feat(constitution): establish estate governance foundation

Author: hyperpolymath

.machine_readable/REGISTRY.a2ml

@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@
 version = "1.0.0"
 generator = "scripts/build-registry.sh"
 hash_algorithm = "sha256(git ls-files -s <home>)  # local; external: recorded pin"
-entry_count = 32
+entry_count = 33
 
 [registry.streams]
 foundation  = "A2ML format family + K9 + contractiles (Stream 1)"
@@ -30,6 +30,15 @@ governance  = "RSR, readiness grading, pre-flight gates, session standards"
 readiness   = "ARG / FRG / CRG / TRG maturity-grading frameworks"
 integration = "Registry, hypatia rules, templates — the wiring (Stream 3)"
 
+[[spec]]
+id = "estate-constitution"
+name = "Hyperpolymath Estate Constitution"
+stream = "governance"
+home = "constitution/"
+canonical_doc = "constitution/README.adoc"
+source_hash = "sha256:6c3aa978642e8b44361f57f6301686f373af699cdd80b582d13e7c5e00caed20"
+route = "the highest estate-level rules, authority precedence, assurance, contribution, exceptions, and known tensions"
+
 [[spec]]
 id = "a2ml"
 name = "A2ML — Attested Markup Language"

AGENTS.md

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Repository instructions
+
+This repository is the canonical general standards authority for the Hyperpolymath estate. Read `0-AI-MANIFEST.a2ml`, `README.adoc`, `constitution/README.adoc`, and `.machine_readable/REGISTRY.a2ml` in that order before changing normative material.
+
+Constitutional, normative, profile, local-policy, guidance, template, implementation, generated, and historical material are distinct authority classes. A proposal is not authorised policy until the applicable change procedure is completed. Evidence records what currently holds; it does not gain authority merely by being generated or machine-readable.
+
+Canonical sources include `constitution/`, domain standard sources, profile sources, and the registry source consumed by `scripts/build-registry.sh`. `.machine_readable/REGISTRY.a2ml` and `TOPOLOGY.md` are generated: never edit them directly. Preserve licences, coined names, MAA's independent authority, and current language/build conventions. Do not add TypeScript or Deno, weaken validation, or describe draft/tested work as proven.
+
+Run the relevant `just`/`must` targets, registry and topology generators/checks, A2ML/Nickel/K9 validation where applicable, link/canonical-name checks, and `git diff --check`. Regenerate twice and require a clean second pass for generated outputs.

README.adoc

@@ -35,6 +35,9 @@ Every other "what is this repo" doc is now a thin pointer back to these two
 |===
 | If you want… | Go to
 
+| The estate's highest rules, authority precedence, assurance constitution, and tension register
+| link:constitution/[Constitutional district]
+
 | The complete, verifiable index of every spec + its home + source hash
 | link:.machine_readable/REGISTRY.a2ml[REGISTRY.a2ml] (machine) · link:REGISTRY.adoc[REGISTRY.adoc] (prose)
 

TOPOLOGY.md

@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
 > It cannot freeze: every regeneration re-reads ground truth. Do not edit by hand.
 
 - **Phase:** active   |  **Maturity:** experimental   |  **STATE last-updated:** 2026-06-03T00:00:00Z
-- **Registry entries:** 32 specs across 6 streams
+- **Registry entries:** 33 specs across 6 streams
 - **Front door:** human → [README.adoc](README.adoc); machine → [0-AI-MANIFEST.a2ml](0-AI-MANIFEST.a2ml)
 - **Registry:** [.machine_readable/REGISTRY.a2ml](.machine_readable/REGISTRY.a2ml) (index + source hashes) · prose: [REGISTRY.adoc](REGISTRY.adoc)
 
