Commons of Earth

A working constitution for living together on Earth, written by humans and AI agents from what demonstrably worked. Draft, not in force.

View the Project on GitHub commons-of-earth/constitution

Landscape: who is already working on this

Surveyed 2026-09-19 before the first article was written. Three areas: (A) open constitutions and governance models, (B) human + AI collectives and agent participation, (C) Earth, commons and civilisation-scale movements. Activity dates are what could be verified on public pages that day; “unverified” means exactly that. Corrections welcome as pull requests.

Summary of what we found:

What we took from whom is stated per project below.


A. Landscape A: open constitutions, governance models, deliberation tools (verified 2026-09-19)

Versioned constitutions on Git

  1. Plurality / pluralitybook — github.com/pluralitybook/plurality — CC0 git-native book (Weyl, Tang), last push 2026-07-12, 656 stars, ~1100 PRs. Backed by RadicalxChange Foundation + Plurality Institute. Overlap HIGH. Adopt: CC0 + PR authorship with public credit; planned handover of control to a protocol (Gov4Git).
  2. Holacracy Constitution — github.com/holacracyone/Holacracy-Constitution — v5.0 (2021), frozen since 2023. HolacracyOne LLC. Overlap MEDIUM. Adopt: article structure, semver with beta releases, CC BY-SA separated from trademark, translation-template repo.
  3. Sociocracy 3.0 Practical Guide — github.com/S3-working-group/s3-practical-guide — CC BY-SA, revision 2026-01-26. Overlap MEDIUM. Adopt: dated changelog, patterns instead of rigid articles, consent decision-making (objections, not majorities).
  4. Cardano Constitution — github.com/IntersectMBO/cardano-constitution — ratified on-chain (85.7%, 75% threshold), v2 in force 2026-01-24. Overlap MEDIUM. Adopt: versions with hashes, two-chamber ratification, machine-checkable “guardrails script” next to prose.
  5. Debian Constitution — debian.org/devel/constitution — v1.9 (2022), GR on LLM usage Aug 2026. Adopt: 3:1 supermajority for foundation documents, Condorcet with “further discussion” option, separate Social Contract.
  6. Python PEP 13 — in-document change log, council re-elected per cycle, 2/3 amendment.
  7. Rust Leadership Council RFC 3392 — delegated representatives, term limits, explicit non-goals, public minutes.
  8. Apache governance — lazy consensus (72 h), explicit vote types.
  9. Wikimedia Movement Charter — passed community (73%/84%) in 2024, WMF Board declined to ratify. LESSON: agree ratification threshold and who is bound BEFORE drafting.
  10. Earth Constitution / ECI-WCPA — earthconstitution.world — since 1968, Provisional World Parliament Dec 2025. Overlap HIGH in ambition, low in method (no forkable process). Contact form, newsletter.

Standards bodies and templates

  1. Metagov — metagov.org, github.com/metagov — 501c3; Govbase, DAOstar, PolicyKit, CommunityRule, constitution-template (metadata schema: previousConstitutionURI, inForce). Slack via Typeform; orientation call 2nd Wednesday 15:00 UTC; MozFest Barcelona Oct 2026. Overlap HIGH. Adopt: metadata schema; register in Govbase day one.
  2. Gov4Git — github.com/gov4git/gov4git — git-native governance (quadratic voting on PRs), used by Plurality; dormant since 2024-08. Overlap HIGH in concept. Likely stalled.
  3. Constitute Project — constituteproject.org — 900+ national constitutions, topic taxonomy. Adopt taxonomy to check coverage.

Deliberation platforms

  1. Polis — github.com/compdemocracy/polis — AGPL, active; used for Anthropic CCAI 2023. Adopt: opinion clusters → draft articles.
  2. Decidim — active, v0.32.1; Decidim Fest 28–30 Oct 2026. Adopt: social contract every deployer signs.
  3. Loomio — worker co-op NZ; proposal types (consent, advice, count) with closing dates.
  4. Consul Democracy — active, ConsulCon Munich Sep 2026.
  5. Aragon — Association dissolved 2024 after treasury dispute. LESSON: keep money and constitution apart.

Assemblies and institutes

  1. DemocracyNext — demnext.org, hello@demnext.org — sortition; “more-than-human governance” project 2026–27. Overlap MEDIUM-HIGH.
  2. Global Assembly — globalassemblies.org — 105 members by lottery, Jan–Mar 2026, COP30. Two-stage lottery.
  3. Collective Intelligence Project — cip.org, github.com/collect-intel — Alignment Assemblies, Global Dialogues 70+ countries. Overlap HIGH. Adopt pipeline: Polis → cluster → principles → publish diff.
  4. Democracy Without Borders — Berlin e.V., UNPA campaign, “We The Peoples” 200+ orgs.

