What is Charter-Orchestrated Engineering?
Charter-Orchestrated Engineering (ACE) is a methodology where charters are the primary artifact, not code. Code exists to fulfill charters. When there is a conflict between charter and code, the code is wrong.
Code-First vs. Charter-First
Section titled “Code-First vs. Charter-First”| Code-First | Charter-First (ACE) | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting point | Open editor, start typing | Write a charter |
| Source of truth | The codebase | The charter files |
| AI agent input | Vague: “build me a todo app” | Structured: requirements, constraints, success criteria |
| Quality control | Manual testing | Constitutional governance at every phase gate |
| When things break | Debug the code | Check the charter, fix the code to match |
| Documentation | Written after (or never) | The charter is the documentation |
The Two Paths
Section titled “The Two Paths”Code-First
- Idea
- Code
- Bugs
- Fix
- More Bugs (loop)
Charter-First (ACE)
- Idea
- Charter
- Plan
- Tasks
- Code
- Working Software
- Refine back into Charter
Three Core Concepts
Section titled “Three Core Concepts”1. Charters as Source of Truth
Section titled “1. Charters as Source of Truth”Every project has a .auro/ directory containing structured charters. These define what the software does, who it is for, and what success looks like. AI agents read these charters. Reviewers check code against these charters. The charters are never generated from code — code is generated from charters.
2. Templates Constrain AI Output
Section titled “2. Templates Constrain AI Output”AI agents produce better output when given structure. Auro provides templates for every phase. A template says: “A charter must include these sections.” If a section is missing, the charter is incomplete.
3. Constitutional Governance Prevents Drift
Section titled “3. Constitutional Governance Prevents Drift”Every project has a constitution: immutable principles governing all decisions. The constitution is checked at every phase gate. This prevents AI agents from making unauthorized architectural decisions.
What Auro Provides
Section titled “What Auro Provides”An ACE toolkit implementation is the reference execution model for ACE:
- A CLI (
auro) for initializing projects - Templates for charters, plans, tasks, and constitutions
- Slash commands (
/auro.charter,/auro.plan,/auro.tasks,/auro.implement) - Support for 15+ AI agents including Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and others
Next Steps
Section titled “Next Steps”Continue to Getting Started to install Auro.