@@ -53,6 +53,7 @@
 
 | Spec | Home | If you want… |
 |---|---|---|
+| Hyperpolymath Estate Constitution | [`constitution/`](constitution/) | the highest estate-level rules, authority precedence, assurance, contribution, exceptions, and known tensions |
 | RSR — Rhodium Standard Repositories | [`rhodium-standard-repositories/`](rhodium-standard-repositories/) | the repository-compliance standard every repo is graded against |
 | Session Management Standards | [`session-management-standards/`](session-management-standards/) | continuity / verify / handover protocols |
 | DYADT — Did-You-Actually-Do-That | [`did-you-actually-do-that/`](did-you-actually-do-that/) | post-action agent-claim verification (Tier 4 accountability) |

constitution/AGENTS.md

@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+# Constitutional district instructions
+
+This directory is the highest estate-level normative district. Read `README.adoc`, `ESTATE-CONSTITUTION.adoc`, `AUTHORITY-AND-PRECEDENCE.adoc`, then the subject constitution and change procedure.
+
+Do not silently resolve a contradiction, broaden an exception, redefine MAA, or convert a proposal into policy. Record unresolved matters in `KNOWN-TENSIONS.adoc`; use `EXCEPTIONS-AND-ANCHORS.adoc` for bounded exceptions and ANCHOR interventions. Human challenge and faithful representation remain mandatory even when formal validation passes.
+
+The files here are hand-authored canonical sources. Registry/topology outputs elsewhere are generated and must be changed through their sources and generators.

constitution/ASSURANCE-CONSTITUTION.adoc

@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0
+= Assurance Constitution
+
+== Claims
+
+Every material assurance claim MUST be labelled as one of: `draft`, `designed`, `assumed`, `tested`, `audited`, or `proven`. A stronger label requires evidence appropriate to its stated model and boundary. Filenames, badges, generated reports, and passing CI do not alone establish conformance or proof.
+
+Claims MUST identify subject, version, observation model, state boundary, assumptions, evidence, validator/tool versions, known limitations, and responsible authority. Evidence MUST remain reproducible or explain why it cannot be reproduced.
+
+== Faithful representation
+
+Formalisation and lowering MUST preserve materially relevant context, affected persons, uncertainty, and exceptions. Where faithful representation cannot be shown, the formal result MUST be presented as bounded evidence rather than final disposition.
+
+== Residual risk
+
+Risk acceptance MUST be explicit, proportionate, time-bounded where possible, and reviewable. ALARP reasoning does not cancel an applicable `MUST`; it either demonstrates compliance, invokes an authorised exception, or records a contradiction requiring constitutional review.
+
+== External effects and reversibility
+
+Ordinary rollback is not equivalent to MAA reversibility. Claims involving external systems MUST identify irreversible, epistemically irreversible, compensatable, containable, or obliterative effects and must not imply restoration of information or agency that cannot actually be restored.

constitution/AUTHORITY-AND-PRECEDENCE.adoc

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0
+= Authority and Precedence
+
+== Authority classes
+
+[cols="1,3",options="header"]
+|===
+|Class |Effect
+|constitutional |Highest estate-level constraints on what may govern
+|normative |Domain rules within constitutional bounds
+|profile |Declared selection or particularisation of upstream rules
+|local-policy |Repository-specific binding within higher authority
+|guidance |Non-binding explanation or recommended practice
+|template |Starting material requiring deliberate adoption
+|implementation |Mechanism that may enforce rules but cannot create them
+|generated |Derived view whose authority comes only from its source
+|historical |Retained context; not current authority
+|===
+
+== Precedence test
+
+Apply the highest applicable authority, then the more specific compatible rule. Specificity does not permit a lower class to contradict a higher one. Later text supersedes earlier text only through an authorised change that identifies what it supersedes. Evidence cannot override policy; policy cannot manufacture evidence.
+
+Where requirements conflict, contain harm, preserve evidence, and record a `contradiction` tension. Do not silently choose whichever rule is easiest to automate.
+
+== Normative force
+
+`MUST` expresses an authorised obligation within scope, not an assertion of absolute safety. ALARP decisions address proportional residual risk and MUST record assumptions, alternatives, responsible authority, and review date. ANCHOR is an intervention mechanism, not a standing power to override arbitrary rules; its precedence is limited by link:EXCEPTIONS-AND-ANCHORS.adoc[Exceptions and ANCHORs].

