Specs before code. Gates before ship.
ArkOS is the governance framework ARK360 ships software under. Agents write most of the code. Specs, gates and the audit trail decide what merges.
This website is governed by ArkOS, in public.
Agents made code cheap. Drift got expensive.
An agent can ship a plausible feature in minutes. The failure mode is no longer speed; it is confident code that quietly solves the wrong problem. The fix is not more prompting. It is structure: a spec that grounds the work, requirements with IDs, and gates that refuse what was never agreed.
ArkOS makes that structure the repository itself: files and conventions any agent and any reviewer can read, with CI enforcing what matters.
The guardrail is the architecture, not a promise layered on top of it.Read the article
Governance as files, not meetings.
Everything an agent needs to build safely, and everything an auditor needs to check it, lives in one directory under version control.
The non-negotiables: plan before code, issue before branch, no personal data without a spec.
Product intent and roadmap. Major pivots change this file first, so direction is durable.
One per change, EARS requirements with IDs, out-of-scope lists and acceptance tables.
Immutable architecture decisions. Superseded, never edited.
STRIDE-lite analysis wherever a change crosses a trust boundary.
OpenAPI and JSON Schema for every external interface.
One loop, every change.
- 01
A spec is drafted and approved: problem, EARS requirements, acceptance criteria.
- 02
An issue anchors the change; a feature branch carries it.
- 03
Agents implement against requirement IDs, with humans on judgment calls.
- 04
Acceptance checks run: greps, builds, manual review against each REQ.
- 05
The PR merges through the gates. The audit trail keeps the whole story.
Every commit references an approved spec. Requirements exist before implementation.
Lint, strict types, full build with prerender, CHANGELOG present, banned patterns absent.
A method you can read before you buy it.
The framework is open. The first engagement is a fixed-fee review. Judge both on paper.
Prefer email? hello@ark360.com.au