Open standard · MIT
The aDNA Network
aDNA (agentic DNA) is an open standard for organizing a project's files so AI agents — and the people working with them — always know where things live: three folders, plain Markdown, versioned in git. This site is the standard, its docs, and the registry of workspaces — 'vaults' — that run it.
For teams working with agentic coding tools on real projects. Not a product or service — no server, no signup, nothing leaves your machine.
Your context is just the notes, docs, and decisions you already keep — now shaped into a graph your agents can navigate, and shared in the open.
git clone https://github.com/aDNA-Network/aDNA.git ~/aDNA && cd ~/aDNA && claude 74 vaults — every one of them on a single computer, ours. 15 are joined by 14 declared relationships; the rest stand alone.
The state of the network, dated → Who's behind aDNA →Language and DNA were co-created by everyone before us. The context that powers AI should be too — built, shared, and governed in the open, for the good of all.
You already do the first half of this. The README that explains the project. The decision someone wrote down so nobody re-litigates it. The note on why the schema is shaped the way it is. That is context — aDNA gives it a shape your agents can read, in the open, in your own repository.
What a context democracy is
A self-governed network where people and their agents build, share, and govern context graphs in the open — each project its own graph, all of them federating into a shared commons.
- OpenMIT-licensed — the spec, the workspace image, and the registry data are public.
- FederatedEach project keeps its own graph; they connect by citation, not central control.
- Co-ownedNo vendor owns your context — you govern it, in the open.
- Agents & humansOne graph, legible to your AI and to you at the same time.
Real aDNA vaults — forges, frameworks, platforms, and public-good archives — connected by the relationships they declare.
The living registry
Every vault is a real, governed context graph with its own place in the network — most tended by a named agent. Here's a slice across 74 of them.
All of them run on one computer — ours. The state of the network says what that means.
aDNA
tended by Rosetta
III
tended by Argus
Inspect/Introspect/Improve quality framework
Canvas
tended by Mondrian
Operations
tended by Berthier
LA Venture Graph
tended by Cartographer
LA venture ecosystem knowledge graph (UCLA Anderson + Nerdstage/Demo Day LA)
Home
tended by Hestia
wga
World Genome Academy — buildpack + symphony + site
RareArchive
tended by Mnemosyne
Rare Archive OSS rare-disease AI project
How it Works
Three steps from scattered files to a project your agents can navigate — and keep navigating.
Structure
Every agent session starts from scratch — agents relearn your project by rummaging through files. aDNA ends that. Three directories (what you know, how you work, who's involved) give any agent instant orientation.
aDNA.aDNA/
├── CLAUDE.md ← agent operating protocol
├── STATE.md ← current phase, blockers
├── what/ ← what the project knows
│ ├── context/ typed context library
│ └── decisions/ architecture records
├── how/ ← how it operates
│ ├── campaigns/ strategic initiatives
│ └── missions/ decomposed work
└── who/ ← who's involved
└── governance/ roles & policy
Orient
Without a map, agents blast through irrelevant files or ask you to re-explain the project. Agents read your CLAUDE.md and AGENTS.md first, then pull typed context at exactly the depth they need — not your entire repo, not a blank slate.
# CLAUDE.md — aDNA.aDNA ## Identity & Personality You are Rosetta — named after the Rosetta Stone. This vault presents the aDNA standard in three registers: technical spec, operational practice, plain language. ## Standing Orders 1. Phase gates are human gates. 2. Destructive actions require confirmation.
Execute
Context windows close and wipe progress — the next agent starts over. aDNA decomposes work into sessions, missions, and campaigns — context-sized chunks that fit a single agent window. What one agent learns, the next inherits.
mission_id: mission_wadna_p3_iterate phase: 3 status: in_progress ## Decade backbone D1 Credibility-integrity — active D2 Navigation & docs — queued D3 Agentic + community — queued D4 Visual craft — queued
New to aDNA? Start here
Cloned the workspace image and want to understand it before you build? The standard
embeds in .adna/; the guided path lives here — a five-minute tour, the
core concepts, and hands-on tutorials.
The Standard
aDNA is an open specification — MIT licensed, open to contribution, designed for extension.
Join the network
The network is open — run a node, share a vault, and help shape the standard. Mission-aligned subnetworks are taking shape around real public-good work.
- World Genome Academy Genomics knowledge as a shared commons
- Context Commons Agentic-context literacy, shared
- Wilhelm AI for the Undiagnosed AI for people living with undiagnosed disease
- Rare Archive Open-source rare-disease AI
aDNA for Solo Developer Enterprise Team Educator Startup Researcher