process combinations. Each recipe also carries welder-specific constraints that map to the physical welder's configuration.

Built a recipe migration framework that executes automatically on welding-node startup. The migrator checks each recipe's schema version and applies sequential migration functions to bring it up to the current version — handling structural changes, field renames, and defaults for new fields. The migrator writes back only if changes were made, preserving YAML comments and formatting where possible.

Diagnosed a subtle production bug where certain recipes would lose a parameter value after every reboot due to a mis-keyed conditional in a migration step. The fix itself was a one-line change, but finding it required tracing through the full node startup sequence to isolate the offending branch — the kind of systems-tracing work that surface bugs hide behind.