2026-07-30
Constitution (with example)
Concrete examples are better than chaotic theory...
Here's an example of what my "constitution" definition might look like.
Conventions
- Rules are immutable.
- Rules are written in an EARS-like style.
- IDs are never reused.
- IDs use a short section prefix + sequential number.
- To change a rule (since it's idempotent): prepend it with
[REPLACED_BY: <new-id>]and prepend the new one with[REPLACES: <old-id>] - To cancel a rule: prepend with
[CANCELLED] - To add a rule: increment the ID for the given section
Example
## Authentication
AUTH-1: WHEN a user submits valid credentials, the system shall redirect them to the dashboard.
AUTH-2: WHEN a user submits invalid credentials, the system shall display the message “Invalid email or password.”
## Reporting
REP-1: The system shall generate the monthly summary report in under 3 seconds for datasets up to 50,000 rows.
REP-2 [REPLACED_BY: REP-3]: The export button shall produce a CSV file.
REP-3 [REPLACES: REP-2]: The export button shall produce an Excel (.xlsx) file.
Thoughts?