BindingChaos

A software platform implementing the governance and coordination concepts from Heather Marsh's Binding Chaos (2013).

The system enables stigmergic participation within voluntary, self-governing societies: participants raise signals, propose ideas, amend them collectively, and coordinate real-world actions — all under pseudonymous identity with no personality-driven amplification.

Status

Under active development. Core bounded contexts (signals, ideation, discourse, societies, tagging, pseudonymity) are functional. The reputation/epistemic community layer described in the book is not yet built.

This is one developer's interpretation of Marsh's proposals, not an authoritative implementation. The domain modelling reflects a surface reading of the book and will contain misunderstandings — contributions and corrections from people with deeper familiarity with the ideas are welcome.

Architecture

Browser → Web (3000) → Web.Gateway/BFF (4000) → CorePlatform.API (5000)

• Frontend: React + TypeScript + Vite + Tailwind + Radix UI
• Gateway: ASP.NET Core BFF — handles OIDC auth (Keycloak), issues internal JWTs
• API: ASP.NET Core — CQRS via Wolverine, Marten (event store) + EF Core (relational)
• Infrastructure: PostgreSQL, Redis, RabbitMQ, Keycloak, MinIO

Prerequisites

• .NET 10 SDK
• Node.js 20+
• Docker Desktop

Getting Started

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Start infrastructure (PostgreSQL, Redis, RabbitMQ, Keycloak, MinIO)
npm run infra:start

# Seed all infrastructure with development data
npm run reset:all

# In separate terminals:
npm run api:start        # Core Platform API on :5000
npm run gateway:start    # Web Gateway on :4000
npm run frontend:start   # React dev server on :3000

Then open http://localhost:3000.

Development

npm run dotnet:build     # Build entire solution
npm run dotnet:test      # Run all tests
npm run dotnet:format    # Auto-format C# code
npm run frontend:test    # Run frontend tests
npm run frontend:lint    # ESLint
npm run frontend:generate  # Regenerate TypeScript API client from Gateway OpenAPI spec

Project Structure

src/
  BindingChaos.Web/                  # React frontend
  BindingChaos.Web.Gateway/          # ASP.NET Core BFF
  BindingChaos.CorePlatform.API/     # Main backend
  BindingChaos.CorePlatform.Clients/ # Typed HTTP clients for inter-service calls
  BindingChaos.CorePlatform.Contracts/ # Shared API contracts
  BindingChaos.SignalAwareness/      # Signals, amplification, suggested actions
  BindingChaos.Ideation/             # Ideas, amendments, amendment voting
  BindingChaos.CommunityDiscourse/   # Threaded discussion
  BindingChaos.Societies/            # Voluntary societies, social contracts, membership
  BindingChaos.Tagging/              # Tag management
  BindingChaos.Pseudonymity/         # Privacy-preserving participant pseudonyms
  BindingChaos.IdentityProfile/      # Identity storage
  BindingChaos.DocumentProcessing/   # Document ingestion and processing
  BindingChaos.Infrastructure/       # Shared infrastructure concerns
  BindingChaos.SharedKernel/         # DDD base types, CQRS primitives
docs/
  01-vision/                         # Vision, features, and philosophy
  02-architecture/                   # Architecture diagrams, bounded context maps, request lifecycle
  07-development-process/            # Coding standards, workflow guides, how-to docs
  binding-chaos-concepts.md          # Concept reference grounded in the book
  testing-guide.md                   # Testing conventions and structure

Philosophy

The platform is a direct implementation of Marsh's proposals: governance by user group rather than representative vote, stigmergic coordination where work is accepted or rejected on its merits, and pseudonymity as the default so participation is idea-driven rather than personality-driven.

License

AGPL-3.0