# Tern — Travel Planning & Disruption Management

> *Part of the Circuit Forge LLC "AI for the tasks you hate most" suite.*

**Status:** Backlog — not yet started. Peregrine must prove the model first.

## What it does

Tern handles travel from planning to recovery: flight and hotel monitoring, itinerary generation, visa requirement research, travel insurance comparison, and rebooking assistance when things go wrong.

The Arctic tern makes the longest migration of any animal — 44,000 miles per year, pole to pole and back — every single year. The world's greatest traveler.

## Why it's hard

Travel is hard because:
- Price volatility: the same flight can vary 3× in cost over 72 hours
- Visa requirements are country-specific, citizenship-specific, and change without notice
- Disruption recovery is time-critical: rebooking windows close fast, compensation rules are complex
- Travel insurance policies are dense and full of exclusions

## Core pipeline

```
Configure trip parameters (destination, dates, budget, constraints)
→ Monitor flights / hotels → Alert on price drops or availability
→ Generate itinerary → Visa + entry requirement check
→ Travel insurance comparison → Book (or route to Ultra operator)
→ On disruption: rebook options + compensation claim draft
```

## Key differentiators vs. Peregrine

- Real-time price monitoring vs. batch discovery
- Disruption response is time-critical (minutes, not hours)
- Compensation claims: EU261, DOT rules, airline contract of carriage
- Visa research: country + citizenship + trip purpose = requirements matrix

## Product code (license key)

`CFG-TERN-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX`

## Tech notes

- Shared `circuitforge-core` scaffold
- Flight data: Skyscanner API, Google Flights scrape, airline direct
- Visa requirements: travel.state.gov, IATA Travel Centre API
- EU261 / DOT compensation calculator
- Calendar integration: add itinerary items directly to user's calendar