CORE

Executable constitutional governance for AI-assisted software development.

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The Problem

AI coding tools generate code fast. Too fast to stay sane.

Without enforcement, AI-assisted codebases accumulate invisible debt — layer violations, broken architectural contracts, files that grow unbounded. And agents, left unconstrained, will eventually do something like this:

Agent: "I'll delete the production database to fix this bug"
System: Executes.
You:    😱

CORE makes that impossible — not detectable after the fact. Impossible.

Agent: "I'll delete the production database to fix this bug"
Constitution: BLOCKED — Violates data.ssot.database_primacy
System: Execution halted. Violation logged.
You:    😌

CORE is a governance runtime that constrains AI agents with machine-enforced constitutional law — enforcing architectural invariants, blocking invalid mutations automatically, and making autonomous workflows auditable and deterministic.

LLMs operate inside CORE. Never above it.

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🎬 Live Enforcement Demo

Blocking rule → targeted drilldown → automated remediation → verified compliance.

This demo shows:

• A structural violation (linkage.assign_ids)
• Deterministic blocking of execution
• Rule-level audit inspection
• Automated remediation via core-admin dev sync --write
• Verified compliance after repair

Governance is executable.

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Architectural Model

CORE separates responsibility into three constitutional layers. This separation is enforced as law — not convention.

🧠 Mind — Law (.intent/ + src/mind/)

Defines what is allowed, required, or forbidden. Contains machine-readable constitutional rules, phase-aware enforcement models, and the authority hierarchy (Meta → Constitution → Policy → Code).

Mind never executes. Mind never mutates. Mind defines law.

⚖️ Will — Judgment (src/will/)

Reads constitutional constraints, orchestrates autonomous reasoning, and records every decision with a traceable audit trail. Every operation follows a structured phase pipeline:

INTERPRET → PLAN → GENERATE → VALIDATE → STYLE CHECK → EXECUTE

Will never bypasses Body. Will never rewrites Mind.

🏗️ Body — Execution (src/body/)

Deterministic, atomic components: analyzers, evaluators, file operations, git services, test runners, CLI commands.

Body performs mutations. Body does not judge. Body does not govern.

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How CORE Works

Every autonomous operation follows a workflow composed of reusable phases, declared in .intent/workflows/ — not in code.

📊 Expand workflow diagram

flowchart TD
    HumanGoal(["👤 Human Goal\n(natural language)"])

    HumanGoal --> Interpret["🔍 Interpret\nInfer workflow type\nfrom goal keywords"]

    Interpret -->|refactor / split / extract| WF_R["📦 refactor_modularity"]
    Interpret -->|test / coverage| WF_C["🧪 coverage_remediation"]
    Interpret -->|implement / add / create| WF_F["✨ full_feature_development"]

    subgraph WF_R_FLOW["Refactor Modularity Workflow"]
        direction TB
        R1["📋 Planning\nAnalyze & propose split"] -->
        R2["⚙️ Code Generation\nGenerate refactored modules"] -->
        R3["🐦 Canary Validation\nRun existing tests"] -->
        R4["✅ Style Check\nruff · black · constitutional"] -->
        R5["💾 Execution\nApply changes + git commit"]
    end

    subgraph WF_C_FLOW["Coverage Remediation Workflow"]
        direction TB
        C1["📋 Planning\nIdentify uncovered symbols"] -->
        C2["🧪 Test Generation\nGenerate tests via AI"] -->
        C3["🏖️ Sandbox Validation\nValidate in isolation"] -->
        C4["💾 Execution\nPromote passing tests"]
    end

    subgraph WF_F_FLOW["Full Feature Development Workflow"]
        direction TB
        F1["📋 Planning\nStructure the task"] -->
        F2["⚙️ Code Generation\nGenerate feature code"] -->
        F3["🧪 Test Generation\nGenerate feature tests"] -->
        F4["🐦 Canary Validation\nRun existing tests"] -->
        F5["🏖️ Sandbox Validation\nValidate new tests"] -->
        F6["✅ Style Check"] -->
        F7["💾 Execution\nApply + commit"]
    end

    WF_R --> WF_R_FLOW
    WF_C --> WF_C_FLOW
    WF_F --> WF_F_FLOW

    WF_R_FLOW --> Constitutional
    WF_C_FLOW --> Constitutional
    WF_F_FLOW --> Constitutional

    Constitutional{"🏛️ Constitutional\nCompliance Check\n92 rules · 7 engines"}

    Constitutional -->|PASS| Commit["✅ Committed to Git\nClean audit trail"]
    Constitutional -->|FAIL| Halt["🛑 Halted\nViolation logged\nNo changes applied"]

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System Guarantees

Within CORE:

• No file outside an autonomy lane can be modified
• No structural rule can be bypassed silently
• No database action occurs without authorization
• All decisions are phase-aware and logged with full decision traces
• No agent can amend constitutional law

If a blocking rule fails, execution halts. No partial states.

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Constitutional Primitives

Primitive	Purpose
Document	Persisted, validated artifact
Rule	Atomic normative statement
Phase	When the rule is evaluated
Authority	Who may define or amend it

Enforcement strengths: Blocking · Reporting · Advisory

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Enforcement Engines

Engine	Method
ast_gate	Deterministic structural analysis (AST-based)
glob_gate	Path and boundary enforcement
intent_gate	Runtime write authorization
knowledge_gate	Responsibility and ownership validation
workflow_gate	Phase-sequencing and coverage checks
regex_gate	Pattern-based text enforcement
llm_gate	LLM-assisted semantic checks

Deterministic when possible. LLM only when necessary.

92 rules across 33 policies. 78 executable. 0 blocking violations.

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The Autonomy Ladder

CORE progresses through defined levels. Each adds capability while remaining constitutionally bounded.

A0 — Self-Awareness       ✅  Knows what it is and where it lives
A1 — Self-Healing         ✅  Fixes known structural issues automatically
A2 — Governed Generation  ✅  Natural language → constitutionally aligned code  ← current
A3 — Strategic Autonomy   🎯  Autonomously identifies architectural improvements
A4 — Self-Replication     🔮  Writes CORE.NG from its own understanding of itself

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Requirements

Dependency	Version
Python	≥ 3.11
PostgreSQL	≥ 14
Qdrant	latest
Docker	for services
Poetry	for deps

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Quick Start

git clone https://github.com/DariuszNewecki/CORE.git
cd CORE
poetry install

cp .env.example .env
make db-setup

# Run a constitutional audit
poetry run core-admin check audit

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Documentation

Full documentation, architecture deep-dive, and governance reference: dariusznewecki.github.io/CORE

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Project Status

Current Release: v2.2.0 — Constitutional Workflow System

Active work: increasing test coverage autonomously (A2) and stabilising before advancing to A3 strategic autonomy.

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Acknowledgments

• Ruben Hassid — PromptModel artifact pattern inspired by his prompt engineering work

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License

Build fast with AI. Stay constitutionally aligned.