Governances Overview

Governances are version-pinned, auditable agent-tool contracts shipped with the cyberplace npm package. They are frozen to the installed version and loaded on demand via the CLI.

Disciplines (e.g. commit discipline) are a separate layer — session-scoped rules injected by hooks. See Commit Discipline.

Loading governances

Do not link to governance files directly from SKILL.md. Load them through the CLI so the content is always version-matched:

# List available governances
npx cyberplace@<version> governance list

# Show a governance (agents read stdout)
npx cyberplace@<version> governance show skill-design

# Agent-optimized output (lower token cost)
npx cyberplace@<version> governance show skill-design --format agent

Always pin an exact version: npx cyberplace@$(npm view cyberplace version) …

Available governances

Name	Purpose
skill-design	Rules for authoring SKILL.md files
skill-repo-structure	Rules for organizing a skill library repository
agent-tool-output	Output rules for scripts, hooks, and CLIs that agents invoke
cli-resolution	Strategy for invoking a Node CLI that may be global, repo-local, or absent
universal-plugin	Format spec for plugins that work across Claude Code, Cursor, and Codex

Authoring rules

Governances are agent-first — they load directly into agent context:

• Dense and concise — imperative must/should/do-not rules; no tutorials
• Self-contained — no links to other repository files; agent completes the workflow from stdout alone
• References at end — only governance show commands and HTTPS URLs in ## References
• No rationale sections — no ## Why, ## Rationale, or ## Background; ADRs record why, governances record what