The open-source operating system for AI-native technology companies.
Version: 2.1 · Clone it, customize it, and run a company from idea to global scale.
Company OS is not a prompt repository, a code template, or a business plan. It is the central source of truth for how an AI-native company operates: organizational structure, engineering culture, product development, research, operations, an AI-agent workforce, orchestration, memory, standards, templates, playbooks, and domain-specific starter kits.
It is industry-agnostic and modular. Nothing assumes a specific business. Every department is a self-contained miniature operating manual that follows the same structure, so the system is predictable, extensible, and repeatable.
Scale: an AI C-suite · 20 full departments · 107 AI agents · 16 starter kits · every folder self-indexes via its own README.md.
The repository is split down the middle. Know which side you're on and customization is obvious:
| handbook/ — what humans read | ai/ — what the AI runs on | |
|---|---|---|
| Contains | Company identity, governance, 20 department manuals, workflows, standards, playbooks, templates, guides | 107 agent specs (an executive C-suite + 20 divisions), the orchestration kernel, the memory system |
| You edit it to | Describe how your company works | Change which agents exist and how work is routed |
| Audience | Founders, employees, new hires | The agent workforce |
Company OS ships complete. Making it yours is mostly deleting what you don't need and filling in who you are. Do it in this order:
1. Make it your company (~30 min) — edit these five files. They are the only place your identity is defined; everything else refers back to them. mission · vision · principles · structure · roles
2. Pick a starter kit (~10 min) — choose the kit matching your company type. It tells you which departments to activate first and adds domain standards. Delete the other kits.
3. Keep only the departments you need (~30 min) — you don't need all twenty on day one. A typical
early-stage software company runs product, engineering, design, post-launch, strategy.
To remove one: delete handbook/departments/<name>/ and ai/agents/<name>/, drop its rows from the
indexes, remove it from DEPARTMENT_NAMES in scripts/check-structure.py, then
run the checks below.
To add one: python scripts/scaffold.py department <name>.
4. Choose your agents (~20 min) — open ai/agents/README.md, keep the agents
you'll actually run, delete the rest. To add one: python scripts/scaffold.py agent <department> <agent-name>.
5. Tune the rules (ongoing) — adjust quality gates, the
decision framework, and each department's standards.md to
match how strict you want to be.
| Files | Guidance | |
|---|---|---|
| ✏️ Always | handbook/company/*, ai/agents/* |
This is your company and your workforce |
| ⚙️ Often | department standards.md, metrics.md, quality-gates.md, governance/* |
Tune to your bar |
| 📖 Read, don't edit | handbook/guides/* |
Guidance for you, not config |
| 🔒 Leave alone | handbook/templates/*, STRUCTURE.md, scripts/*, .github/* |
The framework that keeps it consistent |
python scripts/check-links.py # every internal link resolves
python scripts/check-structure.py # departments + agent specs conform
python scripts/check-conventions.py # README per folder, no placeholder textAll three run in CI on every push and PR. If you removed a department, check-links.py points you at every
link that still references it.
👉 Full detail, including how to add a department or agent by hand: CUSTOMIZE.md.
company-os/
│
├── handbook/ ◀── EVERYTHING YOU READ ─────────────────────────
│ ├── company/ identity: mission, vision, principles, structure, roles
│ ├── governance/ decision framework, quality gates, definition of done
│ │
│ ├── departments/ 20 department manuals, each the same 18-file shape:
│ │ ├── engineering/ product/ design/ post-launch/ ai-engineering/
│ │ ├── research/ strategy/ data/ hardware/
│ │ ├── marketing/ sales/ customer-success/
│ │ └── operations/ hr/ finance/ legal/ security/ devops/
│ │ documentation/ investor-relations/
│ │ └─ README · mission · vision · principles · organization · roles
│ │ agents · workflows · playbooks · sops · decision-frameworks
│ │ standards · review-process · quality-gates · automation
│ │ metrics · dashboards · tools + templates/ checklists/ examples/
│ │
│ ├── workflows/ cross-department processes (the 20-phase SDLC)
│ ├── standards/ index of every company-wide standard
│ ├── playbooks/ brainstorm · MVP · launch · sprint · hiring · fundraising
│ ├── templates/ department-template/ + documents/ (PRD, RFC, ADR, OKR…)
│ └── guides/ company-building-guide · onboarding-paths · okrs · example-company
│
├── ai/ ◀── EVERYTHING THE AI RUNS ON ──────────────────
│ ├── agents/ 107 agent specs
│ │ ├── executive/ the C-suite: AI Co-Founder · CTO · CPO · COO · CFO · CMO · CRO
│ │ │ Chief Designer/Scientist/Data/Security/Legal/People · Chief of Staff
│ │ └── engineering/ product/ post-launch/ design/ research/ ai-engineering/ …
│ │ one folder per department, each reporting to its executive
│ ├── orchestration/ the kernel: CEO agent, planner, engines, reviewers
│ └── memory/ 14 memory types + retrieval, retention, versioning
│
├── starter-kits/ ◀── PICK YOUR COMPANY TYPE ────────────────────
│ └── ai-startup/ saas/ developer-tools/ enterprise-b2b/ marketplace/
│ consumer-app/ robotics/ drone/ embedded/ iot/ research-lab/
│
├── scripts/ CI tooling: check-links.py, check-structure.py
├── .github/ issue/PR templates, community health, CI workflows
│
└── README.md CUSTOMIZE.md STRUCTURE.md GLOSSARY.md
CONTRIBUTING.md CHANGELOG.md ROADMAP.md LICENSE
- How to customize · Folder structure
- Start here · Meta & conventions
- handbook/ — the reading side
- ai/ — the machine side
- The founder journey — idea → validate → build → launch → sell → raise → scale
- Starter kits · Automation
- Design philosophy · Contributing · License
- First-time founder? Read the Company-Building Guide — the skills to learn and the full steps to build and manage a company.
