Governance templates for Cardano DAOs.
Start with a DAO Charter, Community Proposal Matrix and Multisig Approval Matrix, then adapt them to your DAO. All three templates are available now.
Three explanatory guides are available too.
- Editable templates
- Proposal categories and voting thresholds included
- Legal wrapper choice as a template option
Start with the rules. Make them your own.
DAO governance needs more than a vote. It needs clear roles, decision rights, proposal processes and treasury controls.
DAO Codex provides practical templates you can adapt to your DAO instead of starting from a blank page.
DAO Charter
Define how your DAO is structured and who can make which decisions.
Membership and voting eligibility; governance bodies and roles; decision-making authority; treasury governance; delegates and multisig holders; conflicts of interest; amendments and dissolution.
Being a member does not automatically give someone the power to act for the DAO. The Charter defines who can, and within what limits.
Community Proposal Matrix
Define how proposals move from an idea to a decision and, where approved, execution.
Proposal submission; discussion and review; voting; quorum and approval thresholds; challenges; execution; verification and closure.
Every member knows how a decision is made, when a vote becomes binding and who is responsible for carrying it out.
Multisig Approval Matrix
Define how treasury transactions are checked, signed and executed.
Multisig Holder roles and duties; signing thresholds; approval tiers; appointment, removal and key rotation; transaction approval; emergency protective action; records and transparency.
A community vote does not move funds on its own, and access to a wallet is not permission to spend. Every transaction must match what was approved.
Legal wrapper options
Includes drafting options for DAOs with or without a legal wrapper.
Separate decisions from operations
Key governance decisions are reserved for Eligible Voters, while operational roles and delegated authority are defined separately.
Governance safeguards built into the process
The Community Proposal Matrix includes rules for voting snapshots, quorum, proposal challenges, voting periods and execution.
Build public records into governance
The templates include processes for recording proposals, votes, treasury activity and execution outcomes, subject to legitimate legal, privacy, security and confidentiality restrictions.
Three templates. Three guides.
The templates are designed to work together and be adapted to each DAO’s structure. The guides explain how to use them.
DAO Charter
Sets the DAO’s core governance structure, including membership, roles, decision rights, treasury authority and governance bodies.
Community Proposal Matrix
Sets the process for submitting, discussing, voting on, challenging and executing DAO proposals.
Multisig Approval Matrix
Sets treasury custody, approval and signing controls.
How-To Guide
Explains how the DAO Charter, the Community Proposal Matrix and the Multisig Approval Matrix work together, and how to put them to use.
Common Friction Points
Walks through fictional disputes over voting power, delegation and execution, and how DAO Codex helps handle them.
Legal Wrapper Best Practices
Covers when a DAO needs a legal entity to sign contracts, hold assets or receive grants, and what that entity does not do.
Start with the templates. Adapt them to your DAO.
Open the templates, complete the placeholders and adjust the governance choices to match your DAO’s structure and needs.
Start with the Charter
The Charter sets the core governance structure that every other document is read alongside. Read it first, then the Community Proposal Matrix and the Multisig Approval Matrix. The How-To Guide walks through all three.
Complete the placeholders
Fields such as purpose, membership token and acceptance mechanism are left for the adopting DAO to define. Identify and complete every incomplete field before adoption.
Adopt and publish
Adopt the templates through your own process, then publish at a canonical URL with a version number and document hash.
Templates are informational and do not constitute legal advice.
Links.
Project Catalyst
The funding programme for the DAO Codex. Explore open Cardano ecosystem proposals.
Sparring
The legal practice behind DAO Codex. Visit the Sparring website for more information.
DAO Codex was developed under Project Catalyst Fund 13, Cardano Open Ecosystem, project 1300079.
FAQ.
DAO Codex is a set of adaptable governance templates for Cardano DAOs. The DAO Charter, Community Proposal Matrix and Multisig Approval Matrix are available now, along with three explanatory guides on how to use them.
It sets the DAO’s core governance structure, including membership, roles, decision rights, treasury authority and governance bodies.
It defines the process for submitting, discussing, voting on, challenging and executing proposals.
They are designed to work together: the DAO Charter establishes governance authority, the Community Proposal Matrix sets the decision-making process, and the Multisig Approval Matrix controls how approved treasury decisions are executed.
They are governance document templates designed to be adapted to a DAO’s specific structure and circumstances. Their legal effect may depend on applicable law, jurisdiction and any legal wrapper.
It sets treasury custody, approval and signing controls, so that treasury transactions follow the decisions approved under the Community Proposal Matrix.
Yes. The templates contain placeholders and governance choices intended to be adapted to each DAO.
DAO Codex was developed under Project Catalyst Fund 13, Cardano Open Ecosystem, project 1300079.
Get the DAO Codex templates
Take the templates and adapt them to your DAO. They must be adopted and completed for a specific DAO before use. They are informational and do not constitute legal advice.