agentic-govbot/templates/README.md

Governance Constitution Templates

This directory contains ready-to-use governance constitution templates based on CommunityRule patterns. Each template provides a complete governance framework that can be used with the governance bot.

How to Use These Templates

1. Choose a template that matches your community's governance philosophy
2. Copy the template to your project root or config directory as constitution.md
3. Customize it to fit your specific community needs
4. Configure your bot to use the constitution file
5. Iterate - constitutions can be amended through their own processes

Available Templates

1. Benevolent Dictator (benevolent-dictator.md)

"The Benevolent Dictator holds ultimate decision-making power, until the group is ready for a more inclusive structure."

Best for:

• New communities establishing initial direction
• Projects with a clear founder/leader
• Situations requiring quick decisive action
• Communities planning to transition to shared governance

Key features:

• Single leader with final authority
• Community input and discussion
• Delegation of specific powers
• Built-in transition mechanisms
• Transparent decision-making

2. Circles (circles.md)

"Units called Circles have the ability to decide and act on matters in their domains, which their members agree on through a Council."

Best for:

• Communities with distinct functional areas
• Organizations needing domain expertise
• Groups wanting distributed decision-making
• Communities with specialized working groups

Key features:

• Domain-based autonomous units
• Representative council for coordination
• Lazy consensus decision-making
• Clear boundaries between domains
• Scalable structure

3. Consensus (consensus.md)

"Decisions that affect the group collectively should involve participation of all participants."

Best for:

• Communities valuing inclusive participation
• Groups with strong solidarity culture
• Situations where buy-in is crucial
• Communities willing to invest time in deliberation

Key features:

• Full member participation in decisions
• Thorough deliberation processes
• Block rights for fundamental concerns
• Do-ocracy for personal initiatives
• Focus on addressing all concerns

4. Do-ocracy (do-ocracy.md)

"Those who take initiative to do something in the group can decide how they do it."

Best for:

• Action-oriented communities
• Groups valuing individual initiative
• Projects emphasizing experimentation
• Communities wanting low bureaucracy

Key features:

• Authority through contribution
• Low barriers to action
• Community lobbying for major changes
• Accountability through reversibility
• Trust-based culture

5. Elected Board (elected-board.md)

"Policy-making body selected through voting processes."

Best for:

• Larger communities needing representation
• Organizations requiring regular leadership
• Groups with diverse stakeholder interests
• Communities wanting democratic accountability

Key features:

• Regular elections
• Representative decision-making
• Member petition rights
• Board accountability mechanisms
• Clear delegation structure

6. Jury (jury.md)

"Proposals are shaped and decided on by randomly selected juries."

Best for:

• Communities wanting fairness through randomness
• Groups concerned about power concentration
• Organizations valuing deliberation
• Communities with engaged membership

Key features:

• Random selection (sortition)
• Rotating participation
• Informed jury deliberation
• Policy register and precedents
• Legislature coordinates process

7. Petition (petition.md)

"Community-wide proposal and voting mechanism."

Best for:

• Communities valuing direct democracy
• Groups with active, engaged members
• Organizations wanting simple governance
• Communities comfortable with referendums

Key features:

• Any member can petition
• Direct community-wide voting
• Simple majority for most decisions
• Supermajority for constitutional changes
• No representative layer

8. Self-Appointed Board (self-appointed-board.md)

"Self-selecting leadership determines policies and implementation."

Best for:

• Communities with clear mission/values
• Projects requiring consistent vision
• Organizations valuing expertise and experience
• Groups comfortable with trustee model

Key features:

• Board selects successors
• Stability and continuity
• Merit-based selection
• Member feedback mechanisms
• Transparent decision-making

Comparison Table

Template	Decision Speed	Participation	Complexity	Scalability
Benevolent Dictator	Very Fast	Low	Simple	Good
Circles	Fast	Medium	Medium	Excellent
Consensus	Slow	Very High	Medium	Limited
Do-ocracy	Very Fast	High	Simple	Good
Elected Board	Medium	Medium	Medium	Excellent
Jury	Slow	Medium	High	Good
Petition	Medium	Very High	Simple	Good
Self-Appointed Board	Fast	Low	Simple	Good

Customization Tips

When adapting a template:

1. Adjust timeframes - Discussion and voting periods to fit your community's pace
2. Modify thresholds - Voting percentages and quorum requirements
3. Add your values - Incorporate your code of conduct and community principles
4. Specify your context - Platform-specific details (Mastodon, Discord, etc.)
5. Keep it readable - The bot interprets natural language, so write clearly

Combining Templates

You can mix elements from different templates:

• Start with Benevolent Dictator, transition to Elected Board
• Use Circles for some domains, Consensus for others
• Combine Do-ocracy with Petition for different decision types
• Layer Jury on top of Elected Board for major decisions

Common Customizations

Timeframes:

• Standard proposal: 5-7 days typical
• Urgent: 2-3 days
• Constitutional: 10-14 days

Voting Thresholds:

• Simple majority: 50% + 1
• Supermajority: 60-67%
• Consensus: 90-100%

Quorum Requirements:

• Low engagement: no quorum
• Medium: 10-20% of members
• High: 30-50% of members

Dispute Resolution Templates

NEW! We've added comprehensive dispute resolution templates in the dispute-resolution/ subdirectory.

Good governance requires not just decision-making processes, but also ways to handle conflicts. The dispute resolution templates can be integrated into any governance constitution as conflict resolution articles.

8 Dispute Resolution Processes Available:

• Peer-to-Peer - Self-facilitated direct resolution
• Chosen Facilitator - Mutually selected facilitator guides process
• Restorative Justice - Circle process emphasizing healing
• Transformative Justice - Addressing root causes and systemic change
• Community Jury - Random selection for formal decisions
• Community Referee - Single trained referee decides
• Facilitation Council - Panel of facilitators manages process
• Shalish Mediation - Traditional village mediation modernized

See dispute-resolution/README.md for detailed comparison and guidance on choosing the right process for your community.

Integration Options:

1. Add one dispute resolution article to your constitution
2. Create multiple pathways for different severity levels
3. Build an escalation ladder from simple to complex processes

Testing Your Constitution

Before deployment:

1. Review with your founding members
2. Simulate common scenarios
3. Test with the bot using CLI mode
4. Run a trial period with amendments allowed
5. Document learnings and adjust

Contributing

Found an issue with a template? Have a suggestion? Open an issue or PR at the main repository.

Credits

Governance Templates are inspired by CommunityRule, a project by the Media Enterprise Design Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Dispute Resolution Templates are adapted from the Dispute Protocol Builder, also by the Media Enterprise Design Lab at the University of Colorado Boulder.

All templates have been adapted for use with agentic governance bots and formatted in natural language for AI interpretation.

License

[To be determined - match project license]