docs(governance): state who may author normative text - #271
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Mirrors agentrust-io/trace-spec#120. The rule that normative spec changes need an organizational sponsor is applied in review but written down nowhere, so contributors meet it for the first time on their own PR, after doing the work. #270 is a live example: a normative MUST binding agent_id to OCSF ai_agent.instance_uid, authored individually, where the authorship question only surfaced at review. No change in practice. It also writes down that anyone may propose a normative change, that proposals are judged on the argument alone, and that a Maintainer carries the PR when an accepted proposal has no sponsor, all of which was already true and equally unwritten. Calls out explicitly that informative crosswalks and mappings to external schemas need no sponsor, since that is the path a proposal like #270 can take today. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Mirrors agentrust-io/trace-spec#120, with the wording as drafted there.
Why
The rule that normative spec changes need an organizational sponsor is applied in review but written down nowhere. GOVERNANCE.md covers who may merge and how long comment periods run, CONTRIBUTING.md covers the mechanics, and neither says who may author a MUST. Contributors meet the rule for the first time on their own PR, after doing the work.
#270 is the live example: a normative MUST binding
agent_idto OCSFai_agent.instance_uid, authored individually, where the authorship question only surfaced at review time. The technical review of that PR stands on its own merits, but the process question should not have been a surprise.This changes nothing in practice. It writes down what already happens.
What it says
CONTRIBUTING.md gets a pointer at the top of the spec-change process so it is read before the work starts.
Process
GOVERNANCE.md amendments require a PR, a 14-day comment period, and Project Lead approval, per the Amendments section of that same document. Not merging this.
One thing to decide: if you edit the wording on trace-spec#120 during its comment period, this needs the same edit so the two repos do not drift.
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