RCOS Layers
RCOS sorts the questions a community has to answer into seven layers, from why it exists to how it changes its own rules. Each layer builds on the ones below it.
How to use this
- 1
Start at the foundation
Layer 0 holds your purpose and the lines you will never cross. Everything above it refers back to it.
- 2
Read the guide first
Each layer has a plain-language guide: what it covers, the questions it asks, and what goes wrong without it.
- 3
Then the rules and templates
The rules show exactly what the standard asks for. The templates are where you write your answers down.
- Layer 6 · Evolution & Adaptation
How the system changes without collapsing.
- Layer 5 · Operations & Coordination
How daily life and work actually function.
- Layer 4 · Conflict, Repair & Accountability
What happens when things break.
- Layer 3 · Economic & Resource System
How value flows inside the community.
- Layer 2 · Governance & Decision Logic
How decisions are made, changed, and enforced.
- Layer 1 · Membership System
Who is inside the system, and under what conditions?
- Layer 0 · Identity & Scope
What problem does this community exist to solve?
About
Why layers
A community makes decisions at very different depths. Some are about why it exists at all; others are about who cleans the kitchen this week. RCOS keeps them apart, so that the everyday ones can't wear down the deep ones by accident.
The rule is simple: a higher layer can never overrule a lower one. A work rota (Layer 5) can't change who counts as a member (Layer 1), and a majority vote (Layer 2) can't override a line the community promised never to cross (Layer 0). To change something deep, you go through the process that layer defines, not around it.
Do we need all seven?
Full RCOS compliance means answering all seven. You don't have to get there at once: most groups start with Layer 0 and work upward as questions come up. Partial adoption still counts, as long as what you've adopted is written down and you're honest about the rest. A partial answer on paper is worth more than a complete one that only lives in people's heads.