Skip to main content

Governance

The PromptPack specification is developed and maintained through an open governance model that encourages community participation while ensuring quality and consistency.

Project Organization​

Maintainers​

Core Maintainers have administrative access and make final decisions on:

  • Specification changes and releases
  • Project direction and roadmap
  • Governance process updates
  • Maintainer appointments

Current Core Maintainers:

  • AltairaLabs Team - Primary specification authors and stewards

Contributors​

Contributors participate through:

  • RFC proposals and reviews
  • Implementation feedback
  • Documentation improvements
  • Community support and advocacy

Working Groups​

Working Groups focus on specific areas:

  • Core Specification - Schema, validation, and core features
  • Tooling & Runtimes - Implementation guidance and tooling
  • Documentation - User guides, examples, and tutorials
  • Community - Outreach, events, and ecosystem development

Decision Making Process​

Consensus Building​

Most decisions are made through rough consensus:

  1. Open discussion in issues, RFCs, or community calls
  2. Consider all perspectives and technical concerns
  3. Iterate on proposals based on feedback
  4. Achieve general agreement (not necessarily unanimous)

Escalation Process​

When consensus cannot be reached:

  1. Working Group Review - Relevant working group makes recommendation
  2. Maintainer Discussion - Core maintainers discuss and decide
  3. Community Communication - Decision rationale shared publicly
  4. Appeal Process - Community can request reconsideration with new information

Voting (Rare)​

In exceptional cases where consensus fails:

  • Maintainer Vote - Simple majority of core maintainers
  • Public Ballot - For governance changes affecting community
  • Quorum Requirements - Minimum participation thresholds

Contribution Guidelines​

Code of Conduct​

All participants must follow our Code of Conduct:

  • Be respectful and inclusive in all interactions
  • Focus on technical merit rather than personal preferences
  • Welcome newcomers and help them contribute successfully
  • Report violations to maintainers for resolution

Technical Standards​

  • Quality first - Prioritize correctness and clarity over speed
  • Documentation required - All changes must include documentation
  • Backwards compatibility - Breaking changes require strong justification
  • Test coverage - Examples and test cases for all features

Review Process​

  1. Author submission - RFC, issue, or pull request
  2. Initial review - Maintainer or working group member review
  3. Community feedback - Public comment period (minimum 1 week)
  4. Revision cycle - Address feedback and iterate
  5. Final approval - Maintainer approval and merge

Release Process​

Version Planning​

  • Roadmap discussions at quarterly community meetings
  • Feature prioritization based on community needs and RFC proposals
  • Timeline estimates with flexibility for quality assurance
  • Breaking change coordination with advance notice

Release Cadence​

  • Major releases - Annually or when significant breaking changes needed
  • Minor releases - Quarterly for new features and improvements
  • Patch releases - As needed for bug fixes and clarifications

Release Steps​

  1. Feature freeze - No new features added to release branch
  2. Testing period - Community testing of release candidates
  3. Documentation update - Ensure all changes documented
  4. Final review - Maintainer sign-off on release
  5. Publication - Release to community with announcement
  6. Post-release support - Address urgent issues and feedback

Community Participation​

Regular Activities​

  • Monthly Community Calls - Open discussion of current topics
  • Quarterly Planning - Roadmap review and priority setting
  • Annual Conference - In-person or virtual community gathering
  • RFC Review Sessions - Focused review of active proposals

Communication Channels​

  • GitHub Discussions - Asynchronous technical discussions
  • Mailing List - Important announcements and release notes
  • Blog - Regular updates on project progress and highlights

Getting Involved​

For Users​

  • Provide feedback on specification usability
  • Share use cases and requirements
  • Report issues with documentation or examples
  • Participate in discussions about future features

For Implementers​

  • Share implementation experiences and challenges
  • Contribute tooling and runtime implementations
  • Provide compatibility feedback across different platforms
  • Help define testing requirements and validation rules

For Contributors​

  • Submit RFCs for new features and improvements
  • Review proposals and provide technical feedback
  • Improve documentation and examples
  • Mentor new contributors and answer questions

Intellectual Property​

License​

  • Specification - Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
  • Reference implementations - MIT License
  • Documentation site - MIT License

Contributions​

By contributing, you agree that:

  • Your contributions are your original work or properly licensed
  • You grant rights for your contributions to be used under project licenses
  • Patent rights are granted for implementing the specification
  • No warranty is provided with your contributions

Trademark​

"PromptPack" is a trademark of AltairaLabs:

  • Specification compliance - May use trademark when implementing full specification
  • Partial implementations - Must clearly indicate limitations and deviations
  • Commercial use - Requires permission for standalone trademark usage
  • Community events - May use trademark for community-organized events

Conflict Resolution​

Process​

  1. Direct discussion - Encourage parties to resolve directly
  2. Working group mediation - Relevant working group facilitates resolution
  3. Maintainer intervention - Core maintainers make binding decision
  4. Community appeal - Community can request review of maintainer decisions

Guidelines​

  • Assume good faith - Believe contributors have good intentions
  • Focus on behavior - Address actions, not personalities
  • Seek understanding - Try to understand different perspectives
  • Document decisions - Record rationale for future reference

Enforcement​

  • Warnings for minor violations of community standards
  • Temporary restrictions for repeated or serious violations
  • Permanent bans for severe violations or threats to community safety
  • Appeal process for all enforcement actions