Personal Creeds

A personal creed states what your tool must and must not do, using directional pairs (I WON'T / I AIM TO / PLEASE DON'T / PLEASE DO) that map directly to constitutional rules.

Format

Each principle uses four directives:

Directive	Purpose	Maps to
I WON'T	Hard line the tool must never cross	NEVER
I AIM TO	What the principle looks like in practice	AIM FOR
PLEASE DON'T	What you ask the tool to prevent	Guardrail
PLEASE DO	What you ask the tool to enforce	Requirement

I WON'T / I AIM TO are the builder's own commitments -- first-person lines the tool holds them to. PLEASE DON'T / PLEASE DO are the builder addressing the tool directly. When exported to Guardian, I WON'T maps to NEVER and I AIM TO maps to AIM FOR.

Quick Start

1. Create .creed.md in your project root
2. Add to your CLAUDE.md or system instructions:

Read .creed.md before designing any new feature.
Each I WON'T is a hard constraint. Each PLEASE DON'T is a guardrail.
When a proposed feature conflicts with a principle, flag it before implementing.

3. Build your tool. The AI reads the creed and translates principles into architecture decisions.

Example

# My Sales Tool Creed

### Recording Consent

**I WON'T:** Record any call without the other party hearing a disclosure first.

**I AIM TO:** Play a consent message before audio capture begins.

**PLEASE DON'T:** Let me skip the disclosure because one-party consent is legal in my state.

**PLEASE DO:** Check the prospect's jurisdiction before recording.

When to use a creed vs. Guardian

Concern	Tool
Architecture decisions (what to build)	Personal creed
Runtime enforcement (how the agent behaves)	Guardian constitution
Both	Creed + Guardian together

A creed shapes what gets built. Guardian enforces how the agent inside it behaves. They're complementary layers.

Interactive Builder

Use Creed Authoring to write your creed, with a readability check and suggested translations into enforceable rules. You can write without an account; signing in is only needed to save a draft to your account or publish. Writing for an organisation? Start from four questions and edit the draft it produces.

Integration with Guardian

Export your I WON'T / I AIM TO pairs as NEVER / AIM FOR constitutional rules using the CLI (creed validate) or by creating a constitution through the API. Guardian enforces them at runtime.

Principle Categories

The creed builder suggests categories based on who your tool affects:

Category	Relevant when
Consent	Tool interacts with other people
Transparency	Tool communicates on your behalf
Privacy	Always
Reversibility	Tool takes actions
Accuracy	Tool makes decisions or claims
Safety	Tool has autonomous capabilities