govern

Routes architecture decisions through critic panels and human sign-off into durable ADR, RFD, or design doc records.

2|Updated Apr 4, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/DoctorMozg/claude-pipelines --skill govern-doctormozg
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: govern
Source: https://github.com/DoctorMozg/claude-pipelines/tree/main/plugins/mz-gov/skills/govern
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/DoctorMozg/claude-pipelines --skill govern-doctormozg

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

💡 This Skill includes references (resource) components.

What problem does it solve? Substantial design and architecture decisions made with AI assistance often go unrecorded or get approved without real human review, leaving teams with no traceable rationale for schema, API, dependency, or boundary changes. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Artifact Routing: A two-gate router decides whether a change needs a governance artifact at all, then selects the right one — ADR (Nygard or MADR), RFD, or design doc — with an exemption path for refactors and trivial fixes. - Weight-Scaled Critic Panel: Heavy decisions get four parallel adversarial critics (alternatives, reversibility, blast-radius, assumptions) plus a synthesizer, looped up to three iterations; light decisions get a single quick review. - Mandatory Human Sign-Off Gate: No artifact is written to docs/ until a human explicitly approves; the decision is recorded with an AI-provenance fence (agent, model, trigger) plus the approver's signature. - Use Case: When deciding "should we use Redis or Postgres for session storage", run the skill to route the decision to an ADR, have the critic panel stress-test the trade-offs, sign off yourself, and land a numbered record in docs/decisions/ linked to the commit and PR. ## Quick Start Ask the AI to govern the decision of whether to migrate session storage to Redis, and approve the drafted ADR when it is presented for sign-off.

Frequently Asked Questions about govern

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

FAQPage Schema
How do I record an architecture decision record (ADR) with AI assistance?

Invoke the govern skill with the decision text, and it routes the choice to an ADR template (Nygard by default, MADR for three or more options), runs a critic panel, and writes the numbered record to docs/decisions/ only after your explicit approval.

What is the difference between an ADR, RFD, and design doc?

An ADR records why a settled decision was made, an RFD structures debate while the decision is still open, and a design doc specifies how to build an already-agreed solution. The router picks one based on where the decision stands, not its size.

When should I not use a governance workflow for a code change?

Skip it for behavior-preserving refactors, objective improvements like warning removal or speedups, dev-invisible tweaks, and throwaway prototypes. The router's Gate A exempts these automatically and records a one-line exemption note.

Can the AI approve and write the decision artifact automatically?

No. The human sign-off gate has no auto-approve bypass by design. The artifact writer refuses to write to docs/ while the provenance record still shows human_signoff as pending, so only an explicit Approve stamps the signature.

What happens if the critic panel never passes the draft?

After three discuss iterations without convergence, the orchestrator escalates with options to accept the draft with unresolved findings as caveats, abort with nothing written, or provide guidance for one final revision.