NORTH.MD

Specification history

Changelog

Every change to the NORTH.md specification, newest first. Versions follow Semantic Versioning.

Download spec.md Follow on GitHub
11 October 2026 Current
  • First public release.
  • Seven sections defined: North Star, The Bar, Asymmetric Bets, Anti-Goals, Trade-off Defaults, Ambition Triggers, and Reversibility.
  • Trade-off Defaults name each default and the condition under which it flips.
  • Proposed a five-layer model for agent context files (CONSTITUTION.md, AGENTS.md, DESIGN.md, SOUL.md, NORTH.md).
  • Propagation guidance and an optional spec-version marker.
  • Versioning policy adopted (semver).

Versioning policy

MAJOR
Breaking changes to the sections. Existing files may need to change, and the release says how.
MINOR
New sections, or clarifications that may change how a file is validated.
PATCH
Editorial changes. Existing files need nothing.

Optional: declare the spec version your NORTH.md targets with <!-- NORTH.md spec: v0.1 --> on its first line.