hq/00-META/process/05-constitution-sync.md

Playbook 05 — Constitution sync

Implements ADR 0021: HQ is the source of the constitution, and the constitution page is derived, never edited.

Trigger. how-we-build.md changed a rule that the mesh enforces at runtime.

Who runs it. Whoever made the change.

Why this playbook exists

The mesh injects a constitution into every eligible design meeting; agents check their output against it and a constitution-check phase can block a meeting. That text is derived. how-we-build.md is the source.

Two texts stating the same rules will drift, and the enforced copy winning by default means the reasoned copy quietly stops being true. This playbook is the mechanism that stops that — and, per the repository's own rule, it is how the rule "HQ is the source" is checked.

Steps

1. Edit how-we-build.md. Each rule keeps the reasoning that earned it; the derived page carries the rule alone.
2. Record the change as a decision — a rule the mesh enforces is architecturally significant. Playbook 02.
3. Publish the derived page where the mesh keeps the constitution page, under its slug, replacing its body. Keep the section numbering stable: the meeting orchestrator and the review fragments cite sections by number.
4. Verify the derived page reads back with the change present. A publish that reported success and did nothing is exactly the failure class this repository exists to name.
5. Note the sync in the decision record's Consequences.

Rules

• Never edit the derived page directly. An edit there survives until the next sync and then vanishes, taking its reasoning with it.
• The derived page may only be tightened by per-team override pages, never relaxed.
• If the sync cannot be performed, say so in the record. An unsynced rule is a rule the mesh does not enforce, whatever how-we-build.md says.