A library of modular, open civic protocols — structured coordination methods you can fork, remix, and use to design democratic processes. Built for technologists, policymakers, and communities alike.
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Submit a Protocol
Have a civic coordination method worth sharing? We're building a public registry of modular, remixable governance protocols — and we'd love to include yours.
Please use the form below to suggest a protocol for inclusion:
The Civic Protocol Registry is an open public directory of civic processes—reimagined as protocols. It is designed to help communities and institutions discover, adopt, and adapt participatory frameworks for governance, deliberation, budgeting, voting, and beyond.
What is a Civic Protocol?
A civic protocol is a structured method or workflow for collective decision-making. Examples include participatory budgeting, citizens’ assemblies, and quadratic voting. Each protocol entry in this registry includes core steps, inputs and outputs, participant roles, tools, and example use cases.
Why It Matters
Discoverable: Great democratic processes shouldn't remain trapped in PDFs, academic papers, or pilot programs. This registry makes civic innovations visible and reusable.
Composable: Protocols are described in a modular JSON format, so developers and researchers can integrate them into civic tech tools, policy platforms, or simulations.
Forkable: Just like open-source software, each protocol can be adapted and improved to fit local needs. Users are encouraged to fork protocols and propose improvements.
Who Should Use This?
Local governments exploring participatory tools
Civic technologists building apps and infrastructure
Researchers studying democratic design
Communities seeking better ways to self-govern
How to Use It
Browse: Use filters and search to find relevant protocols.
Explore: Click any protocol card to see full details and download the schema.
Contribute: Use our Google Form to suggest a new protocol or adaptation.
Why It’s Built This Way
This tool is part of a larger effort by CivHub to prototype “governance infrastructure” for the 21st century—designing systems that are legible, participatory, and adaptable. We believe better governance is a design problem, and protocols are a powerful design unit.
Future Development
The Civic Protocol Registry is intended to grow into a fully interoperable civic infrastructure layer. Future development areas include:
Interactive Builders: Visual tools to draft, remix, and publish your own civic protocols from modular components.
Versioning & Fork Histories: Just like open-source software, protocols will support changelogs, branches, and community-led forks with attribution.
Simulation & Testing Tools: Sandboxes for experimenting with protocols before deploying them in real-world contexts.
Civic API & Registry Exports: Structured data access for researchers, civic tech developers, and AI model training on participatory frameworks.
Community Validation & Tagging: Public endorsement, commentary, and metadata overlays from communities and practitioners using these protocols in the field.
Integration with Policy Simulators and DAO Tooling: Bridging analog democratic practice with emerging digital governance environments.
If you’re a developer, civic designer, or funder interested in helping shape this ecosystem, get in touch.