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🧭 CommonsEngine Governance

CommonsEngine is an independent, open collective of contributors building the infrastructure for digital self-determination.
Our governance model balances openness with responsibility — ensuring that every voice can contribute while maintaining technical and ethical integrity.

🌱 Principles

Our governance is guided by these shared principles:

  • Transparency — All major discussions and decisions happen publicly.
  • Merit through contribution — Influence comes from consistent, meaningful participation, not titles.
  • Consent over control — Decisions aim for consensus; if not possible, consent of affected maintainers.
  • Accountability — Everyone, including stewards, is answerable to the community.
  • Sustainability — Stewardship includes caring for people, not just code.

👥 Roles and Responsibilities

1. Contributors

Anyone who submits code, design, documentation, or feedback is a Contributor.

Rights

  • Participate in discussions and reviews.
  • Submit issues, PRs, and proposals.
  • Have contributions acknowledged in CONTRIBUTORS.md.

Responsibilities

  • Follow the Code of Conduct.
  • Respect review processes and maintain project quality.
  • Align contributions with the project’s purpose and values.

2. Maintainers

Maintainers are trusted contributors who oversee specific repositories or domains.

Duties

  • Review and merge Pull Requests.
  • Ensure code quality, documentation, and test coverage.
  • Mentor new contributors and uphold community standards.
  • Participate in consensus discussions for roadmap decisions.

Becoming a Maintainer

  • Active participation in a project for a sustained period (typically 3+ months).
  • Demonstrated technical competence and respect for governance principles.
  • Nomination by an existing maintainer, confirmed through community consent.

Losing Maintainer Status

  • Prolonged inactivity (3+ months), voluntary step-down, or repeated disregard of conduct rules.

3. Stewards

Stewards (also called “Core Maintainers”) coordinate governance across all CommonsEngine projects.

Duties

  • Facilitate community calls and cross-project planning.
  • Handle security disclosures and sensitive matters.
  • Review reports related to the Code of Conduct.
  • Ensure continuity of the collective’s long-term vision.
  • Maintain relationships with aligned ecosystems (e.g., Sovereign Project).

Decision Process

  • Stewards operate by rough consensus — if a vote is required, a simple majority of active stewards decides.
  • Major governance changes require public notice and open discussion before adoption.

4. Advisory Contributors (Optional)

Occasionally, external experts or aligned collaborators may serve as Advisory Contributors — offering feedback on design, policy, or ethics.
They have no formal decision-making power but help inform development.

🧩 Decision-Making

Decision Type Who Decides Process
Minor code change / fix Maintainer Review + merge after at least one approval
Feature addition / refactor Maintainers + contributors Open issue → discussion → PR review
Policy / process update Stewards Public discussion → consensus or vote
Security incident Stewards Private handling → coordinated disclosure
Governance change Community Open RFC process with documented outcome

All discussions take place in GitHub Issues, Discussions, or community calls.
Private channels (Matrix/Discord) are used only for security or moderation topics.