decision-canon

Orthogonal vocabulary and canonical model for decision-related concepts.

decision-canon is a research and design repository for a unified language, object model, and practical system architecture for representing decisions from lightweight informal choices through governed, executable, policy-shaping, and constitutional decisions.

The central idea is a Unified Decision Object that can be progressively formalized without forcing heavyweight structure onto simple decisions.

Core thesis

A decision is more than a selected option.

A durable decision representation should be able to capture:

• the situation and framing,
• what was known or believed,
• available alternatives or interventions,
• objectives, values, and constraints,
• the decision method used,
• authority and governance,
• the actual commitment,
• intended and observed effects,
• and what was learned afterwards.

At higher levels, decisions may create policies that constrain later decisions, or even constitutional rules that determine how policy and authority themselves may change.

Initial repository structure

decision-canon/
├── README.md
├── INTENT.md
├── SCOPE.md
├── AGENTS.md
├── DecisionCanon.md
├── UnifiedDecisionObject.md
├── DecisionObjectSchemaDraft.md
├── ResearchProgram.md
├── Glossary.md
├── examples/
├── reviews/
├── history/
│   └── 2026-10-04-initial-exploration.md
└── workplans/

Working principle

One semantic object, progressive formality.

The same decision model should support both:

question: Which database should we use?
choice: PostgreSQL
reason: It is sufficient and already operationally familiar.

and a platform-level constitutional decision establishing future decision rights, escalation rules, autonomous authority, and review mechanisms.

Status

Seed / v0.1 research basis.

The concepts in this repository are provisional and intended to be challenged, formalized, implemented, and tested.