Reason Before Result

Reason Before Result is an autonomous paper-options agent built around a simple constraint: the reason must be written before the result exists. The agent reads the market clock, dedicated paper account, SPY price, positions, and option chain through Alpaca MCP. It selects a small defined-risk structure and first appends a plain-language judgment containing every leg, maximum gain and loss, break-evens, invalidation, and intended exit. Only then does a pure seven-rule gate inspect the proposal. Missing data, malformed values, unknown structures, stale or unusable quotes, excessive loss, daily drawdown, and position-cap violations all stop the order by default. A released proposal is sent through the MCP place_option_order tool, and the Alpaca receipt is appended to the same ledger. There is no direct-HTTP execution bypass. The public repository includes deterministic tests, a plain-English CLI built for an operator who does not write code, a recording-safe MCP trace, and a credential-free hosted page that opens on a real order this agent placed - its order id, its capped loss, and the sentence written before it was sent - and then lets anyone bend that same trade until the gate refuses it. A systemd timer runs the loop unattended during US market hours. The official form supplies the dedicated paper account ID privately, allowing Alpaca to verify options activity and P&L independently. The goal is not to make a backtest sound convincing; it is to leave a paper trail in which every order and every stop has a readable cause. Paper trading only. No real capital. Not investment advice.