Literature database migration for v7

Pi Sych v7 changes the supported local literature index and the results returned by literature_search. A v6 index is not compatible with v7. Rebuild the index with a producer that supplies the v7 fields, or migrate it from source records before using the search tool. Pi Sych detects missing required columns and reports them before attempting a search.

Database fields

The papers table must include:

• item_type TEXT, containing the producer-supplied item type or NULL;
• creators_json TEXT, containing JSON or NULL.

creators_json represents creators by role, with each role mapped to an ordered array of name objects. For example:

{"author":[{"family":"Lovelace","given":"Ada"}],"editor":[]}

The papers_fts full-text index and its relationship to papers must also match the index producer’s v7 schema. Use the project’s index-generation tool to rebuild the database when available; this page does not prescribe an indexing command because Pi Sych does not own the producer or source corpus.

Search result changes

The result metadata now exposes itemType and creators. Both may be null. creators is the parsed role-keyed object described above. The old metadata.authors field is removed. Update consumers to handle nullable values and creator roles instead of assuming a flat author string.

Migrating v6 data

The v6 first_author value may be a lossy citation stem, not a structured creator record. Do not mechanically copy it into creators_json. Reconstruct creator names and roles from source documents or trustworthy structured records where possible. If the original information is unavailable, leave creators unknown (NULL) rather than inventing a record. Populate item_type from a reliable source as well; do not infer it from a title or citation stem.

After rebuilding or migration, run a search and inspect representative records against their source documents. The local index is for discovery: successful search and valid schema do not verify the accuracy or completeness of its metadata.