dev.constitution

Manage and validate project constitution (governance principles)

When to Use

Use this skill when:

•Setting up a new project's governance
•Adding or modifying project principles
•Validating work against constitution
•Onboarding team members to project standards

Invocation

code

/dev.constitution [action]

Actions:

•view - Display current constitution (default)
•validate - Check artifacts against constitution
•init - Initialize constitution from template
•update - Modify constitution with user input

Prerequisites

•Project should have .specify/memory/ directory
•For validation: feature artifacts should exist

Workflow

View Constitution

Display current principles:

markdown

# Project Constitution

## Active Principles

| # | Principle | Description |
|---|-----------|-------------|
| I | Truthfulness | Never hallucinate or misrepresent |
| II | Constraint-Aware | Respect technical constraints |
| III | Causal-First | Trace to root cause |
| IV | Minimal | No unnecessary complexity |
| V | Debuggable | Clear errors and logs |
| VI | Traceable | Audit trail for decisions |
| VII | Consistent | Follow established patterns |
| VIII | Conventional | Standard formatting |
| IX | Agent-Aware | Structure for automation |

## Governance Rules

- All plans must pass constitution check
- Violations require documented justification
- New principles require team consensus

Validate Against Constitution

Check artifacts against each principle:

bash

/dev.constitution validate

Validation process:

For each principle:

•Define what compliance looks like
•Check relevant artifacts
•Report pass/fail with evidence

markdown

# Constitution Validation Report

## Feature: EP01 - Core Foundation

| Principle | Status | Evidence |
|-----------|--------|----------|
| I. Truthfulness | ✓ | No speculative features in spec |
| II. Constraint-Aware | ✓ | Memory limits documented in NFR-003 |
| III. Causal-First | ✓ | All tasks trace to requirements |
| IV. Minimal | ⚠️ | Custom logger may be over-engineered |
| V. Debuggable | ✓ | Error handling in plan.md |
| VI. Traceable | ✓ | Task IDs map to Linear |
| VII. Consistent | ✓ | Follows project patterns |
| VIII. Conventional | ✓ | Standard markdown format |
| IX. Agent-Aware | ✓ | Structured YAML/JSON outputs |

**Status**: PASS (1 warning)

**Warning Details**:
- IV. Minimal: Consider using existing logger instead of custom implementation

Initialize Constitution

Create constitution from template:

bash

/dev.constitution init

Creates .specify/memory/constitution.md with:

•Standard principles template
•Project-specific customization prompts
•Governance rules

Update Constitution

Modify principles with user input:

bash

/dev.constitution update

Interactive flow:

•Display current principles
•Ask which to modify/add/remove
•Update document
•Validate syntax
•Commit change (optional)

Constitution Template

markdown

# Project Constitution

> Version: 1.0.0
> Last Updated: {{DATE}}
> Maintainer: {{AUTHOR}}

## Purpose

This constitution defines the governance principles for {{PROJECT_NAME}}.
All design and implementation work must comply with these principles.

## Principles

### I. Truthfulness

**Definition**: Never hallucinate, speculate, or misrepresent capabilities.

**Compliance**:
- Specs describe only implementable features
- Documentation reflects actual behavior
- Error messages are accurate

### II. Constraint-Aware

**Definition**: Respect technical, resource, and business constraints.

**Compliance**:
- Memory limits documented and tested
- Performance targets measurable
- Dependencies explicitly versioned

### III. Causal-First

**Definition**: Trace every decision to its root cause.

**Compliance**:
- Requirements link to user needs
- Tasks link to requirements
- Code links to tasks

[... continue for all principles ...]

## Governance

### Compliance Requirements

- All plans must include constitution check section
- Violations must be documented with justification
- Repeated violations trigger architecture review

### Amendment Process

1. Propose change via ADR
2. Team discussion period (1 week)
3. Consensus required for adoption
4. Update constitution and notify team

## History

| Version | Date | Author | Changes |
|---------|------|--------|---------|
| 1.0.0 | {{DATE}} | {{AUTHOR}} | Initial constitution |

Output

On view:

code

Constitution: agentlint v1.0.0

  9 Principles active
  Last updated: 2026-01-10

  Principles:
    I.   Truthfulness
    II.  Constraint-Aware
    III. Causal-First
    IV.  Minimal
    V.   Debuggable
    VI.  Traceable
    VII. Consistent
    VIII.Conventional
    IX.  Agent-Aware

  Location: .specify/memory/constitution.md

On validate:

code

Constitution validation complete!

  Feature:  EP01 - Core Foundation
  Status:   PASS (1 warning)

  Results:
    Pass:     8 principles
    Warning:  1 principle (IV. Minimal)
    Fail:     0 principles

  See: specs/ep01-core-foundation/constitution-check.md

Constitution Alignment

This skill supports:

•I. Truthfulness: Honest governance assessment
•VII. Consistent: Standardized principles
•VIII. Conventional: Standard constitution format