{
  "version": "8.0",
  "messagingVersion": "2.0",
  "updated": "2026-08-25",
  "authority": "canonical",
  "definitions": {
    "policy": "A standing rule about how this system is run.",
    "process": "The order work moves in, one stage handing to the next.",
    "procedure": "The steps one person follows to do one job.",
    "decision": "A call that was made once, with the reason and the condition that would reverse it. Recorded so nobody re-argues it from memory, and so nobody is stuck with it forever."
  },
  "policies": [
    {
      "id": "GOV1",
      "title": "No silent edits",
      "rule": "Every change to a published standard carries a version bump and a changelog entry.",
      "why": "An audit has to be checkable against the version it named."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV2",
      "title": "Two approvers",
      "rule": "A change to a published standard is approved by Joel Zimmer and Nathan Zimmer.",
      "why": "One person cannot quietly move the brand."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV3",
      "title": "The guide is the source",
      "rule": "Everything under /ai is generated. A hand edit is overwritten by the next build.",
      "why": "Two copies of a fact means one of them is wrong and nobody knows which."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV4",
      "title": "Archive, never delete",
      "rule": "A superseded guide moves to the archive and stays reachable.",
      "why": "An audit citing v6.8 has to be checkable against v6.8."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV5",
      "title": "One version everywhere",
      "rule": "Tokens, components, channels, packages, and pages all carry the same version number.",
      "why": "Separate version numbers make it impossible to say what agrees with what."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV6",
      "title": "Every consumer is registered",
      "rule": "A surface running this brand is listed with the version it was last synced to.",
      "why": "Otherwise nobody can answer which of our things are on the old brand."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV7",
      "title": "Reviewed twice a year",
      "rule": "The system is reviewed against the people using it, and the review stays on the record.",
      "why": "A changelog only ever looks at itself."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV8",
      "title": "Audit before presenting",
      "rule": "Branded work is audited against the current standard, and the report names the version used.",
      "why": "Compliance claimed without a version is a claim about nothing."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV9",
      "title": "Nothing ships on a broken build",
      "rule": "The three checks pass before anything reaches production.",
      "why": "A site that disagrees with its own manifest is lying about being canonical."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV10",
      "title": "Corrections come home",
      "rule": "A value corrected in the field returns through a changelog entry, never as a note in an inbox.",
      "why": "A press proof that lives in someone's email is a fact the system does not have."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV11",
      "title": "Locked language stays locked",
      "rule": "No team member, contractor or AI system redefines a locked conviction or standard term without leadership approval.",
      "why": "A standard that anyone can quietly reword is not a standard."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV12",
      "title": "Nothing invented",
      "rule": "No contractor or AI system invents doctrine, quotations, testimonies, statistics, partner needs, biography or outcomes.",
      "why": "Law II: the record or nothing. A ministry is believed because it can be checked."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV13",
      "title": "Unknown stays labelled",
      "rule": "Information that is not known stays a labelled placeholder or is escalated. An empty field is never filled with an assumption.",
      "why": "A guessed number outlives the guess and becomes a fact nobody can trace."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV14",
      "title": "Preaching is punctuation only",
      "rule": "Preaching and preaching-derived writing are edited for punctuation unless the speaker asks for style or content editing.",
      "why": "The preacher's cadence, force and theology are the content, not a first draft."
    },
    {
      "id": "GOV15",
      "title": "A human approves",
      "rule": "An AI audit may identify violations. Final approval of any published asset stays with the designated human owner.",
      "why": "The audit is a tool. Responsibility does not transfer to it."
    }
  ],
  "nonNegotiables": {
    "note": "The rules about what the brand looks and sounds like are not restated here. These are the audit's gates, read from https://brand.theword.world/ai/audit.md at build time. Any gate failure fails the whole audit.",
    "source": "https://brand.theword.world/ai/audit.md",
    "gates": [
      {
        "id": "G1",
        "title": "Invented facts",
        "failsWhen": "A statistic, quote, testimony, name, date, or Bible reference appears that did not come from the official ministry record. Bracketed placeholders (`[n]`, `[city]`) pass. Plausible-looking figures fail."
      },
      {
        "id": "G2",
        "title": "Synthetic or stock imagery",
        "failsWhen": "Any photograph or video frame of people, ministry, or the field that is stock, AI-generated, or staged. Documentary capture only."
