translate-governance

Translate governance source documents into system-specific operational rules and detect drift.

Updated Apr 19, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/nickgogan/improvement-loop --skill translate-governance-nickgogan
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent▼
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: translate-governance
Source: https://github.com/nickgogan/improvement-loop/tree/main/.claude/skills/translate-governance
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/nickgogan/improvement-loop --skill translate-governance-nickgogan

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Governance principles written in charters and operating law are abstract and hard to apply directly to a specific system. This Skill reads the source governance documents and produces concrete, system-specific operational rules, while continuously checking whether existing translations have drifted from the sources. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Governance Translation: Reads the charter, workspace operating law, and design-wisdom references (DBDO pipeline, vocabulary, fractal pattern) and produces IL-specific rule documents in the governance directory. - Drift Detection: Compares existing translations against current source text and reports aligned, drifted, uncovered, and obsolete rules, with a --check-only mode for read-only audits. - Provenance Tracking: Every translated rule cites its source document and section, so updates remain traceable when sources change. - Use Case: After updating the workspace charter, run this Skill to regenerate pipeline-rules.md and boundary-rules.md, review the proposed deltas, approve them, and receive a drift report showing which rules changed. ## Quick Start Ask the agent to run the translate-governance skill with --check-only to audit whether the current governance translations still match the source documents.

Frequently Asked Questions about translate-governance

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I translate a governance charter into operational rules?▼

Run the translate-governance skill, which reads the charter, workspace operating law, and design-wisdom references, then proposes system-specific rule documents. It presents planned documents and rule-level deltas for explicit approval before writing anything.

How do I detect drift between governance sources and derived rules?▼

Invoke the skill with the --check-only argument. It re-reads each translation's cited source sections, compares them against current source text, and outputs a drift report listing aligned, drifted, uncovered, and obsolete rules without writing any files.

Can this skill edit the charter or create design decisions?▼

No. The skill is explicitly forbidden from modifying source governance documents or creating Design Decisions, both of which are Human-Required tier actions. It flags source errors and proposes DDs in its report for human action instead.

What documents does the governance translation produce?▼

It recommends four documents: boundary-rules.md, pipeline-rules.md, agent-rules.md, and knowledge-rules.md, each covering a governance domain. The actual set is adjusted based on what the source governance contains rather than forced into fixed buckets.

When should I not use the translate-governance skill?▼

Do not use it for editing the charter, creating Design Decisions, researching governance patterns, or auditing whether the system follows its governance. Use research-query for research and system-audit or system-health for consistency checks.