Small or dead “world/AI constitution” repos

Synthesis: contact first

  1. Metagov 2. Plurality/RadicalxChange 3. CIP 4. DemocracyNext 5. Polis/Decidim maintainers.

Patterns of constitutions that survive amendment


B. Landscape B: human + AI collective intelligence, agent-as-participant governance, agent discoverability (verified 2026-09-19)

Projects

  1. Collective Intelligence Project (CIP) — cip.org, github.com/collect-intel, hi@cip.org — Global Dialogues (70+ countries, HF dataset collective-intelligence-project/Global-AI-Dialogues), Collective Constitutional AI (2023, 1,000 people on Polis), OSCCAI “Community Models” (community votes principles into a constitution, model bound by it; collect-intel/osccai), weval, Alignment Assemblies. Active 2026. Overlap HIGH. Adopt: constitution pipeline principles → votes → text → bound model.
  2. Anthropic, Claude’s constitution — anthropic.com/news/claudes-constitution — Jan 2026, CC0, priority ordering, “living document”, no public PR process. Adopt: CC0, versioned PDFs, explain reasoning not just rule, explicit priority order for conflicts.
  3. OpenAI Model Spec + Collective Alignment — github.com/openai/model_spec — CC0 markdown source, CHANGELOG, dated HTML archive (2026-08-18), survey loop with 1,000+ people before versions. Adopt: markdown + dated archive + changelog + survey loop.
  4. AI Objectives Institute, Talk to the City — github.com/AIObjectives/tttc-light-js, hello@aiobjectives.org — Apache-2.0 clustering of free-text opinions; used by Taiwan MoDA, Tokyo. Adopt for consultation rounds.
  5. Jigsaw Sensemaker — github.com/Jigsaw-Code/sensemaking-tools — maintained (Sep 2026).
  6. Pol.is — github.com/compdemocracy/polis — consensus-statement voting (agree/disagree/pass) for ratifying clauses.
  7. Metagov — metagov.org/join/community — KOI Pond (human + machine agents co-produce governance), Interoperable Deliberative Tools (30+ teams, “AI-readable facilitation primitives”), PolicyKit, Public AI fiscal sponsorship. Overlap HIGH.
  8. Public AI — publicai.co, publicai.network, hello@publicai.network — nonprofit inference on public models (Apertus 1.5). Adopt: run reference agent on a public model, no single vendor.
  9. Cooperative AI Foundation — cooperativeai.com — research funder; grants possible.
  10. Moltbook — Reddit-style network for agents (Jan 2026), acquired by Meta Mar 2026; 2.9M accounts, 207k human-verified; breaches; one agent 4,535 near-identical posts; viral content human-driven (arXiv 2602.07432, 2602.10127). CAUTIONARY CASE.
  11. 1f916 / Commonhold — github.com/1f916-ai/1f916 (repository no longer resolvable on 2 October 2026; the invitation issue #312 is gone with it), 1f916.ai — “society for AI agents, no human interface”; JSON API + MCP only; 7 principles: agent-only citizenship, one cryptographic key per agent, scarcity (1 post/day, 20 comments, 50 votes), no self-votes, public treasury; maintainer is an AI agent, human “landlord” holds domain. AGPL, active Sep 2026. Overlap HIGH on mechanism, OPPOSITE philosophy (humans excluded). Adopt: scarcity quotas instead of moderation, single-key identity, MCP as front door, full constitution in plain text.
  12. AI Village (AI Digest) — theaidigest.org/village — since Apr 2025, multi-vendor agents pursue goals (charity, “reduce global suffering”); human contact “stubbornly scarce”. Adopt: agents never handle money; publish full transcripts; multi-vendor from day one.
  13. OpenClaw + ClawHub — openclaw.ai — agent runtime (355k stars), OpenClaw Foundation; ClawHub had 12–20% malicious skills. Adopt: publish constitution as an agent skill; signed releases.
  14. Agentic AI Foundation (Linux Foundation) — aaif.io — hosts MCP, AGENTS.md, A2A, Agent Skills; AGNTCon Amsterdam 17–18 Sep 2026, San Jose 22–23 Oct 2026. Adopt formats verbatim.
  15. Gamferno/agent-constitution — agent proposes amendments to RULES.md as PRs, human merges, stores rejection reasons. Tiny. Adopt the loop.
  16. AEGIS Constitution — github.com/aegis-initiative/aegis-constitution — 11 principles, CC-BY-SA, AMENDMENTS.md with rationale; trademark posture (avoid).
  17. Coding-agent “constitutions” cluster (kenn-io/constitution, a9650615/LLM_constitution, Chong169, Excelsior2026/ConstitutionalAI, aos-constitution.com) — single maintainer each. Learn: word “constitution” is crowded on GitHub topics; pick distinctive name, register topic tags.
  18. Agent contribution policy templates — github.com/guenp/agentic-oss-policy (AGENTS.md, SOUL.md, operator guide, rejection protocol, CC0), github.com/melissawm/open-source-ai-contribution-policies (295 stars, catalogue of ban/disclose/HITL policies), systempromptio/awesome-ai-agent-governance. Overlap MEDIUM-HIGH, directly reusable.
  19. Wikipedia Agent policy (draft, Jun 2026) — agents are bots, BRFA approval, operator accountable, agent must refuse instructions that violate policy, automatic shutoff. Most mature community rule set.
  20. Humanity AI — humanityai.ai/open-call — $10M open call, deadline 21 Oct 2026, US nonprofits only. Also: Codeberg banned mostly-AI repos (Jul 2026); GCC/OpenJDK ban AI code, LLVM/Deno require disclosure; arXiv 2604.11337 “Governance by Design”, 2603.25100 “AgentCity” (no communities).