      },
      {
        "id": "G3",
        "title": "The prophecy",
        "failsWhen": "The prophecy is paraphrased, excerpted, trimmed, or reworded. It is quoted exactly and in full, or it is absent."
      },
      {
        "id": "G4",
        "title": "Flame carrying text",
        "failsWhen": "Any text set in Flame, or any text sitting directly on Flame. Fire at text size is Ember."
      },
      {
        "id": "G5",
        "title": "Text on footage without a scrim",
        "failsWhen": "Type over photography or video without the Midnight scrim, or in a color other than White or Parchment."
      },
      {
        "id": "G6",
        "title": "Missing endorsement",
        "failsWhen": "An initiative's name appears without \"A ministry of THE WORD FOR ALL THE WORLD.\" One recorded exception: EVERY1, which stands on its own across the movement, the app, and the activation platform. On an EVERY1 surface the line is not merely optional, it is wrong, and so is a parent lockup. Revival To My City and the School of the Local Church carry it without exception."
      },
      {
        "id": "G7",
        "title": "Governmental iconography",
        "failsWhen": "Seals, crests, flags, eagles, or any device that imitates a government office. This includes theming the system to a country: a national accent colour, a flag palette, or a patriotic treatment of buttons, grounds, or type. Two recorded exceptions: the School of the Local Church's approved academic seal, on the School's own credentials only (Brand Guide §11, v5.8), and the flag in the bar of a published country lockup (Brand Guide §11, v7.8). A country is carried by its lockup, its language, and the people in its photographs, and by nothing else."
      },
      {
        "id": "G8",
        "title": "Unattributed authority",
        "failsWhen": "A vision statement, field report, testimony, or official record published without the name of the person or office behind it."
      },
      {
        "id": "G9",
        "title": "Banned language",
        "failsWhen": "Any term from the Messaging Guide's hype, corporate-polish, or churchy-insider lists, used straight rather than explained."
      },
      {
        "id": "G10",
        "title": "Wrong hero",
        "failsWhen": "The copy makes THE WORD the hero of the story instead of the believer and the local church."
      }
    ]
  },
  "processes": [
    {
      "id": "PROC1",
      "name": "Changing the brand",
      "starts": "Someone proposes a change to what the standard says.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Proposal",
          "who": "Anyone",
          "produces": "A pull request against the guide"
        },
        {
          "name": "Review",
          "who": "Brand owners",
          "produces": "A preview to look at"
        },
        {
          "name": "Approval",
          "who": "Joel and Nathan",
          "produces": "A recorded sign-off"
        },
        {
          "name": "Release",
          "who": "Whoever proposed it",
          "produces": "A version bump and a changelog entry"
        },
        {
          "name": "Sync",
          "who": "Whoever released it",
          "produces": "Canva, Figma, and the packages updated"
        },
        {
          "name": "Record",
          "who": "Whoever synced",
          "produces": "consumers.json showing the new version"
        }
      ],
      "ends": "Every registered surface is on the version the guide states.",
      "procedures": [
        "SOP1",
        "SOP2",
        "SOP5",
        "SOP6"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "PROC2",
      "name": "Producing branded work",
      "starts": "A page, a post, a deck, an ad, an email, or a document is needed.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Brief",
          "who": "Requester",
          "produces": "Who it is for, and what it must do"
        },
        {
          "name": "Draft",
          "who": "Maker",
          "produces": "The work, built from components and the copy bank"
        },
        {
          "name": "Audit",
          "who": "Maker",
          "produces": "An audit report naming the version"
        },
        {
          "name": "Revise",
          "who": "Maker",
          "produces": "Every failed check fixed"
        },
        {
          "name": "Publish",
          "who": "Owner of the surface",
          "produces": "The work, live"
        }
      ],
      "ends": "The work is live and its audit report is filed with it.",
      "procedures": [
        "SOP3",
        "SOP7"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "PROC3",
      "name": "Bringing a new surface on",
      "starts": "A new site, app, kit, or account will carry the brand.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Register",
          "who": "Owner",
          "produces": "A row in consumers.json"
        },
        {
          "name": "Build",
