GOVERNANCE · HOW WE GOVERN OURSELVES

Governance Charter

The rules the Foundation lives by, in the open — because a project about governance should be the first to show its own.

DRAFT for founder & legal review — not yet legal advice. A working draft for Bob and Ken to review with counsel. Roles and entity details below carry placeholders to confirm.

"Agents do the bureaucracy; humans hold the meaning — and humans hold the keys."

How to read this page. Every claim below is marked with what stands behind it, because a governance charter that does not distinguish the two is asking to be taken on trust — which is the opposite of the point.

Enforced The rule runs in the software and a named test fails if it stops running. The test is linked so you can read it rather than believe us.
Intended This is how we work, held by people and process. It is real, and it is not machine-enforced — so treat it as a commitment, not a guarantee.

This page describes how the system behaves today. It is not a warranty, and it is not a contract.

The AiGovOps Foundation builds careful, accountable technology — and we hold ourselves to the same standard. This charter explains how we govern: who decides, what software is allowed to do on its own, and how every decision stays open to check.

The stewards Intended

Two people, named and accountable, who hold the keys.

Bob Rapp & Ken Johnston The Foundation is governed by two stewards. They hold the credentials and make the irreversible decisions — the moves that can't be taken back. No agent, and no automation, makes those calls. Stewards also hold the global kill switch and can stop anything at once.

What agents may do — and what they may not Enforced

Machines handle the paperwork; people keep the meaning.

Agents do the reversible bureaucracy Drafting, sorting, checking, preparing, proposing — the routine work that can be undone. Agents prepare and propose; they never make the irreversible move themselves.

Humans make the irreversible move Anything that can't be undone — changing access, deleting data, spending, going public — pauses for a steward's explicit yes. That boundary is the heart of how we work.

The Yes-Gate Enforced

Every meaningful action passes through one simple gate with three possible answers:

ProceedClearly safe and reversible — the agent goes ahead.

StopNot allowed — the action is refused, and the reason is recorded.

Hold for a stewardUncertain or irreversible — it waits for a human to decide. Two named exceptions: the welcome letter and the day-after note hold for a veto window instead (about 12 and 6 hours), and go unless Ken or Bob says no. Everything else waits for a yes, and anything unanswered decays to Stop Enforced.

One gate, three answers, the same rule everywhere. The Library explains the governed core end to end.

The signed ledger Enforced

If it mattered, it's written down — and the writing can't be quietly changed.

A tamper-evident logbook Every governance action — every proceed, stop, and steward decision — is written into a signed, tamper-evident ledger, like a witnessed receipt. It holds metadata only: no payloads, no private content Enforced. That keeps even the stewards accountable, and lets anyone check that the rules were followed. See how this protects you.

Changing this charter Intended

Changes to how the Foundation governs itself are themselves an irreversible move: they require both stewards' agreement and are recorded in the ledger. That agreement is a commitment between two named people, not something the software can refuse — which is why it is marked Intended rather than Enforced. We'll keep this page current as governance evolves, and note significant changes for the community.

Why it's built this way: a project about governing AI should be the clearest example of governance done right. The rules marked Enforced above aren't decoration — they run in the software, and a named test fails if they stop. The ones marked Intended are held by two people who have put their names to them. We think saying which is which is worth more than claiming everything is the stronger kind.

Read alongside our Terms of Use, Code of Conduct, and Privacy page. The AiGovOps Foundation is a Washington State nonprofit corporation recognized as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity (State of Washington, USA); reach the stewards at [email protected] or [email protected]. Questions? Visit Help.