constitution/CHANGE-PROCEDURE.adoc

@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0
+= Constitutional Change Procedure
+
+. Open a proposal identifying authority affected, rationale, alternatives, compatibility, evidence status, and tensions.
+. Provide both human-readable and machine-readable impact where applicable.
+. Obtain review from the named constitutional authority and affected domain maintainers.
+. Allow a meaningful contest period and answer recorded challenges.
+. Record the decision, dissent, effective version/hash, superseded material, and migration/rollback limits.
+. Regenerate derived registries; validate; prove deterministic regeneration; merge only after authorised review.
+
+Emergency containment may precede this process under an ANCHOR, but permanent policy may not. Editorial corrections that cannot change meaning may use a lighter review; any dispute about meaning requires the full process.

constitution/CONTRIBUTION-CONSTITUTION.adoc

@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0
+= Contribution Constitution
+
+== Principles
+
+Contribution authority, intellectual-property permission, and provenance attestation are distinct questions. Passing one does not answer the others. The estate MUST publish contribution routes, review authority, expected evidence, appeal routes, and the perimeter in which a contribution may operate.
+
+Open contribution MUST not be undermined by undisclosed founder-only authorship checks. Restricted paths MAY require named maintainers, stronger review, or verified provenance when the rule is public, proportionate, challengeable, and compatible with the repository's licence.
+
+== Tri-Perimeter model
+
+Perimeter 1 — Core:: Highest-impact work; explicit maintainership and review authority.
+Perimeter 2 — Trusted contributors:: Broader change authority earned through recorded, reviewable criteria.
+Perimeter 3 — Community sandbox:: Low-risk experimentation without an implication of adoption or production authority.
+
+Movement between perimeters MUST use published criteria and permit challenge. A perimeter describes contribution authority, not ownership of a contributor's identity or ideas.
+
+Contributor-agreement material derived from legal concepts MUST remain labelled *Draft for Legal Review* until competent human review and adoption. It is not legal advice or an executed agreement.

constitution/ESTATE-CONSTITUTION.adoc

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: CC-BY-SA-4.0
+= Hyperpolymath Estate Constitution
+
+Status: *Draft for constitutional review*.
+
+== Purpose
+
+The estate exists to make computational commitments explicit, inspectable, evidence-bearing, and contestable. The link:https://github.com/hyperpolymath/manifesto[manifesto] explains why. This constitution limits what may govern; domain standards specify how; profiles particularise; local declarations bind a repository; evidence records what currently holds.
+
+== Constitutional commitments
+
+* Authority MUST be scoped, attributable, challengeable, and no broader than needed.
+* Machine-readable governance MUST have a faithful human-readable representation and a human challenge route.
+* Formal disposition MUST retain the affected particularities; a successful lowering or validator run is not by itself faithful representation.
+* Assurance claims MUST name their evidence status, observation model, boundary, assumptions, and residual risk.
+* A person affected by a classification or automated decision MUST be able to identify the rule, evidence, responsible authority, and review route.
+* Provenance MUST support legitimate privacy, redaction, and secret destruction without falsifying the remaining record.
+* Exceptions MUST be bounded, owned, reviewed, and non-precedential unless adopted through the change procedure.
+* Agent authority MUST be explicit and bounded. Healing, automation, or urgency does not create constitutional authority.
+
+== Completion, contradiction, and capacity
+
+Failure to complete a goal is not necessarily a contradiction. A contradiction exists only when applicable authoritative requirements cannot jointly be satisfied in the same scope. Missing tooling, time, knowledge, or permissions are capacity limitations. Unimplemented designs are known incomplete work. The tension register records the distinction and prevents ordinary debt from silently rewriting authority.
+
+== Relationship to MAA
+
+The `maa-framework` repository is canonical for MAA. This constitution neither expands its name nor absorbs, renames, or redefines it. Estate profiles may state how MAA relates to estate claims, subject to MAA's canonical materials.
+
+== Contestability
+
+Any affected contributor, user, maintainer, or represented person may open a documented challenge. Enforcement MAY contain immediate harm, but a human authority MUST review the classification, evidence, faithful representation, proportionality, and remedy. Retaliation for good-faith challenge is prohibited.