Federation & Node Charter
What the scaffold asks.
Nothing more.
The OS does not tell a node how to live. It asks for a small set of commitments that keep the scaffold sound, so nodes can trust each other and the network can hold. Everything else belongs to the node, starting from The Manual.
Three Layers of Agreement
Structure is shared. Culture is not.
Every node works with three kinds of agreement. Only the first is set by the OS. The second is written by each node. The third grows.
The Scaffold
The few requirements that keep the structure sound: core responsibilities, consent decisions, the cycle record, rotation, exit rights. Identical in every node.
The Node Charter
A short founding document each node writes at genesis: its purpose, its members, how it handles money, joining and leaving. A template is provided below.
The Manual
The node's culture: its values, practices, stories and ways of being together. The Manual is a starting template. Each community makes it its own.
Federation Charter
What the federation offers, and what it asks.
The federation is a voluntary network of nodes. It exists to give small groups what they can't build alone, and it earns its place only by adding value.
What the federation provides
- ◈
A template to start
The scaffold, the node charter template, The Manual and a genesis process, so five people can form a working node without inventing governance from scratch.
- ◈
Affinity matching
Connecting people who want the same kind of node. Sorting by shared purpose, never filtering by status.
- ◈
Identity & reputation
Verifiable node identity and contribution history that travel with members across the network.
- ◈
Trade & exchange
Labour exchange, internal markets and value transfer between nodes with different specialties.
- ◈
Shared rails
Legal and financial templates, resilience funds and access to capital that a single small group couldn't secure.
- ◈
A neutral place to turn
Mediation and dispute support from outside the node when a conflict can't be resolved inside it.
What it asks of member nodes
These are the scaffold's integrity requirements. They are the whole list.
A core council of five to eight
The five core responsibilities are held by a core council of five to eight members, chosen by a method the node sets for itself. The council never grows past eight.
Consent decisions
Inside the node, decisions are made by consent: no principled objection to trying it.
A cycle record
Each cycle closes with a record of decisions, roles and contribution, reviewed by the members.
A transparent ledger
Contribution is visible to every member. What is tracked (hours, output, capital) is the node's choice.
Rotation
Responsibilities rotate. The node sets its own cadence (90 days by default) and records it.
Open exits
Any member may leave any node; any node may leave the federation. Exit is never penalised.
Human scale
A node stays under roughly 150 members: about as many people as can know each other well enough to form a coherent community. Beyond that, it seeds a new node. (See Foundations.)
Decision Rights
Who decides what.
Centralisation is limited to what interoperability and shared trust require.
| Domain | The node | The federation |
|---|---|---|
| Culture & values | Entirely the node's, through The Manual | No role |
| Daily life & operations | Entirely the node's | No role |
| Membership | Who joins and how members leave | Upholds exit rights |
| Money & projects | Its own budget, economy and assets | Optional co-funding, matching and shared legal wrappers |
| Disputes | First-level resolution inside the node | Neutral mediation when asked |
| Reputation | Records its own contribution | Verifies credentials across the network |
| Shared rules & treasury | One voice, one vote per node | Executes what member nodes decide |
The Five Core Responsibilities
Names can change. Responsibilities can't.
These five responsibilities are what the OS needs a node to hold. The names and descriptions are suggestions: a node can rename them, expand them and build on them. They are held by the node's core council of five to eight people. With five on the council, each holds one; a sixth to eighth councillor joins as a Builder or shares a responsibility. Responsibilities rotate among the councillors. Any member of the wider node can bring a proposal or raise a tension with the council. How councillors are chosen is up to each node, from a set of options.
Navigator
Holds the cycle's focus and facilitates council.
Required by the OS
- Facilitates consent rounds
- Keeps the cycle rhythm
- Proposes a focus; the group consents
Steward
Looks after resources and the contribution ledger.