          "who": "Owner",
          "produces": "The surface, built on the published tokens"
        },
        {
          "name": "Sync",
          "who": "Owner",
          "produces": "The current version in place"
        },
        {
          "name": "Record",
          "who": "Owner",
          "produces": "syncedVersion set"
        }
      ],
      "ends": "The linter can see the surface and say what version it is on.",
      "procedures": [
        "SOP4",
        "SOP5",
        "SOP6"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "PROC4",
      "name": "Correcting a defect",
      "starts": "Something published is found to be wrong.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Report",
          "who": "Anyone",
          "produces": "What is wrong and where it shows"
        },
        {
          "name": "Reproduce",
          "who": "Maintainer",
          "produces": "A failing check, where one is possible"
        },
        {
          "name": "Fix",
          "who": "Maintainer",
          "produces": "The correction, and a check that would have caught it"
        },
        {
          "name": "Release",
          "who": "Maintainer",
          "produces": "A version bump and a changelog entry"
        }
      ],
      "ends": "The defect is fixed and cannot return unnoticed.",
      "procedures": [
        "SOP1",
        "SOP2"
      ]
    },
    {
      "id": "PROC5",
      "name": "Reviewing the system",
      "starts": "Six months have passed, or a new kind of surface has joined.",
      "stages": [
        {
          "name": "Examine",
          "who": "Reviewer",
          "produces": "What each audience finds and has to invent"
        },
        {
          "name": "Report",
          "who": "Reviewer",
          "produces": "A review, with an acceptance test per recommendation"
        },
        {
          "name": "Plan",
          "who": "Brand owners",
          "produces": "What will be done, and in what order"
        },
        {
          "name": "Release",
          "who": "Maintainer",
          "produces": "The version the review called for"
        },
        {
          "name": "Close",
          "who": "Reviewer",
          "produces": "The review row naming the version it produced"
        }
      ],
      "ends": "The review is on the record with its outcome beside it.",
      "procedures": [
        "SOP8",
        "SOP1"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "procedures": [
    {
      "id": "SOP1",
      "name": "Release a brand change",
      "when": "The standard is changing.",
      "who": "Maintainer",
      "steps": [
        "Edit the source: brand/index.html for a visual rule, brand/messaging/index.html for a verbal one.",
        "Bump the version in the title and the kicker.",
        "Add a changelog row: version, date, owner, what changed, who approved it.",
        "Move the superseded guide into archive/.",
        "Run build_logos.py, then build_ai.py, then brand_lint.py.",
        "Commit the regenerated files with the change that caused them.",
        "Open a pull request and check the preview before merging."
      ],
      "done": "All three checks pass and the changelog names the new version.",
      "skill": "/brand-release"
    },
    {
      "id": "SOP2",
      "name": "Rebuild the AI layer",
      "when": "Any source file has been edited.",
      "who": "Anyone",
      "steps": [
        "Run python3 tools/build_logos.py.",
        "Run python3 tools/build_ai.py.",
        "Run python3 tools/brand_lint.py.",
        "Commit every regenerated file alongside the edit."
      ],
      "done": "Both --check modes report current and the linter reports no errors.",
      "skill": "/brand-sync"
    },
    {
      "id": "SOP3",
      "name": "Audit a piece of work",
      "when": "Before anything branded is presented.",
      "who": "Whoever made it",
      "steps": [
        "Fetch /ai/manifest.json and record the versions it reports.",
        "Read tokens, the brand system, and the audit. Read the initiative's guide if it speaks for one.",
        "Work the ten gates in order. Any gate failure fails the whole audit.",
        "Score every applicable check and mark the rest n/a with a reason.",
        "Return the report template exactly, with a verdict."
      ],
      "done": "The report names a version and gives SHIP, REVISE, or BLOCKED.",
      "skill": "/brand-audit"
    },
    {
      "id": "SOP4",
      "name": "Add a page to the portal",
      "when": "A new guide, document, or section is needed.",
      "who": "Maintainer",
      "steps": [
        "Copy the chrome from an existing page.",
        "Link /assets/brand.tokens.css rather than restating the palette.",
        "Add the og tags, the meta description, and the favicon links.",
        "Add the page to llms.txt in tools/build_ai.py, and to the homepage card index if it is a front door.",
        "Rebuild and lint."
