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Governance Working Group Charter changedcommunity/working-groups/governance

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99## Mission Statement

1010

11The Governance Working Group exists to refine, document, and steward MCP's governance processes and community values, providing a single home for revising the project's governance documentation as the project grows. It also serves as an advisory voice channel — surfacing community concerns to Core Maintainers and stewarding the contribution culture that helps people advance through the [contributor ladder](/community/contributor-ladder). Over time the WG aspires to evolve into a standing consultation forum for contested governance decisions and, longer-term, to support representative community participation in the broader MCP organization.

11The Governance Working Group exists to refine, document, and steward MCP's governance processes and community values, providing a single home for revising the project's governance documentation as the project grows. It also serves as an advisory voice channel — surfacing community concerns to Core Maintainers and stewarding the contribution culture that helps people advance through the [contributor ladder](/community/contributor-ladder.md). Over time the WG aspires to evolve into a standing consultation forum for contested governance decisions and, longer-term, to support representative community participation in the broader MCP organization.

1212

1313## Scope

1414

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1818* **Decision Recording**: Defining what counts as a project decision, who ratifies it, and how it is recorded across meeting notes, GitHub Discussions, and the SEP record.

1919* **Code of Conduct Stewardship**: Drafting, revising, and maintaining the Code of Conduct text and adjacent reporting/escalation documentation. Content revisions go through WG consensus → Core Maintainer approval.

2020* **Community Values**: Stewardship of MCP's stated community values, including landing the in-progress values workshop as a public artefact under `docs/community/`.

21* **Contribution Culture & Mentorship**: Encouraging mentorship as a culture (not a formal pairings program in v0.1) and stewarding practice for movement across the contributor ladder tiers, in coordination with [SEP-2148](/seps/2148-contributor-ladder).

2222* **Voice Channel**: Surfacing community concerns from contributors and observers to Core Maintainers in an advisory, non-binding capacity. Concerns arrive in `#governance-wg` or at the monthly working session; the Lead carries those needing Core Maintainer attention to the monthly Core Maintainer plus WG/IG leads meeting.

2323* **Cross-Cutting Coordination**: Coordination with other WGs and IGs on governance processes that affect them. The WG sets the framework; per-group operations remain with the groups themselves.

2424

2525### Out of Scope

2626

27* **Specification authorship**: Protocol changes go through the [SEP process](/community/sep-guidelines) and the relevant spec-producing Working Group. The Governance WG never owns spec sections. It may sponsor a SEP that changes a governance process.

27* **Specification authorship**: Protocol changes go through the [SEP process](/community/sep-guidelines.md) and the relevant spec-producing Working Group. The Governance WG never owns spec sections. It may sponsor a SEP that changes a governance process.

2828* **Maintainer selection and succession**: Lead Maintainers appoint Core Maintainers; Core Maintainers approve Maintainers. The WG may recommend process improvements but does not pick people.

2929* **Individual Code of Conduct moderation decisions**: Receipt, investigation, and adjudication of individual incident reports are not within this WG's purview. The WG's near-term goal is to receive aggregated, anonymized trend reports from whoever performs incident handling, to inform policy revision.

30* **Per-SDK governance**: Owned by the [SDK Working Group](/community/working-groups/sdk).

30* **Per-SDK governance**: Owned by the [SDK Working Group](/community/working-groups/sdk.md).

3131* **Per-WG/IG internal operations**: Each group runs its own meetings, prioritisation, and member coordination; the Governance WG sets framework only.

3232* **Maintainer disputes and interpersonal conflict resolution outside the Code of Conduct**: Explicitly out of scope for v0.1. Scoping a possible escalation path is a candidate future deliverable; claiming the role itself is not.

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3434### Related Groups

3535

3636* **Core Maintainers** — material governance changes, Code of Conduct content revisions, and contributor ladder structural changes require Core Maintainer approval. The Lead represents the WG at the monthly Core Maintainer plus WG/IG leads meeting and surfaces community concerns there in an advisory capacity.

37* **All other Working Groups and Interest Groups** — the WG sets the governance framework that all groups inherit ([charter template](/seps/2149-working-group-charter-template), decision rights, meeting requirements). Per-group operations remain with the groups themselves. Interest groups route governance questions here.

37* **All other Working Groups and Interest Groups** — the WG sets the governance framework that all groups inherit ([charter template](/seps/2149-working-group-charter-template.md), decision rights, meeting requirements). Per-group operations remain with the groups themselves. Interest groups route governance questions here.

3838* **SDK Working Group** — coordination on the boundary between project-wide governance and per-SDK governance, which lives there.

3939* **Future Code of Conduct handling body** — once the CoC reporting/handling path is formalised, the body that handles individual incidents will share aggregated, anonymised trend reports with the WG to inform policy revision.

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5454

5555* Any WG Member may self-nominate or be nominated by another WG Member.

5656* Candidates must meet the Lead requirements in the

57 [Working and Interest Groups](/community/working-interest-groups) documentation, and the group's

57 [Working and Interest Groups](/community/working-interest-groups.md) documentation, and the group's

5858 leadership must retain sponsorship from at least two Core Maintainers or one Lead Maintainer.

5959* Selection is by WG consensus using the standard decision-making process (lazy consensus, falling

6060 back to a formal vote), then ratified by Core Maintainers as a charter amendment, since the

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9090

9191## Membership

9292

93Membership eligibility follows the standard WG model defined in the [Working and Interest Groups](/community/working-interest-groups) documentation. To become a WG Member: sustained participation over 3 months, meaningful contributions (for this WG: governance doc drafting, reviews, or discussion facilitation), nomination by an existing WG Member or Lead, and no objections from Leads, Core Maintainers, or Lead Maintainers within 7 days. One additional structural rule applies: **no more than 2 Leads from any single organisation**. This invariant is maintained throughout each term.

93Membership eligibility follows the standard WG model defined in the [Working and Interest Groups](/community/working-interest-groups.md) documentation. To become a WG Member: sustained participation over 3 months, meaningful contributions (for this WG: governance doc drafting, reviews, or discussion facilitation), nomination by an existing WG Member or Lead, and no objections from Leads, Core Maintainers, or Lead Maintainers within 7 days. One additional structural rule applies: **no more than 2 Leads from any single organisation**. This invariant is maintained throughout each term.

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166166

167167This charter is a v0.1 document and is expected to be revised as the group coalesces. Updates

168168follow the

169[Charter Amendments](/community/working-interest-groups#charter-amendments) process defined for

169[Charter Amendments](/community/working-interest-groups.md#charter-amendments) process defined for

170170all groups: proposal by a Lead or Core Maintainer, approval by Core Maintainers. Within the WG,

171171amendment proposals are treated like any other substantive governance change — WG consensus

172172first, then Core Maintainer approval. Editorial fixes (typos, broken links, rewordings that do