CIP-003: Formalize Community Improvement Plans (CIPs) by thebalaa · Pull Request #8 · openclaw/community

thebalaa · 2026-03-08T04:57:41Z

Summary

CIP-003 is the CIP template itself — a meta-proposal that defines the standard format all future Community Improvement Plans must follow. It establishes:

What it defines

A metadata header with 13 fields providing full traceability: CIP number (tied to PR#), author, staff champion, status, type, date, originating RFCIP issue, affected teams, discussion links (GitHub + Discord),
and supersession chain.
10 required sections for the proposal body:
1. Summary — one-paragraph overview
2. Motivation — the problem or opportunity
3. Detailed Design — the core proposal in full detail
4. Drawbacks — honest costs, risks, and trade-offs
5. Alternatives — other approaches considered
6. Prior Art — what other communities have done
7. Implementation Plan — concrete steps and responsibilities
8. Timeline — milestones and phasing
9. Success Metrics — measurable outcomes
10. Unresolved Questions — open items needing further discussion
An AI Disclosure section for transparency when AI tools assist drafting.

Why it matters

CIP-003 is the foundational document of the CIP process. Every future community improvement — whether governance, structural, tooling, or events — will be written against this template. It ensures proposals are
consistently structured, thoroughly considered, and traceable from initial pitch (RFCIP issue) through acceptance and implementation.

This PR was authored with the assistance of Pi coding agent and a custom exploration workbench.
Author accepts responsibility for the qulity of contents herein.

- Fully specified meta-CIP documenting the CIP process - RFCIP issue template for lightweight pitches - Blank CIP template for future authors - Process guide (rfcs/README.md) - Updated issue template config with label reference

CIP numbers are now sequential, manually assigned by the champion when the RFCIP is greenlit. This decouples naming from GitHub infrastructure and gives the champion explicit responsibility for number assignment.

thewilloftheshadow

Excited to see this merged and implemented!

thewilloftheshadow · 2026-03-09T23:49:33Z

rfcs/README.md

+| `cip:draft` | Initial RFCIP or early CIP PR |
+| `cip:discussion` | Under active community review (7-day minimum) |
+| `cip:accepted` | Approved by Admin, PR merged |
+| `cip:rejected` | Not approved |


thewilloftheshadow · 2026-03-09T23:50:28Z

rfcs/README.md

+| `cip:governance` | Rules, policies, processes |
+| `cip:structural` | Channels, roles, team changes |
+| `cip:tooling` | Bots, automation, integrations |
+| `cip:events` | Programs, activities, community events |


thewilloftheshadow · 2026-03-09T23:52:16Z

rfcs/README.md

+
+1. **Pitch:** Open an [RFCIP issue](https://github.com/openclaw/community/issues/new?template=rfcip.yml) describing the problem and your proposed direction.
+2. **Champion:** Staff reviews the RFCIP and assigns a champion (staff sponsor and advocate). The champion assigns the next available CIP number.
+3. **Draft:** Once greenlit, open a pull request adding `rfcs/XXXX-slug.md` (where `XXXX` is the PR number). Use [`0003-rfcip-template.md`](0003-rfcip-template.md) as your starting template.


Suggested change

3. **Draft:** Once greenlit, open a pull request adding `rfcs/XXXX-slug.md` (where `XXXX` is the PR number). Use [`0003-rfcip-template.md`](0003-rfcip-template.md) as your starting template.

3. **Draft:** Once greenlit, open a pull request adding `rfcs/XXXX-slug.md` (where `XXXX` is the PR number). Use [`XXXX-cip-blank-template.md`](XXXX-cip-blank-template.md) as your starting template.

thewilloftheshadow · 2026-03-09T23:52:37Z

rfcs/0003-rfcip-template.md

+## AI Disclosure
+
+AI tools (Claude) were used as a collaborative partner in designing the CIP process structure, drafting this document, and generating the RFCIP issue template. All design decisions were made by the author through a structured questionnaire process.


Big fan of this section, thank you

thewilloftheshadow · 2026-03-09T23:53:13Z

rfcs/0003-rfcip-template.md

+## Implementation Plan
+
+1. **Merge this CIP** into the `rfcs/` directory as the foundational process document.
+2. **Create GitHub labels**: `cip:draft`, `cip:discussion`, `cip:accepted`, `cip:rejected`, `cip:governance`, `cip:structural`, `cip:tooling`, `cip:events`.


Would prefer a different format for these, I noted that on the rfcs/README.md file

thewilloftheshadow · 2026-03-09T23:53:52Z

rfcs/0003-rfcip-template.md

+### Process Flow
+
+```
+Community member
+      │
+      ▼
+┌─────────────┐
+│ Open RFCIP  │  ◀── GitHub issue using RFCIP template
+│   issue     │
+└──────┬──────┘
+       │
+       ▼
+┌─────────────┐
+│ Staff review│  ◀── Staff evaluates the pitch
+│ + assign    │
+│  champion   │
+└──────┬──────┘
+       │
+       ▼
+┌─────────────┐
+│ Champion    │  ◀── Champion greenlights + assigns CIP number
+│ greenlights │
+└──────┬──────┘
+       │
+       ▼
+┌─────────────┐
+│ Open CIP PR │  ◀── PR adding rfcs/XXXX-slug.md
+│  (Draft)    │
+└──────┬──────┘
+       │
+       ▼
+┌─────────────┐
+│ Discussion  │  ◀── 7-day minimum; GitHub + Discord
+│  period     │
+└──────┬──────┘
+       │
+       ▼
+┌─────────────┐
+│   Admin     │
+│  decision   │
+└──┬──────┬───┘
+   │      │
+   ▼      ▼
+Accepted  Rejected
+ (merge)  (close + rationale)
+   │
+   ▼
+Tracking issue
+  opened
+```


