docs: add project constitution v1.0.0 with 5 core principles

Defines non-negotiable standards for UX excellence, attention to detail,
living documentation, repository cleanliness, and cross-repository
consistency with the lab-manual repo.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.6 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

Author: jeremymanning

.specify/memory/constitution.md

@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+<!--
+Sync Impact Report
+===================
+Version change: N/A (initial) → 1.0.0
+Modified principles: N/A (all new)
+Added sections:
+  - I. User Experience Excellence
+  - II. Attention to Detail
+  - III. Living Documentation
+  - IV. Repository Cleanliness
+  - V. Cross-Repository Consistency
+  - Cross-Repository Coordination (Section 2)
+  - Development Workflow (Section 3)
+  - Governance
+Removed sections: None
+Templates requiring updates:
+  - .specify/templates/plan-template.md: ✅ No updates needed (Constitution Check
+    section is dynamically filled from this file)
+  - .specify/templates/spec-template.md: ✅ No updates needed (user stories and
+    acceptance scenarios already support visual-check and documentation requirements)
+  - .specify/templates/tasks-template.md: ✅ No updates needed (Polish phase already
+    includes documentation updates; visual checks can be added per-feature)
+Follow-up TODOs: None
+-->
+
+# Context Lab Website Constitution
+
+## Core Principles
+
+### I. User Experience Excellence
+
+Every page MUST deliver a delightful, engaging, and visually cohesive
+experience. This is a public-facing academic lab site — first impressions
+shape how prospective students, collaborators, and funders perceive the lab.
+
+- All text MUST be clear, brief, and free of jargon unless the audience
+  is explicitly technical.
+- Theming MUST remain cohesive: Dartmouth green palette, Nunito Sans
+  typography, hand-drawn border aesthetic, lowercase headings.
+- All pages MUST render correctly on desktop, tablet (768px), and mobile
+  (480px) breakpoints. Test on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.
+- Interactive elements (modals, dropdowns, carousels, info panel) MUST
+  feel responsive and smooth — no layout shifts, no broken animations.
+- New UI features MUST be evaluated for whether they genuinely improve
+  the visitor experience, not just add complexity.
+
+### II. Attention to Detail
+
+Every substantive change MUST be verified through comprehensive testing,
+including visual checks. Bugs on a live academic website erode credibility.
+
+- All changes MUST pass `python -m pytest tests/ -v` before pushing.
+- Visual changes MUST be verified by screenshot or manual inspection on
+  at least desktop and mobile viewports.
+- The full pre-push validation (`scripts/pre_push_check.py`) MUST pass
+  before any push to `main`.
+- Build output MUST be inspected: auto-generated HTML pages should be
+  spot-checked after spreadsheet or template changes.
+- Link integrity MUST be maintained: no broken internal links, no dead
+  external URLs in publications or software listings.
+
+### III. Living Documentation
+
+Documentation MUST stay synchronized with the codebase at all times.
+Stale docs are worse than no docs — they actively mislead.
+
+- Any functional change MUST include corresponding updates to relevant
+  documentation (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, README.md, inline comments).
+- Changes to the build system, scripts, or templates MUST update
+  `scripts/AGENTS.md` and the root `AGENTS.md`.
+- New scripts or commands MUST be documented in CLAUDE.md under Commands.
+- Spreadsheet schema changes (new columns, renamed fields) MUST update
+  the field reference in README.md and relevant AGENTS.md files.
+- GitHub Actions workflow changes MUST be reflected in documentation.
+
+### IV. Repository Cleanliness
+
+The repository MUST remain clean and free of private, temporary, or
+extraneous files. This is a public GitHub Pages repo — everything
+committed is visible to the world.
+
+- Passwords, API keys, tokens, and personal information MUST NEVER be
+  committed. Credentials belong in `~/.config/cdl/` or environment
+  variables, never in the repo.