Required by the OS
- Keeps the ledger transparent
- Presents the resource picture
- Reconciles at cycle close
Chronicler
Keeps the node's memory, and carries it between the OS and The Manual.
Required by the OS
- Writes the cycle record
- Logs decisions as they're made
- Tends The Manual
Connector
The node's link to the federation and to newcomers.
Required by the OS
- Carries the node's voice to the federation
- Submits the federation report
- Welcomes new members
Builder(s)
Turns the cycle's focus into real work.
Required by the OS
- Breaks focus into deliverables
- Owns execution
- Additional members hold this role
No one is in charge
No responsibility carries authority over another person. If consent can't be reached, the proposal is parked to the next council, tried as a short experiment, or taken to a neutral facilitator from another node. No single person decides.
Choosing the Core Council
The node decides how. The OS offers options.
Not every member sits on the council, and the OS doesn't dictate who does. Each node chooses its own selection method and records it in its charter. These are starting points a node can adopt, combine or reinterpret as it likes.
Sociocratic election
Open nominations, with reasons spoken aloud. The group discusses and the council is formed by consent rather than majority.
Member vote
Members elect councillors for a fixed term by ballot. Familiar, simple, and easy to explain to newcomers.
Sortition
Seats are drawn by lot from willing members, as in citizens' assemblies. Spreads opportunity and resists cliques.
Volunteer rotation
Willing members take turns on the council in an agreed order. Suits small or close-knit nodes.
Founding council
The founders serve the first term, then hand over to another method. Gives a new node stability while it finds its feet.
Mixed
Some seats elected, some drawn by lot, or any other combination the node designs.
The Rhythm
One cycle. Three cadences.
Every node runs on the same 30-day heartbeat. Timing can follow a node's seasons or projects; the phases stay. Full detail is on How It Works.
30-minute stand-up
What I did, what I'm doing, what's in the way.
Full council, 2–3 hours
Opening and close of the cycle. The cycle record is reviewed and signed by the members.
Handover, half a day
Responsibilities rotate at the node's chosen cadence, with a written handover.
Node Charter Template
What a node writes at genesis.
A node charter is short: one to three pages. It records the node's own answers to the questions every small group eventually has to face.
Name & purpose
What the node is for, in one paragraph.
Members & council
How the core council is chosen and for how long, who holds which responsibility, and the rotation cadence.
Deciding
The consent process, and what happens when consent can't be reached.
Contribution
What the ledger tracks, and any minimum expected for membership.
Money & assets
The node's economic model, and who owns what it builds.
Joining & leaving
How new members join, and how a departing member's share is settled with dignity.
Federation
Whether the node federates, and on what terms. Standing alone is a valid choice.
Link to The Manual
Where the node's culture lives, and how the Chronicler keeps the two in conversation.
Signatures
Signed by every founding member, witnessed.
The Manual
Where culture is built.
The Manual is a template for building node culture: a set of prompts, examples and blank pages for values, practices, rituals, stories and agreements. It's a place for a community to start from, not a rulebook to follow.
The OS and The Manual interface, but loosely. The OS keeps the structure and the records; The Manual holds the living culture. The Chronicler moves between them, and over time each node finds its own balance between the two.
See an example
One possible node culture, written as if by a founding node using The Manual: its goals, principles, membership expectations and safeguards. It shows the form. Your node's will be different.
Example Culture Spec →Scaffold Safeguards
What no node culture can override.
A few protections hold everywhere, because without them the scaffold itself becomes unsafe.
- 01
Exit is always open
No one can be trapped in a node, financially or socially.
- 02
Dissent is protected
Raising a tension or objection is never punished.
- 03
No coercive control
Nodes reject cult dynamics, isolation from friends and family, and demonisation of the outside world.
- 04
The law applies
Nodes operate within the law where they live and seek qualified advice where it matters.
- 05
Records serve reflection
The record exists for shared memory and self-awareness, not surveillance.
- 06
Help from outside
Any member can reach a neutral party outside their node.