constitution-writer

name	constitution-writer
description	Use once per project, before any feature work, to fill out the project constitution (principles, code standards, SDD process) from the constitution template into .specify/memory/constitution.md.

constitution-writer

When: entry point of the SDD flow. Run once per project, before the first feature is brainstormed or specced. Re-run (or edit in place) only when the team's principles or process actually change.

Template: .specify/memory/constitution.md.tmpl.

Output: .specify/memory/constitution.md.

Steps:

1. Check whether .specify/memory/constitution.md already exists. If it does, treat this as an edit, not a fresh fill — read it first and preserve decisions still valid.
2. If constitution.md is absent, rename .specify/memory/constitution.md.tmpl to .specify/memory/constitution.md (the constitution is one-per-project; the template is consumed, not kept). After filling, remove any leftover constitution.md.tmpl so only constitution.md remains.
3. Fill each section that exists in the template:
   • Principles — the project's guiding principles (3+ short statements).
   • Code Standards — concrete coding conventions with examples.
   • SDD Process — the phases of the SDD flow as practiced in this repo (Investigation & Spec, Implementation, Review & Validation, Merge & Deploy).
4. Keep entries concrete and project-specific — avoid restating the template's bracketed placeholders verbatim.
5. Do not invent a status: frontmatter for this file; the constitution has no approval gate.

Next: product-writer (the product layer, if not yet written), then brainstorming (to shape the first feature idea), then prd-writer.