+- Temporary files (screenshots, scratch scripts, debug output) MUST be
+  deleted after use or moved to `scripts/` if reusable.
+- `.gitignore` MUST be maintained to exclude OS artifacts, editor files,
+  Python caches, and any generated files not needed for the live site.
+- Auto-generated root HTML files (`publications.html`, `people.html`,
+  `software.html`, `news.html`) MUST NOT be hand-edited — changes will
+  be overwritten by the build system.
+- No `!important` in CSS without explicit written justification.
+- No inline styles in templates — use CSS classes.
+
+### V. Cross-Repository Consistency
+
+This website MUST remain consistent with the
+[lab-manual](https://github.com/ContextLab/lab-manual) repository.
+These two repos together define the lab's public and internal identity.
+
+- Personnel information (current members, alumni, roles) MUST match
+  across both repositories. When someone is onboarded or offboarded
+  here, the lab-manual MUST be updated accordingly (and vice versa).
+- Lab policies, descriptions, and research summaries that appear on
+  both the website and the lab manual MUST NOT contradict each other.
+- The lab-manual repository includes a Slack bot that may programmatically
+  update this site. Changes made by the bot MUST follow the same build
+  pipeline (edit data/templates, rebuild, test) rather than directly
+  editing auto-generated HTML.
+- When reviewing PRs that touch shared content (people, lab description,
+  research areas), cross-check the other repository for drift.
+
+## Cross-Repository Coordination
+
+The website and lab-manual share overlapping content. To prevent drift:
+
+- **People data**: The source of truth for the website is `data/people.xlsx`.
+  The lab-manual maintains its own member records. After onboarding or
+  offboarding, both repos MUST be updated in the same session or PR.
+- **Slack bot integration**: The lab-manual Slack bot has write access to
+  trigger updates on this site. Bot-initiated changes MUST go through
+  the standard `data/*.xlsx` → `scripts/build.py` → test pipeline.
+  Direct HTML edits by the bot are prohibited.
+- **Conflict resolution**: If information conflicts between repos, resolve
+  by checking the authoritative source (e.g., `people.xlsx` for member
+  data, the lab-manual for policies) and updating the stale copy.
+
+## Development Workflow
+
+All changes to the website MUST follow this workflow:
+
+1. **Edit sources, not outputs**: Modify `data/*.xlsx`, `templates/*.html`,
+   `css/style.css`, `js/main.js`, or `documents/JRM_CV.tex` — never
+   auto-generated root HTML or `documents/JRM_CV.html`.
+2. **Validate**: Run `cd scripts && python validate_data.py`.
+3. **Build**: Run `cd scripts && python build.py` (and `build_cv.py` if
+   CV was changed).
+4. **Test**: Run `python -m pytest tests/ -v` — all tests MUST pass.
+5. **Visual verify**: For UI changes, serve locally (`python3 -m http.server 8000`)
+   and check desktop + mobile viewports.
+6. **Document**: Update CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md, and/or README.md if the
+   change affects commands, architecture, or conventions.
+7. **Push**: Only after all above steps pass.
+
+GitHub Actions (`build-content.yml`, `build-cv.yml`) provide a safety
+net but are not a substitute for local validation.
+
+## Governance
+
+This constitution defines the non-negotiable standards for the Context Lab
+website. All contributors (human and automated) MUST comply.
+
+- **Precedence**: This constitution supersedes ad-hoc practices. When in
+  doubt, follow the principles above.
+- **Amendments**: Changes to this constitution require updating this file,
+  incrementing the version (MAJOR for principle removals/redefinitions,
+  MINOR for additions/expansions, PATCH for clarifications), and updating
+  dependent artifacts if affected.
+- **Compliance review**: PRs SHOULD be checked against these principles
+  before merging. The pre-push check script enforces the testable subset.
+- **Runtime guidance**: See `CLAUDE.md` for day-to-day development commands
+  and conventions. This constitution governs *why*; CLAUDE.md governs *how*.
+
+**Version**: 1.0.0 | **Ratified**: 2026-03-23 | **Last Amended**: 2026-03-23