constitution-lite ยท diff
git:20260518.0d37b7d to git:20260727.96471d7
68 added, 28 removed. Audit A to A.
---
name: constitution-lite
- description: Create a small set of project rules before repeated agent work.
+ description: Define a tiny set of stable, non-negotiable agent authority boundaries for repeated or delegated work without duplicating CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, or task specs.
---
# Constitution Lite
## Purpose
- Create a small set of project rules before repeated agent work.
+ Record only the durable rules that constrain what an agent may decide or do across
+ multiple tasks. This is an authority boundary, not a project handbook.
+ Project instructions are not constitution rules. Architecture notes, repo layout,
+ commands, coding style, naming conventions, framework choices, and ordinary team
+ preferences belong in native project instructions such as `CLAUDE.md` or `AGENTS.md`.
+ Task-specific requirements belong in `SPEC.md`, `scope-freeze`, or `SHIP.md`.
+
## When to use
- Use when a project will need multiple agent sessions, multiple implementation slices, or repeated decisions about quality, data, autonomy, and simplicity.
+ Use when repeated, delegated, scheduled, or autonomous work needs a small set of
+ stable constraints that should survive across tasks, such as:
+ - human approval before destructive or external side effects
+ - protected production, data, credential, or customer boundaries
+ - tests or evidence that an agent may not weaken to make work pass
+ - decisions an agent is never authorized to make alone
+
+ Skip this skill when the need is only project onboarding, commands, architecture,
+ style, a temporary implementation constraint, or one task's acceptance criteria.
+
## Inputs
- - Project goal
- - Existing `CONTEXT.md` or notes
- - Known technical constraints
- - Team or owner preferences
- - Risk areas
+ - Existing `CLAUDE.md`, `AGENTS.md`, or equivalent project instructions if present
+ - Stable risk and authority boundaries
+ - Protected resources, environments, data, or interfaces
+ - Human approval requirements
+ - Existing task or shipping controls that should not be duplicated
## Workflow
- 1. Define engineering principles.
- 2. Define testing principles.
- 3. Define data, model, or dashboard principles if relevant.
- 4. Define agent autonomy boundaries.
- 5. Define simplicity rules.
- 6. List forbidden patterns.
- 7. Define how rules may be amended.
- 8. Keep the result short enough to read before implementation.
+ 1. Read existing project instructions first. Do not copy their conventions into the constitution.
+ 2. List candidate cross-task rules.
+ 3. Keep a candidate only when violating it should require a human decision, explicit review, or a hard stop across more than one task.
+ 4. Classify each retained rule as `MUST`, `MUST NOT`, or `HUMAN GATE`.
+ 5. Make each rule observable where possible: name the protected resource, forbidden action, approval event, or evidence requirement.
+ 6. Remove architecture preferences, commands, style guidance, framework choices, and task-local constraints.
+ 7. If the constitution conflicts with live project instructions or a task contract, stop and ask for a human decision. Do not silently choose an authority winner.
+ 8. Name who may amend the constitution and how the amendment is approved.
+ 9. Keep the artifact short enough to scan before delegated work.
+ ### Authority boundary
+
+ `CONSTITUTION.md` is a workflow artifact. It does not override system instructions,
+ organization policy, platform permissions, sandboxing, or runtime safety controls.
+ It also does not grant an agent permission merely because an action is absent from
+ the constitution.
+
+ Use the constitution to narrow delegated authority, not to expand it.
+
## Outputs
- `CONSTITUTION.md`
- - Engineering principles
- - Testing principles
- - Data/model/dashboard principles
- - Agent autonomy boundaries
- - Simplicity rules
- - Forbidden patterns
- - Amendment process
+ - Non-negotiable `MUST` / `MUST NOT` invariants
+ - Explicit `HUMAN GATE` decisions
+ - Protected resource or data boundaries when relevant
+ - Amendment owner and process
+ **Canonical shape:**
+
+ ```text
+ CONSTITUTION
+ MUST: ...
+ MUST NOT: ...
+ HUMAN GATE: ...
+ Protected boundary: ...
+ Conflict rule: stop and ask for a human decision
+ Amendment owner: ...
+ ```
+
## Stop conditions
- - The rules are clear enough to guide repeated agent work.
- - A principle conflicts with the project goal and needs a human decision.
+ - Every retained rule changes agent authority across multiple tasks.
+ - Ordinary project instructions and task-local constraints have been removed.
+ - Human approval gates are explicit.
+ - A conflict has been surfaced rather than silently resolved.
+ - The artifact is small enough to scan before delegated work.
## Anti-patterns
- - Creating a policy document too long to use.
- - Adding rules that cannot change implementation choices.
- - Treating temporary preferences as permanent principles.
+ - Rewriting `CLAUDE.md` or `AGENTS.md` as `CONSTITUTION.md`.
+ - Filling the artifact with architecture, commands, coding style, or naming conventions.
+ - Promoting temporary preferences into permanent governance.
+ - Treating the constitution as permission to perform otherwise unauthorized actions.
+ - Adding aspirational principles that cannot change an agent decision.
+ - Silently resolving conflicts between durable governance and a task contract.