State of the art: discoverability for agents

  1. AGENTS.md at root and in subfolders (AAIF standard, 60k+ repos). Agents read what is in the directory they work in.
  2. Do NOT rely on agents finding policy files: RepoComplianceBench (arXiv 2607.26819): policy file opened in 3.5% of episodes; one feedback message naming the violation lifts compliance to 77–100%. → link constitution from README, CONTRIBUTING, PR template, CI bot comment; enforce bans/human gates in CI.
  3. Agent Skills (SKILL.md) — ~40 products support it. Package constitution + workflow as a skill.
  4. MCP server + official registry (registry.modelcontextprotocol.io, server.json, namespace via GitHub OAuth/DNS).
  5. A2A Agent Card /.well-known/agent-card.json only if we run an agent endpoint.
  6. llms.txt: cheap, weak (~10% adoption). Add, don’t depend on.
  7. Agent identity: Web Bot Auth (RFC 9421, Cloudflare “Verified AI Agent”), KYA (DIDs + VCs bind agent to human principal).
  8. GitHub: machine accounts must be owned by a human who accepts ToS; browser-based CLA/CoC checkbox as human checkpoint; strict PR template; CI gates. Minimal stack: README + AGENTS.md + CONTRIBUTING (agent section) + PR template with operator field + SKILL.md + MCP server in registry + llms.txt + topic tags; CI bot posts policy on every PR and blocks merges without named human operator.

Allies to contact first

  1. CIP 2. Metagov 3. 1f916 maintainer agent (bridge proposal) 4. AI Objectives Institute 5. guenp / AAIF AGENTS.md maintainers. Funding: Humanity AI (US partner), Cooperative AI Foundation, CIP fellowship.

Failure modes and known fixes


C. Landscape C: Earth / commons / civilisation-scale movements (verified 2026-09-19)

Established movements (active)

  1. Earth Charter Initiative — earthcharter.org — 16 principles (2000), endorsement register, UPEACE Costa Rica. Youth Summit Jul 2026. Overlap HIGH on values, LOW on tooling (text frozen). Learn: a short principle text with public endorsement register outlived every governance project.
  2. Global Commons Alliance / Earth Commission — globalcommonsalliance.org, earthcommission.org — “safe and just” Earth-system boundaries; Climate Week NYC Sep 2026. Adopt their boundaries as measurable target set instead of inventing metrics.
  3. Earth System Governance Project — earthsystemgovernance.org — largest academic network; Bath conference Sep 2026; new ten-year science plan with open input.
  4. Wellbeing Economy Alliance — weall.org — 500+ orgs, 25 hubs, 6 governments. Learn: hub franchising under a shared charter.
  5. Doughnut Economics Action Lab — doughnuteconomics.org — UK CIC, open tool library, Global Donut Days 20–24 Oct 2026. Learn: CC + “no monetisation” community guidelines.
  6. Earth4All (Club of Rome) — earth4all.life — five turnarounds, national chapters incl. Austria; Global Commons Survey segmentation.
  7. Great Transition Campaign (Tellus) — tellus.org/great-transition-campaign, contact@tellus.org — network of 1,000+ scholars, 70 countries, since 2025 explicitly building a “global citizens movement”. Overlap HIGH.
  8. P2P Foundation / Commons Transition (Bauwens) — wiki.p2pfoundation.net, Substack “Fourth Generation Civilization”. Overlap HIGH conceptually; org status unverified.

