---
title: Governance
---

# Governance

The governance layer manages a DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) of governance documents that define protocols, policies, and standards for the commons.

## Document Structure

Governance documents are markdown files with YAML frontmatter:

```yaml
---
doc_id: spore.governance.consent
doc_kind: protocol
status: active
depends_on:
  - spore.governance.membrane
---
# Consent Protocol

Body content describing the governance protocol...
```

## Document Kinds

| Kind | Description |
|------|-------------|
| **protocol** | Interaction protocols between holons |
| **policy** | Rules and constraints |
| **standard** | Technical standards and formats |
| **charter** | Foundational documents |

## DAG Validation

The governance DAG enforces:
- **Acyclicity** — No circular dependencies
- **Dependency resolution** — All `depends_on` references must exist
- **Topological ordering** — Documents can be processed in dependency order

## API

- `POST /governance/docs` — Ingest a governance document
- `GET /governance/docs` — List all documents
- `GET /governance/dag` — Get the full DAG with topological order