# Stewardship Pattern Language — Overview

The Stewardship Pattern Language is a timeless vocabulary for
describing recurring human situations that any system caring for
human understanding will encounter. It is the bridge between the
Constitution, the Human Stewardship Guidelines, and product
architecture.

## Where it sits

```text
PosterityOS Constitution   →  WHAT the system is
Human Stewardship Guides   →  HOW responsible people build it
Stewardship Pattern Lang.  →  WHICH recurring human situations recur
Product Architecture       →  which patterns each product expresses
Implementation             →  how each product expresses them
```

Patterns are implementation-independent. HeadsUp, LOX, Atlas, a
library, a hospital records office, and a system yet to be built
should all be able to inherit the same pattern and express it in
whatever medium they have.

## Foundation set (v1.0, ratified 2026-07-13)

001 Preparation · 002 Invitation · 003 Arrival · 004 Orientation ·
005 Context · 006 Quiet Contribution · 007 Shared Understanding ·
008 Reflection · 009 Decision · 010 Continuity ·
011 Steward Transition · 012 Institutional Memory · 013 Return ·
014 Departure.

## Constitutional guarantees

- Ratified patterns are frozen. Refinements land in `pattern-history`.
- Products may not redefine patterns; they may only express them.
- Every pattern passes the seven-check validation model.
- The language is append-only.

## Location

- Modules: `src/platform/stewardship/pattern-language/`
- Tests: `src/test/hsg-pattern-language.test.ts`
- Docs: `docs/hsg/pattern-*.md`