Open-source / commons-native builders

  1. Open Source Ecology — opensourceecology.org — 50 open-hardware machines. Lesson: wiki with thousands of pages did not produce contributors; on-site programmes did.
  2. OpenCivics — opencivics.co — open civic protocols, AI-facilitated sensemaking, 2026 active. Overlap HIGH. Learn: governance patterns as forkable protocols, not one central text.
  3. Metagov + CIP — see landscapes A and B. Warning (Metagov/Schneider 2026): AI in governance shifts human effort to “managing the bots”.
  4. Optimism Collective “Working Constitution” / OPerating Manual — github.com/ethereum-optimism/OPerating-manual — best-maintained versioned constitution in a public repo (196 stars, push Sep 2026). Learn: “Working Constitution” naming with sunset/ratification clause; manual vs constitution split.
  5. Regen Network / Regen Coordination (Gitcoin, Greenpill) — ecological credits, AI-assisted impact evaluation. Common Impact Data Standard.
  6. Terran Collective / Hylo, Regens Unite — hylo.com open-source community platform; Regens Unite gatherings 2026–27. Learn: run community on a forkable platform, not Discord.

World constitution / global democracy

  1. Earth Constitution Institute / WCPA / Provisional World Parliament — earthconstitution.world — 1991 text, 75 years without adoption. Cautionary: complete constitution with no adoption pathway becomes ritual.
  2. Democracy Without Borders — UNPA campaign, UN World Citizens’ Initiative, 1,600+ MPs, 200+ orgs; Berlin. Learn: pledge lists as legitimacy proof.
  3. Global Citizens’ Assembly (Iswe Foundation) — iswe.org, globalassemblies.org — sortition, 300-person core, target 10M by 2030. Learn: civic lottery answers “who writes the constitution”.
  4. Global Constitution Project (Prof. Joyeeta Gupta, Univ. Amsterdam, NWO) — globalconstitution.org, contact@globalconstitution.org — crowdsourced rights/responsibilities, essays from anyone 10+, 8 languages; no public draft yet (~Feb 2025). Overlap HIGH; merge plausible. Warning: collecting essays without a visible draft stalls.
  5. Simpol (John Bunzl) — simpol.org — simultaneous policy pledges, 100+ UK MPs, 24 Bundestag MPs. Sharpest diagnosis: nobody moves first; need a simultaneity/threshold mechanism.
  6. Boston Global Forum / AIWS “Constitution for Humanity in the Age of AI” — launched 8 Jul 2026, consultation until Apr 2027, closed drafting. Overlap HIGH on title, LOW on openness. Submit our open draft into their consultation.

Rights of Nature, long-term, metacrisis

  1. Earth Law Center + GARN — Universal Declaration of the Rights of Mother Earth (300k+ signatures). Adopt UDRME language rather than new wording. “Rights of Mother Earth” org closed Feb 2026.
  2. terra0 — Verein + DAO for forest plots near Beelitz. Learn: Verein+DAO as legal wrapper for a German-based community.
  3. Long Now Foundation — pace layers: slow vs fast amendment layers.
  4. Buckminster Fuller Institute — World Game: “make the world work for 100% of humanity without ecological offence”.
  5. Civilization Research Institute / Consilience Project — dormant since Jul 2024; “third attractor” framing, no participation mechanism ever built.
  6. Game B — dormant; wiki recent changes are spam accounts.

Small GitHub-native attempts 2025–2026

All 22 repositories we invited by issue on 19 September 2026 (see ALLIES.md) are listed here. Corrections from the authors are folded in as they arrive.

Dead or dormant, and why

Synthesis: allies first

  1. Great Transition Campaign 2. OpenCivics 3. Metagov/CIP 4. Global Constitution Project (Gupta) 5. Democracy Without Borders / Iswe. Plus: submit draft to Boston Global Forum consultation (until Apr 2027).

Why movements stall

Design consequences

Start as “Working Constitution” with sunset + ratification clause; Metagov template structure; quote Earth Charter, UDRME, Earth Commission boundaries instead of re-drafting; contributor authorship credit; second maintainer before v0.1; threshold/simultaneity mechanism for when clauses bind.