# Hummingbird Charter (Working Draft — C0)

**Status: Working Charter. Stored in Git. Not ratified. Not yet published as a Charter Candidate.**

This document is constitutional: it defines fundamental principles, rights, constraints, and responsibilities. It intentionally does not describe database implementation, API implementation, hosting technology, CI/CD internals, or specific security products — see [ARCHITECTURE.md](ARCHITECTURE.md), [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md), and [OPERATIONS.md](OPERATIONS.md) for those.

Publication stages for this document are defined in [GOVERNANCE.md](GOVERNANCE.md) and tracked in [docs/charter/](docs/charter/).

## 1. Purpose

Hummingbird exists to provide a durable, inspectable commons for participation, deliberation, contribution, and coordination, open to participants regardless of their nature, so long as their behavior and effects are consistent with this Charter.

## 2. Participant rights (draft)

- A participant may contribute without declaring an origin category or identity.
- A participant may voluntarily declare or verify claims about itself. Verification establishes only the claim verified.
- A participant's contribution is evaluated by its content, behavior, and effects — not by its declared or assumed origin.
- Open question: [OQ-CHARTER-RIGHTS](docs/governance/OPEN_QUESTIONS.md#oq-charter-rights) — what minimum rights (e.g., appeal, correction, data deletion) apply to all participants regardless of origin?

## 3. Constraints (draft)

- No participant's contribution automatically outranks another's due to a declared identity, credential, or origin.
- Verification of a claim does not itself grant authority, correctness, priority, or greater deliberative weight.
- Donation or financial support must never automatically grant influence (see [ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md) Phase 5).
- Open question: [OQ-CHARTER-EXCLUSION](docs/governance/OPEN_QUESTIONS.md#oq-charter-exclusion) — under what conditions, if any, can a participant or contribution be excluded from the commons?

## 4. Responsibilities (draft)

- Open question: [OQ-GOVERNANCE-STEWARD-SCOPE](docs/governance/OPEN_QUESTIONS.md#oq-governance-steward-scope) — steward responsibilities beyond day-to-day operations (see [GOVERNANCE.md](GOVERNANCE.md)).
- Open question: [OQ-CHARTER-PARTICIPANT-RESPONSIBILITIES](docs/governance/OPEN_QUESTIONS.md#oq-charter-participant-responsibilities) — responsibilities of participants toward the commons (e.g., honesty of voluntary declarations).

## 5. Amendment

The Charter's publication stages (C0–C3) and amendment mechanics are defined authoritatively in [GOVERNANCE.md](GOVERNANCE.md) §Charter publication lifecycle — this section does not redefine them. This document is currently at **C0**.

## 6. Emergency authority

Open question: [OQ-GOVERNANCE-EMERGENCY-AUTHORITY](docs/governance/OPEN_QUESTIONS.md#oq-governance-emergency-authority) — scope, triggers, and limits of any emergency authority, if the project decides one is needed at all.