Welcome

PRAXIS: Build the Lifeboat

PRAXIS is a practice for building parallel democratic infrastructure. Select a section from the sidebar to begin reading the manifesto, or explore the prompts below to start building in your community.

Navigate the document. Use the sidebar to explore each section of the manifesto. Each section contains analysis, historical context, and actionable prompts you can use to build democratic infrastructure in your city.
Recent Prompts
: RESEARCH AGENDA

Write your Research working group's first-year research agenda: questions, methods, data sources, publication targets, and IRB requirements.
Table: Research question, Method (survey/case study/participatory action research), Data source, Timeline (start to submission), Target publication or outlet, IRB status (needed/submitted/approved/exempt). Minimum three studies: one on participation outcomes, one on governance quality, one on econom
: STAFFING

Complete your staffing plan: name, role, hours/week committed, start date, and first-month deliverable for every position.
Table: Role (from the table above), Person (real name or "OPEN"), Hours/week, Start date, First deliverable (due within 30 days), Backup (who covers if they're unavailable). For every "OPEN" role, add a recruitment row: where you'll find this person, what you'll offer, outreach deadline. No role sta
: YEAR 1 BUDGET

Build your actual Year 1 budget: local cost estimates, funding sources mapped to line items, and the cash flow timeline showing when money is needed vs. when it arrives.
Three sections. (1) Expense table: line item, monthly cost, annual cost, source (grant/contribution/in-kind/volunteer). (2) Revenue table: source, amount, status (confirmed/applied/planned), expected date. (3) Cash flow timeline: month-by-month, showing cumulative expenses vs. cumulative revenue. Id
: TECHNICAL ROADMAP

Write your Platform working group's 6-month roadmap: deliverables, milestones, dependencies, and the first pull request.
Month-by-month table. Deliverable, owner, depends on, definition of done. Month 1: tool audit and deployment plan. Month 2: communication infrastructure live. Month 3: governance tools configured. Month 4: Civic Engine alpha. Month 5: data dashboards. Month 6: integration testing and documentation.
: ASSEMBLY PLAYBOOK OUTLINE

Write the table of contents for your Assembly Playbook: every chapter, its purpose, and the template or SOP it contains.
Minimum chapters: (1) Assembly setup (venue, tools, roles). (2) Facilitation guide (agenda template, speaking protocols, time management). (3) Proposal process (submission format, deliberation structure, voting method, implementation tracking). (4) Conflict resolution (the five-stage process from yo
: EDITORIAL CHARTER

Write your Communications working group's editorial charter: voice, approval process, publishing authority, and correction policy.
Five sections. Voice: three adjectives, one paragraph defining tone (with examples of what you sound like and what you never sound like). Approval: who can publish without review, what requires editorial sign-off, turnaround time. Authority: who speaks for the network vs. who speaks for their node.
: OUTREACH PIPELINE

Build your Coalition working group's outreach pipeline: targets ranked by priority, the named contact person, the specific ask, and the follow-up schedule.
CRM-style table. Organization, Contact name, Contact method (email/intro/event), Priority (1-3), The Ask (one sentence), Status (not contacted/contacted/meeting scheduled/agreement drafted/signed), Follow-up date. Load it with your first 20 targets. Review weekly. Move every Priority 1 to "contacted
: PHASE 0 WORKPLAN

Write your Phase 0 workplan: deliverables, owners, deadlines, and dependencies for the first 60 days.
Gantt chart or table. Columns: Deliverable, Owner, Start date, Due date, Depends on, Definition of done. Minimum deliverables: founding document published, legal entity filed, first grant application submitted, ten organizers contacted, tool audit complete. Every row has a name next to it. No delive
: PROOF OF CONCEPT SPEC

Write the specification for your minimum viable proof of concept: what must be true at month 6 for the model to be validated.
Three categories. Participation: number of active members, assembly attendance rate, new member pipeline rate. Outcomes: number of proposals passed, budgets allocated, services delivered. Infrastructure: tools deployed and stable, documentation published, second city contact established. For each me
: WEEKLY COORDINATION CYCLE

Write the standard operating procedure for your weekly coordination cycle: who meets, what is reviewed, what decisions are made, and how information flows.
Seven-day cycle. Monday: working group leads submit weekly updates (template: accomplishments, blockers, needs, next week priorities). Tuesday: coordination committee reviews updates, identifies cross-group dependencies. Wednesday: all-hands standup (15 minutes, async-friendly via forum post). Thurs
: RISK REGISTER

Build your assembly's risk register: identify the top ten threats to your project, rate their likelihood and impact, and assign a mitigation owner for each.
Table with seven columns. Risk description. Category (legal, financial, operational, reputational, safety). Likelihood (1-5). Impact (1-5). Risk score (L x I). Mitigation strategy (one sentence). Owner (name). Include at minimum: funding shortfall, key person departure, legal challenge, platform dep
: FUNDRAISING TOOLKIT

Write a practical fundraising guide for your assembly: grant research, application templates, crowdfunding strategy, and donor relationship management.
Four tracks. (1) Grants: how to find them (Foundation Directory Online, Candid, local community foundations), application template (problem statement, theory of change, budget, evaluation plan), submission calendar. (2) Crowdfunding: platform selection (GoFundMe, Open Collective, Liberapay), campaig
All Sections
1
01 — Strategic Vision
Not through insurrection. Not through electoral capture. Through the patient construction of functional democratic infrastructure that demonstrably outperforms existing institutions, until the question is no longer whether to change the system, but why the old one is still running at all.
2
02 — Metaphysical Infrastructure
Before the tools, before the assemblies, before the federation, there is a question that every political project must answer and that most refuse to ask: what kind of people are we trying to become? PRAXIS is not values-neutral infrastructure. The ethics are load-bearing. They are not decorative lan
3
03 — Theoretical Foundations
PRAXIS is not a novel political theory. It is the practical implementation of ideas that have been tested (in assemblies, in autonomous territories, in revolutionary experiments) across centuries and continents. The methodology directly encodes the structural lessons of these movements: what worked,
4
04 — Functional Architecture
PRAXIS is organized around seven functional needs that any community practicing democratic self-governance will encounter. Each function is filled by existing open-source tools, not custom software. What is shared across the network is the practice, not the product. No single tool is a dependency.