Constraint
An explicit rule or limit the project must respect — budget ceiling,
latency SLO, regulatory requirement, team capacity cap. Violations
are LogEntries; constraints themselves do not change when violated.
| |
|---|
| ID prefix | CONST |
| State machine | none |
| MCP server | none |
| Skill | constraint-management (Layer 3) |
Fields
Required
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|
name | string | Kebab-case identifier |
description | string | One-sentence statement of the constraint |
kind | enum | budget · slo · regulatory · capacity · dependency · policy · other |
severity | enum | hard · soft · advisory |
Optional
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|
measurement | string | How to determine if the constraint is met |
target | string | Threshold or boundary value |
source | string | Where the constraint comes from (contract, regulation, decision) |
active | boolean | false = no longer in effect (default: true) |
related_decisions | DEC-*[] | Decisions that established or relaxed the constraint |
Severity levels
| Level | Meaning |
|---|
hard | Cannot violate — work stops until resolved |
soft | Flagged and tracked; can be overridden with justification |
advisory | Informational — violation noted but no process impact |
Example
---
apiVersion: processkit.projectious.work/v1
kind: Constraint
metadata:
id: CONST-20260411_0916-SteadyMoss-api-latency-slo
created: '2026-04-11T09:16:00Z'
spec:
name: api-latency-slo
description: MCP tool round-trip p99 latency must stay below 200ms.
kind: slo
severity: hard
target: "< 200ms p99"
measurement: |
Measured via the observability pipeline from tool-call dispatch to
server response. Alert fires if exceeded for 5 minutes.
source: Customer SLA — contract clause 4.2
related_decisions:
- DEC-20260409_latency-slo-accepted
---
Notes
- Constraint violations are logged via
log_event with
event_type: constraint.violated — the Constraint entity itself is
not modified. - A
hard constraint violation should surface as a blocked WorkItem or
an urgent Discussion. - Bind a Constraint to a Scope via a
constraint-scope Binding to make
it scope-specific rather than project-wide. - Set
active: false when a constraint is no longer in effect (SLA
renegotiated, regulatory exemption granted).