> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.vexa.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # How Vexa governs itself > The full governance map: two constitutions, two protocols, the surfaces and actors of the delivery loop, who enforces what, and how the law itself changes. Vexa is governed by written, enforced law — not convention. Three documents, each governing a different noun; two operational protocols bookending the contribution loop; a set of surfaces where humans and agents meet the system; and one amendment mechanism through which the law itself evolves. This page is the map. ## The trinity | Document | Governs | Character | | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------- | | **[Architecture](/governance/architecture)** — the P-book (P1–P23) | the **artifact**: what the software must be — structure, contracts, isolation, data-flow, proof altitudes | timeless · machine-enforced | | **[Delivery](/governance/delivery)** — the D-book (D0–D17) | the **flow**: how change earns its way in — intake → prepare → roadmap → claim → deliver → prove → release → close-back | cyclic · process-enforced | | **[AGENTS.md](https://github.com/Vexa-ai/vexa/blob/main/AGENTS.md)** — the actor contract | the **actor**: how a session (human, agent, or both) behaves inside a checkout | per-session · ledger-enforced | AGENTS.md is deliberately the thinnest: it owns no law of its own — it *binds* a session to the other two and adds only session mechanics (worktree isolation, the expect→verdict loop, the claim heartbeat). ## The two protocols Each phase of the delivery loop has an operational protocol — an agent-runnable prompt, not prose about process: * **[PREPARE](/governance/delivery#prepare-protocol)** — signal → spec. Turns one queue item (a raw report, an incident, a failure mode) into a prepared issue: code-grounded, harnessed, carrying an acceptance table that *guarantees* merge. * **[TAKE](/governance/delivery#take-protocol)** — PR → verdict. Triages a delivered PR against its issue's declared floor: bundle before diff, row-by-row in the issue's own numbering, the floor never moved, the plan-bug rule owned on our side. The prepared issue is the hinge between them: the *output* of PREPARE and the *input* of a contributor's work — a PRD whose acceptance table is a merge promise. ## Surfaces and actors — one pass around the loop | Stage | Actor | Surface | Governed by | | -------------------- | ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | | Discover | remote agent / human | this site's `/llms.txt` (auto-generated) · [AGENTS.md](https://github.com/Vexa-ai/vexa/blob/main/AGENTS.md) (the repo agent front door, 28+ tools read it natively) · README | — | | Feed back | remote agent / user | **GitHub issues** — every report enters `state: incoming`, 3-day triage SLA | D2b | | Prepare | maintainer's agents | the tracker | PREPARE | | Stamp + roadmap | maintainer | the [board](https://github.com/orgs/Vexa-ai/projects/2): Lane × Milestone × Human bar × Setup | D-R1 / D2 | | Pick | contributor's agent | one GraphQL call ([contributing](/governance/delivery#the-roadmap)) | — | | Claim | contributor | issue comment + **Discord hello** (the human-to-human channel) + heartbeat | AGENTS.md / D14b | | Build | contributor + agent | the checkout: issue-as-PRD, worktree, gates | AGENTS.md binding the P-book | | Deliver | contributor | the two-artifact PR: observation bundle + diff | D8 | | Take | maintainer | the PR, against the declared floor | TAKE | | Validate | **a non-author human** | a real meeting / deployment — multichannel, provenance-anchored | D9 / D12b | | Release + close back | maintainer | release notes credit author *and* signer; the reporter is invited to validate | D15 / D16 | ## Who enforces what * **The P-book: machines.** The CI gate suite (28 gates) — red or it didn't happen. The live map of principle → gate is [Architecture compliance](/governance/arch-compliance), generated, never hand-edited. * **The D-book: process.** The state-label machine (exactly one `state:` per issue), acceptance floors, value signing. The enforcement map — including the honestly-marked TO-BUILD rows (the `value-signed` status check, the label bot) — is [the enforcement map](/governance/delivery#enforcement-map). * **The actor contract: visibility.** No gate checks the expect→verdict loop — the human reading the ledger *is* the gate. * **[Contributor rights](/governance/contributor-rights): declaration + DCO + attributable corporate authorization.** Individuals make one conscious choice and encounter no CLA; employer-controlled work waits for a private receipt bound to the current PR head. ## How the law itself changes No principle is edited casually. The amendment loop: > surprise → root-cause **with a human** → learning → **ADR** on `lane:contract` (human-reviewed) > → new principle in the P-book or D-book → new gate that enforces it. The case law lives in [`docs/adr/`](https://github.com/Vexa-ai/vexa/tree/main/docs/adr) — decision records the constitutions cite by number. Machine models keep both books executable: the P-book's is [`architecture.calm.json`](https://github.com/Vexa-ai/vexa/blob/main/architecture.calm.json) (FINOS CALM, drift-gated); the D-book's is the roadmap board itself. ## The one idea underneath Agents made code cheap. The scarce input is **verified truth about delivered value** — so every mechanism above exists to route human attention to the one thing only humans can give: *"I ran it, and I witness the value."* Validation is credited as authorship's equal, invalidation is a first-class result, and nothing merges on anyone's say-so alone — including ours.