The open standard for codebases that
govern / themselves.
Wiki pages don't enforce design principles. Gates do. software/constitution™ is a language-agnostic, Apache-2.0 specification for codebases that encode their own rules as machine-enforceable artefacts — and prove it on every CI run.
An open standard, not a framework or a tool.
A software constitution is the set of design principles your codebase enforces at CI time — versioned, machine-readable, blocking on violation. software/constitution™ is the Apache-2.0 specification that defines what such a thing requires and how to test for it. Closest analogues: 12-Factor App (heroku, 2011), OpenAPI, ADRs. We borrow from all three.
The specification
11 sections defining five required rule classes, five conformance levels, the canonical artefact contract, and the SCCT verdict format.
Copy-paste starting points
Master constitution index, deviations log, decay windows, implementation registry — JSON-Schema validated.
Drop-in CI implementations
Reference drift-gates that any project can wire into its CI. Node.js shipping; Python / Go / Rust planned.
The conformance test
npx scct <repo> emits a JSON verdict at L0 / L1 / L2 / L3 / L4. External, objective, scriptable.
Machine-readable contract
JSON Schema 2020-12 files for every canonical artefact. Your CI validates against them on every push.
Apache-2.0 grant included
The spec, schemas, templates, and reference gates ship with the Apache-2.0 patent grant. Safe to adopt at any company.
Every conformant constitution must address all five.
Naming and numbering is project-specific. The conformance bar is: at least one passing gate per class, on every push.
Zero Competing Systems
Every named capability has exactly one canonical implementation. Drift gate blocks a second implementation of an existing capability.
Zero Repo ↔ Prod Drift
What's declared in the repo is what's running. A reconciler proves the bijection; CI fails if production diverges from main.
Zero Stubs / Mocks in Prod
No TODO, FIXME, placeholder content, or mock data reachable from production. The gate scans every shipping path.
Self-Governance + Canonical-First
Every privileged action emits the project's own audit chain. Vocabulary is declared canonically before it's referenced.
Zero-Deviation Mandate
Active deviations are a regression. Time-boxed exceptions allowed; the empty-Active-deviations state is the steady state.
Self-governing by construction
Every merge is its own attestation. Procurement, audit, and forks get a single objective signal — not a stack of wiki pages.
Five levels. SCCT decides which one your repo is at.
None
No constitution found.
Structural
Canonical artefacts exist; schemas validate.
Gated
Every rule has a passing CI gate.
Self-governed
Project emits its own audit chain.
Platform-bijected
Every named surface is in a generated meta-index — declared = deployed.
Run it: npx scct /path/to/your/repo. Output is a single JSON verdict procurement teams can ingest.
Five steps. Hours, not weeks.
# 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 $EDITOR your-repo/constitution/01-YOUR-FIRST-RAIL.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
Full walkthrough on GitHub. The reference implementation (KYE Protocol™) demonstrates L4 conformance with ~40 constitutional documents, ~85 CI gates, and ~1,700 named surfaces tracked in a generated meta-index.
KYE Protocol™ is the L4 reference.
The standard was extracted from KYE Protocol™'s internal constitution. KYE remains the canonical reference conformer — Apache-2.0 public mirror repos demonstrate the gates passing on a real, production-grade codebase.
Common questions.
What is a software constitution?
The set of design principles your codebase enforces at CI time — versioned, machine-readable, blocking on violation. Wiki pages don't count; gates do.
What is the Software Constitution Standard?
An Apache-2.0 open specification that defines five rule classes every conformant project addresses, five conformance levels (L0–L4), and the SCCT CLI that emits an objective verdict.
Who is it for?
Engineering leaders encoding principles as code; regulated buyers (banks, healthcare) requiring auditable evidence; OSS maintainers wanting forks to inherit governance; procurement teams scoring vendor engineering maturity.
Is it tied to one language or platform?
No. The specification is language-, provider-, and domain-agnostic. The conformance bar is the existence of a passing gate, not the language it runs in.
Is this safe for closed-source companies?
Yes. Apache-2.0 means adoption requires no relicensing of your code. The spec, schemas, templates, and reference gates carry an explicit patent grant. Your repo and your IP stay yours.
How does this relate to OpenAPI / 12-Factor / ADRs?
OpenAPI standardises the wire contract; 12-Factor standardises operational shape; ADRs document decisions. software/constitution™ standardises the rules you commit to and the CI gates that enforce them.