Charter

quicue.ca/charter — constraint-first project planning via CUE unification.

Declare what "done" looks like. Build the graph incrementally. cue vet tells you what's missing. When it passes, the charter is satisfied.

The gap between constraints and data IS the remaining work.

Schemas

#Charter
#Gate
#GapAnalysis
#Milestone
#InfraCharter

How It Works

A charter is a set of CUE constraints that the project graph must eventually satisfy. You declare scope (what must exist), gates (checkpoints along the way), and let CUE compute the delta.

import "quicue.ca/charter"

_charter: charter.#Charter & {
    name: "NHCF Deep Retrofit"
    scope: {
        total_resources: 18
        root:            "nhcf-agreement"
        required_resources: {"rideau-design": true, "gladstone-design": true}
        required_types: {Assessment: true, Design: true, Retrofit: true}
        min_depth: 3
    }
    gates: {
        "assessment-complete": {
            phase: 1
            requires: {"site-audit": true, "energy-model": true}
        }
        "design-complete": {
            phase: 3
            requires: {"rideau-design": true, "gladstone-design": true}
            depends_on: {"assessment-complete": true}
        }
    }
}

Gap Analysis

#GapAnalysis takes a charter and a graph, and computes what's missing:

Field	Type	Description
`complete`	`bool`	`true` when all constraints are satisfied
`missing_resources`	`{[string]: true}`	Named resources not yet in the graph
`missing_types`	`{[string]: true}`	Required types not represented
`depth_satisfied`	`bool`	Graph reaches `min_depth`
`gate_status`	`{[name]: {satisfied, missing, ready}}`	Per-gate evaluation
`unsatisfied_gates`	`{[name]: {missing}}`	Gates not yet met
`next_gate`	`string`	Lowest-phase unsatisfied gate

When gaps.complete == true, the charter is satisfied. When it's false, the missing fields tell you exactly what to build next.

Scope constraints

The scope block supports five constraint types, all optional:

Constraint	Type	Meaning
`total_resources`	`int & >0`	Minimum resource count
`root`	`string \\| {[string]: true}`	Named root(s) that must exist as graph roots
`required_resources`	`{[string]: true}`	Resources that must exist by name
`required_types`	`{[string]: true}`	Types that must be represented
`min_depth`	`int & >=0`	Minimum graph depth

Live integrations

Charter is used across five downstream projects, each a different domain shape:

Project	Graph	Nodes	Gates	Domain
cmhc-retrofit NHCF	Project delivery	18	5	Construction PM
cmhc-retrofit Greener Homes	Service topology	17	5	IT platform
maison-613 Transaction	Deal phases	16	6	Real estate
maison-613 Compliance	Obligation graph	12	4	Regulatory
homelab	Infrastructure	50	2	Homelab

Validation

cue vet ./charter/