The MVOS Kernel

Every Orbit runs on a MVOS—a Minimum Viable Organizing Structure. It’s the one page of governance that makes a group of people an Orbit instead of a group chat with delusions of grandeur. Small on purpose: the fewer the rules, the harder they are to quietly subvert.

Until an Orbit ratifies its kernel, it’s just a room with people in it. Ratifying it—through a vote—is the moment the Orbit agrees on how it will hold power accountable.

DNA you can tune, never delete

The kernel has two layers, and the distinction is the whole trick:

• The principle (the DNA). Fixed doctrine. It can’t be removed or weakened — only instantiated. You don’t get to vote away rotation or the transparency log; they’re load-bearing.
• The terms (the body). The concrete parameters your Orbit picks for each principle—the actual numbers, names, and thresholds. This is what you debate and ratify, and what an amendment can change later.

So an Orbit can’t decide “we don’t do recall.” It can decide exactly how its recall works. The principle is non-negotiable; the implementation is yours.

The five core articles

1. Boundary. An Orbit isn’t “anyone who cares”—it’s people who share a concrete stake and a concrete risk. If you can’t name who’s in and why in one sentence, you don’t have an Orbit. Membership is grounded in affectedness, and admission and removal route through Proposals.
2. Decision Protocol. Nobody rules; no chair breaks a tie. Consensus first — proposals move when objections are gone, not when a majority steamrolls the quiet ones. When consensus can’t form and the clock is real, a pre-agreed supermajority decides. The fallback is a pressure valve, not a loophole.
3. Rotation. Every standing role rotates on a fixed term—30 days by default — including the founder’s. Power calcifies the instant someone becomes “the one who knows how it works.” See Roles & Rotation.
4. Transparency Log. If it’s worth doing, write it down. Every decision and every organizing-relevant dollar goes into the append-only log within a day. History doesn’t get rewritten after the fact; sealing anything costs a supermajority and carries a sunset.
5. Recall. No role is safe, and that’s the point. A simple majority of full members plus short notice strips anyone of any role. Recall isn’t punishment — it’s the standing reminder that you’re a temporary steward, not an owner.

Amend the body, or add a supplement

The kernel never gets edited by hand—every change earns its place through a proposal:

• Amend an article—change the body (the concrete terms) of one of the five cores. The principle stays untouched; you’re tuning the numbers.
• Add a supplement—layer a new, Orbit-specific rule on top of the core without altering it. Attach it to an article it extends, or stand it alone as a custom section.

Either way, the change is stamped with the vote that ratified it, so anyone can trace how the kernel got to where it is. The core stays the core. Everything else is additive. That’s how a rotating crew of stewards keeps a living rulebook without ever handing someone the power to quietly rewrite the rules.