The set of design principles your codebase enforces at CI time — versioned, machine-readable, blocking on violation. Wiki pages don't enforce design principles. Gates do.
An Apache-2.0 open specification that defines:
- 5 rule classes every conformant codebase addresses
- 5 conformance levels (L0 → L4)
- SCCT — the Software Constitution Conformance Test CLI that emits an objective verdict per repo
Closest analogues: 12-Factor App (heroku, 2011), OpenAPI (Linux Foundation), ADRs (Architecture Decision Records). We borrow from all three.
| # | Class | Enforces |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zero Competing Systems | One canonical implementation per named capability |
| 2 | Zero Repo ↔ Prod Drift | Declared = deployed; reconciler proves the bijection |
| 3 | Zero Stubs / Mocks in Prod | No TODO, FIXME, placeholders, or mock data reachable from production |
| 4 | Self-Governance + Canonical-First | Privileged actions emit the project's audit chain; vocabulary declared before referenced |
| 5 | Zero-Deviation Mandate | Active deviations are a regression; empty-Active is steady state |
| Level | Means |
|---|---|
| L0 | No constitution found |
| L1 | Structural — canonical artefacts exist, schemas validate |
| L2 | Gated — every rule has a passing CI gate |
| L3 | Self-governed — project emits its own audit chain |
| L4 | Platform-bijected — every named surface is in a generated meta-index; declared = deployed end-to-end |
# 1. Copy the templates into your repo
cp -r software-constitution/templates/* your-repo/constitution/
# 2. Author your rules (one document per rail, numbered)
$EDITOR your-repo/constitution/00-INDEX.md
# 3. Declare your implementation registry
$EDITOR your-repo/private/specs/implementation/registry.json
# 4. Wire the reference gates into CI
cp software-constitution/gates/*.mjs your-repo/scripts/gates/
# 5. Run the conformance test
npx scct your-repo| Repo | What |
|---|---|
spec |
The standard — SPEC, templates, schemas, reference gates, SCCT |
More language ports (Python / Go / Rust) land as separate repos when ready.
KYE Protocol™ is the L4 reference. The standard was extracted from its internal constitution; KYE remains the canonical conformer — ~40 constitutional documents, ~85 CI gates, ~1,700 named surfaces tracked in a generated meta-index.
Apache 2.0. Patent-safe. The spec, schemas, templates, and reference gates carry the explicit Apache-2.0 patent grant. Adoption requires no relicensing of your code.