Use mermaid for this!

thewilloftheshadow · 2026-03-09T23:56:13Z

rfcs/0003-rfcip-template.md

+```
+Draft ──▶ Discussion ──▶ Accepted
+                    └──▶ Rejected


Use mermaid for this!

Suggested change

```

Draft ──▶ Discussion ──▶ Accepted

└──▶ Rejected

```mermaid

flowchart LR

draft([Draft]) --> disc([Discussion])

disc --> a([Accepted])

disc --> r([Rejected])

flowchart LR draft([Draft]) --> disc([Discussion]) disc --> a([Accepted]) disc --> r([Rejected])

Loading

thewilloftheshadow · 2026-03-09T23:57:49Z

rfcs/0003-rfcip-template.md

+### GitHub Labels
+
+**Status labels** track lifecycle state:
+
+| Label            | Meaning                                |
+| ---------------- | -------------------------------------- |
+| `cip:draft`      | Initial RFCIP or early CIP PR         |
+| `cip:discussion` | Under active community review          |
+| `cip:accepted`   | Approved by Admin, PR merged           |
+| `cip:rejected`   | Not approved                           |
+
+**Type labels** categorize proposals:
+
+| Label             | Meaning                               |
+| ----------------- | ------------------------------------- |
+| `cip:governance`  | Rules, policies, processes            |
+| `cip:structural`  | Channels, roles, team changes         |
+| `cip:tooling`     | Bots, automation, integrations        |
+| `cip:events`      | Programs, activities, community events|


Added preferred label names on rfc/README.md

Add CIP-003

850575f

thebalaa marked this pull request as draft March 8, 2026 04:59

thebalaa mentioned this pull request Mar 8, 2026

Policy change: Add CIP (Community Improvement plan) Issue type for the Openclaw/Community Git, to be used by the community (dishord etc). #5

Open

3 tasks

thebalaa added 2 commits March 7, 2026 23:07

CIP-003: Community Improvement Plan process specification

6d97394

- Fully specified meta-CIP documenting the CIP process - RFCIP issue template for lightweight pitches - Blank CIP template for future authors - Process guide (rfcs/README.md) - Updated issue template config with label reference

Rename CIP-003: cip-template → rfcip-template

395bb44

thebalaa marked this pull request as ready for review March 8, 2026 05:11

thebalaa and others added 4 commits March 7, 2026 23:16

Decouple CIP numbering from PR numbers

38ea257

CIP numbers are now sequential, manually assigned by the champion when the RFCIP is greenlit. This decouples naming from GitHub infrastructure and gives the champion explicit responsibility for number assignment.

Fix repo links: openclaw/community (not openclaw-discord-community)

b47af8c

Rename RFCIP issue template to 'Suggest a Community Improvement Plan'

9b5b77d

Fix CIP reference format in blank template

41594f9

thewilloftheshadow requested changes Mar 9, 2026

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CIP-003: Formalize Community Improvement Plans (CIPs)#8

CIP-003: Formalize Community Improvement Plans (CIPs)#8
thebalaa wants to merge 7 commits intoopenclaw:mainfrom
hintjen:rfc/003-cip-template

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-| `cip:governance` | Rules, policies, processes |
-| `cip:structural` | Channels, roles, team changes |
-| `cip:tooling` | Bots, automation, integrations |
-| `cip:events` | Programs, activities, community events |
+| `CIP Type: Governance` | Rules, policies, processes |
+| `CIP Type: Structural` | Channels, roles, team changes |
+| `CIP Type: Tooling` | Bots, automation, integrations |
+| `CIP Type: Events` | Programs, activities, community events |
+| `CIP Type: Other` | Anything that doesn't fit in another category |

	3. Draft: Once greenlit, open a pull request adding `rfcs/XXXX-slug.md` (where `XXXX` is the PR number). Use [`0003-rfcip-template.md`](0003-rfcip-template.md) as your starting template.
	3. Draft: Once greenlit, open a pull request adding `rfcs/XXXX-slug.md` (where `XXXX` is the PR number). Use [`XXXX-cip-blank-template.md`](XXXX-cip-blank-template.md) as your starting template.

		## AI Disclosure

		AI tools (Claude) were used as a collaborative partner in designing the CIP process structure, drafting this document, and generating the RFCIP issue template. All design decisions were made by the author through a structured questionnaire process.

-```
-Draft ──▶ Discussion ──▶ Accepted
-                    └──▶ Rejected
+```mermaid
+flowchart LR
+    draft([Draft]) --> disc([Discussion])
+    disc --> a([Accepted])
+    disc --> r([Rejected])

Conversation

thebalaa commented Mar 8, 2026

Summary

What it defines

Why it matters

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