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Ready templates are starter files — not authority documents. You copy a template into your project’s ready/ directory, replace every {{PLACEHOLDER}} with project-specific information, review the result, and commit it. Only then does the file become product truth for your project. A template sitting in the Ready standard repository has no authority over any project.

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Template groups

The templates directory contains three groups:

governance/

Project-specific governance document templates: agent guidelines, orchestrator charter, product process, and workspace authority.

manifests/

YAML manifest templates for the root stage registry, governance directory, individual milestones, and artifact directories.

primitives/

Starter .ready.yml primitive templates for premises, intents, standards, services, flags, and question cards.

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How to use templates

Follow these steps for any template:
  1. Copy the template file into the appropriate location in your ready/ directory.
  2. Replace every {{PLACEHOLDER}} value with project-specific content. Remove any section that does not apply to your project.
  3. Review the filled-in file before committing. Confirm that every field reflects your project’s actual decisions, not template defaults.
  4. Commit the file in your target project’s repository. It is now your project’s product truth.
  5. Record the template source URL and version in your project’s standard-resource manifest so future agents know where the file originated.
Templates must not contain project-specific secrets, raw logs, private data, or auto-generated content that has not been reviewed. If a placeholder value would be a credential or private key, record only a safe reference — the variable name, storage system, and verification command — never the raw secret.

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Available templates

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Manifest templates

These four YAML templates give your project its structural skeleton. Copy them first when setting up a new Ready project.
Location after copy: ready/manifest.yamlThe root manifest is the authoritative stage registry for your entire product tree. It names the product, sets the default stage, points to the governance directory, and lists every stage (including horizon stages like end-state).Key placeholders:
  • {{PRODUCT_ID}} — your project’s unique product identifier
  • {{DEFAULT_STAGE_ID}} — the id of the active milestone agents should work in
  • {{DEFAULT_STAGE_TITLE}} — a human-readable title for that stage
schema: "readyroom/product-tree-root/v1"
product: "{{PRODUCT_ID}}"
source_root: "ready"
default_stage: "{{DEFAULT_STAGE_ID}}"
governance_directory: "ready/governance"
ready_standard:
  repository: "https://github.com/seanbhart/ready-standard"
  docs_source: "https://github.com/seanbhart/ready-standard/tree/main/docs"
  skill_package_source: "https://github.com/seanbhart/ready-standard/tree/main/skills"
  templates_source: "https://github.com/seanbhart/ready-standard/tree/main/templates"
stages:
  - id: "{{DEFAULT_STAGE_ID}}"
    title: "{{DEFAULT_STAGE_TITLE}}"
    path: "ready/{{DEFAULT_STAGE_ID}}"
    manifest: "ready/{{DEFAULT_STAGE_ID}}/manifest.yaml"
    kind: "normal"
    status: "active"
    order: 10
    default_candidate: true
    coding_claims_enabled: false
  - id: "end-state"
    title: "End State"
    path: "ready/end-state"
    manifest: "ready/end-state/manifest.yaml"
    kind: "horizon"
    status: "horizon"
    order: 9999
    default_candidate: false
    coding_claims_enabled: false
Location after copy: ready/governance/manifest.yamlThe governance manifest is the index of your project’s governance documents. It lists each governance file by id, path, and role so agents can discover and load them reliably.
schema: "readyroom/governance-tree/v1"
governance_root: "ready/governance"
documents:
  - id: "GV-001"
    path: "ready/governance/agent-guidelines.md"
    role: "agent_behavior_guidelines"
  - id: "GV-002"
    path: "ready/governance/product-orchestrator-charter.md"
    role: "product_orchestrator_charter"
  - id: "GV-003"
    path: "ready/governance/product-process.md"
    role: "source_product_process"
  - id: "GV-004"
    path: "ready/governance/workspace-authority-and-access.md"
    role: "workspace_authority_policy_seed"
rules:
  - "Project-specific governance documents are first-class product-tree records."
  - "Reusable Ready standard resources live in the Ready standard package rather than ready/governance."
  - "Governance documents are not artifacts."
Location after copy: ready/{{MILESTONE_ID}}/manifest.yamlOne milestone manifest per stage. It names the stage, describes its structure, and points to the governance directory and Ready standard sources.Key placeholders:
  • {{PRODUCT_ID}} — matches the root manifest product id
  • {{MILESTONE_ID}} — the stage id (m1, m2, etc.)
  • {{MILESTONE_TITLE}} — human-readable stage title
The template maps all standard primitive directories (premises/, intents/, standards/, services/), flag directories (flags/seed/, flags/delta/, flags/discovery/), and artifact directories (artifacts/samples/, artifacts/resources/, artifacts/snippets/, artifacts/designs/, artifacts/manifests/).
Location after copy: ready/{{MILESTONE_ID}}/artifacts/manifest.yamlThe artifact manifest defines how artifacts are stored and validated within a milestone. It sets id prefixes, directory paths, validation types, and privacy rules for each artifact type.
Artifact typeId prefixDirectoryPrivacy rule
sample_dataSAsamples/Sanitized fixture or explicit user stub
resourceREresources/Safe ref or public resource
snippetSNsnippets/—
designDAdesigns/—
manifestMAmanifests/—
Key placeholder: {{MILESTONE_ID}}

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Governance templates

The four governance templates create the ready/governance/ documents that constrain how product work happens in your project. Fill these in carefully — they become the first-priority source of truth that agents load before doing any work.

agent-guidelines

Governs product-agent behavior: source hierarchy, operating rules, and project-specific notes.

product-orchestrator-charter

Defines the orchestrating agent’s authority, context loading rules, delegation policy, and completion criteria.

product-process

Documents how product truth is created, changed, approved, and handed to coding agents for this project.

workspace-authority-and-access

Records project authority hierarchy, allowed actions, local access policy, and secret handling rules.
Governance documents belong in ready/governance/. They are not artifacts. Do not place governance files in an artifact directory or under a milestone path.