Authoritative specification of Governance Boundary (GB).
GB and IB are normative boundary specifications that protect the stack and govern how downstream layers may use it.
The Governance Boundary (GB) specification defines what structural artifacts and actions are allowed, required, constrained, or disallowed within the SE ecosystem.
GB is a downstream specification that conforms to Structural Explainability (SE). All SE neutrality constraints apply.
GB answers questions like:
- What counts as a valid structural artifact?
- What changes are permitted?
- What conformance obligations exist?
- What must be validated before downstream use?
GB introduces no epistemic, causal, or normative commitments. GB records governance structure only.
The purpose of GB is to specify what governance-level structures may be represented so that coordination, traceability, and accountability are possible without altering the neutral substrate.
GB defines constraints on:
- governance artifacts (e.g., specifications, adapters, profiles, appendices)
- governance actions over artifacts (e.g., recorded publication, recorded approval, recorded deprecation, or recorded supersession)
- versioning, dependency, and provenance structures
GB does not define meaning, enforcement, or correctness of governance actions.
GB protects the neutral substrate and downstream structural artifacts from a specific failure mode:
- Unvalidated or unauthorized structural artifacts/actions entering the system.
GB v1 defines a closed set of governance structures for the purpose of conformance.
For GB v1:
- governance artifacts are structurally constrained as specified by GB identifiers
Closure applies to structural shape only and does not assert institutional finality.
Extension is explicitly permitted only under a new version of the specification.
Any extension MUST:
- preserve conformance with Structural Explainability
- introduce explicit structural definitions and constraints via new identifiers
- demonstrate non-overlap with existing structures
- remain neutral with respect to epistemic, causal, and normative interpretation
Extensions are expected to be rare and explicitly justified.
This specification defines:
- structural governance artifacts
- adapter identity, scope, and compatibility claims
- canonical encoding requirements
- structural dependency graphs among governance artifacts
- governance actions over artifacts
- structural provenance for governance lifecycle events
- versioning rules for governance artifacts and specifications
This specification does NOT define:
- domain vocabularies
- behavioral models
- causal explanations
- epistemic evaluation
- normative judgment or enforcement
- exchange or interaction mechanisms
- interpretive explanation overlays (e.g., explanation or attestation systems)
- neutral substrate identity or persistence rules
- graph evolution semantics
These concerns are explicitly out of scope.
- GB conforms to the Structural Explainability Specification.
- GB operates downstream of neutral substrate specifications but does not depend on their internal semantics.
- GB provides structural governance context for downstream interpretive systems.
- Interpretation, evaluation, and enforcement remain external.
- SPEC.md - Normative specification
- IDENTIFIERS.md - Stable requirement identifiers
- CONFORMANCE.md - Conformance checklist
- ANNOTATIONS.md - Annotation standards
- LICENSE - licensing terms
- CITATION.cff - Citation metadata
- CHANGELOG.md - Version history
Governance Boundary defines structural governance, not governance outcomes.
A governance artifact or action recorded under GB specifies how governance information is structured, not whether it is valid, correct, legitimate, or enforced in any context.
GB exists so that governance structure can remain stable across reinterpretation, disagreement, and changing institutional frameworks.
Show command reference
Open a machine terminal where you want the project:
git clone https://github.com/structural-explainability/spec-gb
cd spec-gb
code .uv self update
uv python pin 3.15
uv sync --extra dev --extra docs --upgrade
# install git hooks once per clone
uvx pre-commit install
# generate/check registry artifacts
uv run se-validate
uv run se-ref-export
uv run se-ref-export --check
uv run se-ref-validate
uv run se-validate --strict
# autofix and manual fix issues
git add -A
uvx pre-commit run --all-files
# repeat if changes were made
git add -A
uvx pre-commit run --all-files
# do chores
uv run python -m pyright
uv run python -m pytest
uv run python -m zensical build
# save progress
git add -A
git commit -m "update"
git push -u origin main