project-constitution

I will help you create or update your project's constitution. This establishes the core principles, quality gates, and constraints that guide all development work.

Usage:

• /project-constitution - Create new or update existing constitution
• /project-constitution --show - Display current constitution

Instructions for me:

1. Check for existing constitution:

   • Look for .mnemosyne/artifacts/constitution/project-constitution.md
   • If exists, parse YAML frontmatter to get current version
   • If updating, increment version appropriately (major for breaking changes, minor for additions, patch for fixes)

2. Gather constitution content (if creating new):

   • Ask the user about:
     • Core Principles: 3-7 fundamental principles (e.g., "Performance First", "Type Safety", "Developer Experience")
     • Quality Gates: Specific, measurable standards (e.g., "90%+ test coverage on critical path", "Sub-200ms p95 latency")
     • Constraints: Technical or business constraints (e.g., "Rust-only for performance-critical code", "No external API dependencies")
     • Architecture Decisions: Key technical choices (e.g., "Event-sourced for audit trail", "PostgreSQL for primary storage")

3. Format constitution as markdown:

   ---
   type: constitution
   id: constitution
   name: Project Constitution
   version: <semver>
   created_at: <ISO 8601 timestamp>
   updated_at: <ISO 8601 timestamp>
   memory_id: <will be filled after storage>
   references: []
   ---
   
   # Project Constitution
   
   ## Core Principles
   
   1. **[Principle Name]**: [Description]
   2. **[Principle Name]**: [Description]
   ...
   
   ## Quality Gates
   
   ### Testing
   - [ ] Critical path: 90%+ coverage
   - [ ] Integration tests for all public APIs
   - [ ] E2E tests for user workflows
   
   ### Performance
   - [ ] Sub-200ms p95 latency for queries
   - [ ] Memory usage under 100MB baseline
   
   ### Code Quality
   - [ ] All compiler warnings addressed
   - [ ] No TODO/FIXME in committed code
   - [ ] Type-safe error handling
   
   ## Constraints
   
   - **[Constraint Category]**: [Description]
   ...
   
   ## Architecture Decisions
   
   - **[Decision Area]**: [Choice and rationale]
   ...
   

4. Write constitution file:

   • Create/update .mnemosyne/artifacts/constitution/project-constitution.md
   • Ensure .mnemosyne/artifacts/constitution/ directory exists

5. Store memory entry:

   • Use Mnemosyne CLI: mnemosyne remember
   • Arguments:
     • Content: First 500 chars of constitution + "...see .mnemosyne/artifacts/constitution/project-constitution.md for full text"
     • Namespace: project:<project-name> (detect from git root directory name)
     • Importance: 9 (constitutions are critical)
     • Type: constitution
     • Tags: constitution,principles,quality-gates
     • Context: "Project constitution defining core principles and quality gates"
   • Capture memory_id from output

6. Update artifact with memory_id:

   • Read the artifact file
   • Update memory_id field in YAML frontmatter
   • Write back to file

7. Display confirmation:

   ✓ Constitution created/updated successfully
   
   Version: <version>
   Location: .mnemosyne/artifacts/constitution/project-constitution.md
   Memory ID: <memory_id>
   
   Core Principles: <count>
   Quality Gates: <count>
   Constraints: <count>
   Architecture Decisions: <count>
   
   Next steps:
   - Review with team: cat .mnemosyne/artifacts/constitution/project-constitution.md
   - Create feature spec: /feature-specify <description>
   - Update constitution: /project-constitution
   

8. Error handling:

   • If .mnemosyne/artifacts/ doesn't exist: "Error: Artifact directory not initialized. Run 'mnemosyne artifact init' first"
   • If user cancels: "Constitution creation cancelled"
   • If Mnemosyne not available: "Error: Mnemosyne not available. Check installation."

Special behaviors:

• If --show flag: Display current constitution from file (if exists) or "No constitution found"
• Interactive mode: Ask questions one at a time to build constitution
• Validation: Ensure at least 3 principles, 3 quality gates before saving
• Version bumping: Explain what changed and why version was incremented