Doctrine documentation
Explanation-oriented pages about Spec Kitty doctrine — the layered artifacts (paradigms, directives, tactics, profiles) that compose governed mission behavior.
Doctrine is how a project encodes its own rules — testing standards, architectural conventions, agent behavior — so every agent, in every session, gets the same governed context instead of a human re-explaining it in every prompt. Doctrine artifacts are layered: built-in packs ship with Spec Kitty, a project can author its own (directives, tactics, styleguides, and the rest), and an organization can package and share doctrine across many projects. All of it activates through the Charter, not by copy-pasting text into prompts. If you're not yet sure what "Charter" means, start with Context first.
Which page do I need?
| I want to... | Go here |
|---|---|
| Understand what each doctrine kind is for | Doctrine artifact kinds |
| Set up my project's own governance from scratch | How to Set Up Project Governance |
| Author one new directive/tactic/etc. for this project | Create a doctrine artifact |
| Share doctrine across multiple projects | How to Create an Org Doctrine Pack |
| See the built-in opt-in packs (e.g. SPDD) | Doctrine Packs |
In this section
- Doctrine artifact kinds — what each of the eight doctrine artifact kinds (directive, tactic, styleguide, toolguide, paradigm, procedure, agent profile, mission step contract) is for, with a real example of each.
- Create a doctrine artifact — a followable, end-to-end how-to for authoring and activating a new doctrine artifact.
- Doctrine Packs — the built-in, opt-in doctrine packs (e.g. SPDD) a project can activate through charter selection.
- SPDD / REASONS — Structured-Prompt-Driven Development and the REASONS canvas.