Governance PDS

The Governance PDS is a dedicated Personal Data Server that stores all community-approved governance data. This makes Chive's governance ATProto-native and portable.

Overview

did:plc:chive-governance

The Governance PDS stores:

Authority records
Facet definitions
Field taxonomy
Organizational records
Approved proposals
Reconciliation history

Why a Governance PDS?

ATProto-native benefits

Benefit	Description
Portability	Governance data can move to different hosts
Verifiability	All records are cryptographically signed
Interoperability	Any ATProto AppView can index the data
Transparency	Public, auditable record of decisions

Comparison with traditional approaches

Approach	Governance PDS	Central database
Data location	Decentralized PDS	Chive servers only
Ownership	Community	Platform
Portability	Full export/import	Requires migration
Verification	Cryptographic	Trust-based
Failover	Any compliant host	Single point of failure

Record types

Authority records

// Collection: pub.chive.governance.authorityRecord
interface AuthorityRecordDocument {
  $type: 'pub.chive.governance.authorityRecord';
  id: string;
  name: string;
  type: 'field' | 'person' | 'organization' | 'concept';
  aliases: string[];
  description: string;
  broaderTerms: string[];
  narrowerTerms: string[];
  relatedTerms: string[];
  externalIds: Record<string, string>;
  createdAt: string;
  updatedAt: string;
}

// Collection: pub.chive.governance.facet
interface FacetDocument {
  $type: 'pub.chive.governance.facet';
  id: string;
  type: 'personality' | 'matter' | 'energy' | 'space' | 'time';
  name: string;
  description: string;
  parentId?: string;
  externalIds: Record<string, string>;
  createdAt: string;
}

Approved proposals

// Collection: pub.chive.governance.approvedProposal
interface ApprovedProposalDocument {
  $type: 'pub.chive.governance.approvedProposal';
  id: string;
  originalProposalUri: string;
  type: ProposalType;
  title: string;
  changes: ProposalChanges;
  votingSummary: VotingSummary;
  approvedAt: string;
  enactedAt: string;
}

Reconciliation records

// Collection: pub.chive.governance.reconciliation
interface ReconciliationDocument {
  $type: 'pub.chive.governance.reconciliation';
  authorityId: string;
  externalSource: string;
  externalId: string;
  confidence: number;
  evidenceType: string;
  reconciler: string;  // DID of person/automated
  timestamp: string;
}

Architecture

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     Governance PDS                              │
│                     (did:plc:chive-governance)                  │
│                                                                 │
│  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐   │
│  │                     Repository                           │   │
│  │  ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────┐ ┌─────────────────────┐│   │
│  │  │  Authority  │ │   Facets    │ │    Proposals        ││   │
│  │  │  Records    │ │             │ │                     ││   │
│  │  └─────────────┘ └─────────────┘ └─────────────────────┘│   │
│  └─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘   │
│                              │                                  │
│                              ▼                                  │
│                      AT Protocol Firehose                       │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                               │
                               ▼
┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                       Chive AppView                             │
│                                                                 │
│  ┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────┐     ┌─────────────────┐   │
│  │   L1 Cache  │────►│   L2 Cache  │────►│   PostgreSQL    │   │
│  │   (Redis)   │     │   (PDS)     │     │   (indexed)     │   │
│  └─────────────┘     └─────────────┘     └─────────────────┘   │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Cache strategy

Multi-level caching

Level	Storage	TTL	Purpose
L1	Redis	5 minutes	Hot data, low latency
L2	Governance PDS	Authoritative	Source of truth fallback
L3	PostgreSQL	Until invalidation	Indexed for queries

Cache invalidation

When governance data changes:

Proposal approved → Write to Governance PDS
                          │
                          ▼
                    Firehose event
                          │
          ┌───────────────┼───────────────┐
          ▼               ▼               ▼
     Redis clear    ES reindex      Neo4j update

Security

Access control

Operation	Who can perform
Read records	Anyone
Create authority record	Authority editors + governance committee
Update authority record	Authority editors (via proposal)
Create facet	Governance committee
Update facet	Via approved proposal
Sign records	Governance committee key

Key management

The Governance PDS uses a multi-signature scheme:

Committee member 1 key ─┐
Committee member 2 key ─┼──► 2-of-3 multisig ──► Record signature
Committee member 3 key ─┘

Threshold: 2 of 3 committee members must sign to commit changes.

Audit trail

All changes include provenance:

{
  "record": { ... },
  "sig": "z...",
  "provenance": {
    "proposal": "at://did:plc:.../pub.chive.graph.proposal/abc",
    "approvedAt": "2025-01-15T10:30:00Z",
    "signers": [
      "did:plc:committee1...",
      "did:plc:committee2..."
    ]
  }
}

Operations

Backup and recovery

# Export full repository
atproto repo export did:plc:chive-governance --output backup.car

# Verify integrity
atproto repo verify backup.car

# Restore to new PDS (if needed)
atproto repo import backup.car --target new-pds.example.com

Monitoring

Metrics tracked:

Record count by type
Write latency
Firehose lag
Cache hit rates
Sync status with AppView

Failover

If the Governance PDS becomes unavailable:

AppView continues operating from cached data
Write operations queued
Failover PDS activated from most recent backup
DNS updated to point to failover
Queued writes replayed

Migration path

Current state (pre-2026)

Authority records stored in PostgreSQL with Governance PDS as secondary.

Target state (2026+)

Governance PDS becomes authoritative source:

Phase 1 (Q1 2026): Dual-write to both PG and PDS
Phase 2 (Q2 2026): PDS becomes primary, PG becomes cache
Phase 3 (Q3 2026): Remove PG dependency for governance data

API access

Read from Governance PDS

GET https://pds.chive.pub/xrpc/com.atproto.repo.listRecords?
  repo=did:plc:chive-governance&
  collection=pub.chive.governance.authorityRecord&
  limit=50

Through Chive AppView (recommended)

GET /xrpc/pub.chive.graph.getAuthority?id=authority-123

The AppView provides:

Faster response (cached)
Additional computed fields
Cross-references resolved
Search capability

Next steps

Authority control: Managing authority records
Governance overview: The governance model
AT Protocol: Understanding PDSes

Overview​

Why a Governance PDS?​

ATProto-native benefits​

Comparison with traditional approaches​

Record types​

Authority records​

Facet definitions​

Approved proposals​

Reconciliation records​

Architecture​

Cache strategy​

Multi-level caching​

Cache invalidation​

Security​

Access control​

Key management​

Audit trail​

Operations​

Backup and recovery​

Monitoring​

Failover​

Migration path​

Current state (pre-2026)​

Target state (2026+)​

API access​

Read from Governance PDS​

Through Chive AppView (recommended)​

Next steps​