      ],
      "done": "The linter reports no errors and the page appears in the sitemap.",
      "skill": "/brand-new-page"
    },
    {
      "id": "SOP5",
      "name": "Set up the Canva brand kit",
      "when": "The kit is new, or the brand version has moved.",
      "who": "Brand owner",
      "steps": [
        "Run python3 tools/sync_canva.py to print the sheet.",
        "Keep one kit and name it with the current version.",
        "Set exactly the six colours and the three fonts, and remove anything else.",
        "Upload the listed PNG logos.",
        "Build the locked brand templates.",
        "Set syncedVersion in ai-source/consumers.json."
      ],
      "done": "The linter no longer warns that Canva is unsynced.",
      "skill": null
    },
    {
      "id": "SOP6",
      "name": "Push tokens into Figma",
      "when": "A release has changed a token.",
      "who": "Maintainer",
      "steps": [
        "Run python3 tools/sync_figma.py --dry-run and read the payload.",
        "Set FIGMA_TOKEN and FIGMA_FILE_KEY.",
        "Run python3 tools/sync_figma.py.",
        "Set syncedVersion in ai-source/consumers.json."
      ],
      "done": "The Figma library shows the current values and the linter is quiet.",
      "skill": null
    },
    {
      "id": "SOP7",
      "name": "Check work in another repository",
      "when": "A site or app outside this repo produces branded output.",
      "who": "That repo's maintainer",
      "steps": [
        "Add the brand-check Action to the repository's pull request workflow.",
        "Point it at the built output, not the source.",
        "Fix every failure it reports.",
        "Run the full audit with a reader before publishing."
      ],
      "done": "The check passes and a human audit has been run on top of it.",
      "skill": null
    },
    {
      "id": "SOP8",
      "name": "Publish a system review",
      "when": "A review has been completed.",
      "who": "Reviewer",
      "steps": [
        "Create reviews/<date>-<name>/index.html with a title and a meta description.",
        "Name the version examined, what was found, and what it recommends.",
        "Give every recommendation an acceptance test.",
        "Add its row to the reviews index.",
        "Rebuild: the review registers itself in llms.txt and the sitemap."
      ],
      "done": "The review appears on /reviews and in the machine-readable layer.",
      "skill": null
    },
    {
      "id": "SOP9",
      "name": "Propose a change to locked language",
      "when": "A locked conviction, term or standard needs to change.",
      "who": "Anyone",
      "steps": [
        "Name the exact section and the current wording.",
        "Write the requested wording in full, not a description of it.",
        "State the reason, and what changes if it is refused.",
        "List the channels and generated files the change reaches.",
        "Name the owner and the approver, and propose an effective date.",
        "Open it as a pull request so the diff is the proposal."
      ],
      "done": "Joel and Nathan have approved, the changelog row is written, and the build passes."
    }
  ],
  "decisions": [
    {
      "id": "DEC1",
      "title": "EVERY1 is a second site, not a second system",
      "decision": "EVERY1's brand site is published from this repository and this build, and served from its own domain and its own Pages project.",
      "why": "One build, one linter and one version number are the only reason nothing here can disagree with anything else. Two copies would give two answers to what Midnight is.",
      "alsoWhy": "There was nothing to fork. EVERY1 shares every colour, all three typefaces and every law, differing only in proportion, its Flame ceiling and one endorsement exception.",
      "revisitWhen": "EVERY1's palette or typefaces diverge from the house, or a separate team owns it with no shared review.",
      "thenWhat": "Fork it, with EVERY1 consuming @theword/brand as a dependency rather than copying it. That package already exists for this reason.",
      "decidedOn": "2026-08-20"
    },
    {
      "id": "DEC2",
      "title": "The EVERY1 site carries its own copies",
      "decision": "The site holds its own stylesheet, typefaces and marks rather than linking the parent's domain.",
      "why": "Its Pages project serves only that directory, a partner downloading a logo should never be sent to the parent's domain, and the door that stands alone should not go dark when that domain does.",
      "alsoWhy": "Every copy is generated by the build and verified byte for byte, so duplication cannot become drift.",
      "revisitWhen": "The duplicated weight becomes a problem, or the two sites are merged onto one domain.",
      "thenWhat": "Serve the shared assets from one origin with permissive CORS, which they already have.",
      "decidedOn": "2026-08-20"
    }
  ]
}