---
name: communityrule-circles
version: "1"
date: 2026-07-29
category: governance
title: Circles — a CommunityRule governance template
language: en
type: full-text
kind: charter
license: CC-BY-SA-4.0
source_url: https://communityrule.info/templates/circles.html
notes: "A governance template from CommunityRule (Media Economies Design Lab, University of Colorado Boulder), published 2021; site content is CC BY-SA 4.0. Rendered to markdown from the template’s published module structure."
---

# Circles — a CommunityRule governance template

Units called Circles have the ability to decide and act on matters in their domains, which their members agree on through a Council.

Created by Media Economies Design Lab and published in the CommunityRule library. A Rule is a lightweight constitution: it names the community's structures of authority and how they change. Groups adopt it as-is or fork it.

## Values

Decentralization, delegation, trust

## Membership

To join, a person must be welcomed into a particular Circle according to its policies.

## Council

Representatives of Circles regularly meet in a Council to coordinate efforts and determine the domains of each Circle, as well as to add or remove Circles from the Council.

## Delegation

A Circle can create roles for its members and assign authority over specified sub-domains.

## Lazy consensus

Circles and the Council use consent to make decisions. Consent means that nobody presents a serious objection to a proposal.