Read the import preview

What each part of the import report means, which parts stop an import, and what to do about anything VSTA will not apply.

preview_import and apply_import answer with the same report. Claude tells you what it says in plain words, and you can ask Claude to show you the report itself. These are its parts, under the names Claude may use.

add

How many of each thing the import makes: value streams, layers, stages, bands, practices, items, kinds of practice and relations. An item or a kind that is already in VSTA under the same name is used, not made again, so it is not counted here.

update

Each record the import changes, with the fields that change, such as a stage whose name is different in the source since the last import.

unchanged

How many records already match the document. On a second import of a project that has not changed, everything is counted here and nothing is added or updated.

keptBecauseChangedInApp

Records that someone changed in VSTA since the last import. The import leaves them as they are in VSTA, even where the source says something different. If you want the source's version, change the record in VSTA by hand, or ask Claude to change it with run_commands.

notInThisImport

Records an earlier import of the same project made that this document leaves out. They stay in VSTA. An import never deletes anything. If one of them should go, delete it in VSTA or ask Claude to.

notApplied

Things the document asks for that VSTA will not do in an import, each with a reason. The rest of the import still goes ahead. What you can do depends on the reason:

Already in VSTA; an import doesn't move or add places for an existing practice. The document puts a practice somewhere new. Ask Claude to add the new place with run_commands.
Already in VSTA in another layer; an import doesn't move stages. A stage has moved to a different layer in the source. VSTA cannot move a stage to another layer. Claude can remove the stage and add it again, but only once its practices are moved out and no band starts or ends at it. Ask Claude to explain the steps before it does anything.
VSTA can't change a band's name or stages yet. Change the band in VSTA yourself: move its practices out, remove the band, add it again with the new name or stages, and put the practices back.
Deleted in VSTA, so not brought back. Someone deleted the record in VSTA. Records that need it, such as a practice in a deleted stage, are left out too, with a reason that starts "Needs". Decide whether you want it back. If you do, ask Claude to add it.

After you remove and add a stage or a band again, the next import lists its old key under notApplied as deleted in VSTA. That is expected.

problems

Mistakes in the document, each saying where it is and what is wrong, such as a relation that names a practice the document does not have. While this list has anything in it, apply_import writes nothing at all. Claude fixes the document and previews again.

If the document does not match the import format at all, such as a misspelt field name, the answer has the code invalid-document and each problem names the field.

What an import never does

An import never deletes anything, never moves anything, and never overwrites a change made in VSTA. Running the same import twice adds nothing the second time.