- Making this your company? Follow CUSTOMIZE.md.
- Adopting the OS? company identity → governance → the kernel + memory.
- Building a specific kind of company? Pick a starter kit.
Every directory has its own
README.mdthat indexes it. This page is the top-level index; follow any link to that area's index for the full detail.
| File | Purpose |
|---|---|
| CUSTOMIZE.md | How to make this repo your own |
| STRUCTURE.md | The repository map + naming & authoring conventions |
| GLOSSARY.md | Shared vocabulary |
| CONTRIBUTING.md | How to add departments, agents, and docs |
| CHANGELOG.md · ROADMAP.md | What changed · what's next |
| LICENSE | MIT |
Full index: handbook/README.md
| Area | What's inside |
|---|---|
| company/ | mission · vision · principles · structure · roles |
| governance/ | decision framework · quality gates · communication rules · definition of done · failure handling |
| workflows/ | The 20-phase SDLC |
| standards/ | Index of every company-wide standard |
| templates/ | department template · 17 document templates: PRD · RFC · ADR · incident report · security review · release checklist · OKR · one-pager · offer letter · employment agreement · board update · sales proposal · QBR · DPA |
| playbooks/ | brainstorming · validating an idea · building an MVP · launching · running a sprint · hiring an engineer · pitching · fundraising · customer complaint · scaling a team · international expansion |
| guides/ | Company-Building Guide · onboarding paths · OKRs · worked example |
Full index: handbook/departments/README.md
| Department | What it owns |
|---|---|
| engineering/ | Maintainable, tested, secure software; standards, review, delivery |
| product/ | The right product — discovery, PRDs, prioritization, roadmap, PMF |
| post-launch/ | Reliability after ship — monitoring, incidents, maintenance, tech debt, EOL |
| design/ | Usable, accessible experiences; the design system |
| research/ | What to build next — ideation, TRL, opportunity scoring |
| ai-engineering/ | Building AI products — RAG, evaluation, prompt standards, AI security |
| strategy/ | Building the company — lifecycle, market, business model, unit economics |
| security/ | Threat modeling, pen testing, vulnerability mgmt, compliance, privacy |
| devops/ | CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, releases, reliability (DORA/SRE) |
| finance/ | Forecasting, budgeting, accounting, billing, runway, cost |
| legal/ | Contracts, IP, compliance, privacy & terms |
| hr/ | Recruiting, onboarding, performance, culture |
| operations/ | Cadences, project mgmt, process, vendor & knowledge mgmt |
| marketing/ | Positioning, content/SEO, brand, growth, psychology |
| sales/ | Selling — method, psychology, channels |
| customer-success/ | Onboarding, health scoring, retention, expansion |
| data/ | Pipelines, the metrics layer, analytics, governance |
| documentation/ | Product & API docs, knowledge base, freshness |
| hardware/ | Firmware, electronics, mechanical, test — for physical products |
| investor-relations/ | Investor updates, board governance, cap table |
Full index: ai/README.md
| Area | What's inside |
|---|---|
| agents/ | The registry of 107 agent specs + the standard 11-section spec |
| agents/executive/ | The AI C-suite — AI Co-Founder · CTO · CPO · COO · CFO · CRO · CMO · Chief Designer · Chief Scientist · CDO · CSO · CLO · CPeO · Chief of Staff |
| orchestration/ | CEO agent · planner · task decomposer · coordinator · reviewer · QA/security/docs reviewers · approval/execution/improvement engines · lifecycle |
| memory/ | 14 memory types (session → company, project, customer, decision, lessons-learned, prompt, knowledge base…) + context · retrieval · retention & versioning |
Don't confuse
ai/(the AI workforce) with handbook/departments/ai-engineering/ (the discipline of building AI products).
The end-to-end path a company travels, with the exact doc for each phase. The Company-Building Guide narrates the whole arc.
| Phase | Go to |
|---|---|
| 0 · Brainstorm | ideation · playbook |
| 1 · Validate the idea | idea validation · product discovery · playbook |
| 2 · Assess & rank | technology readiness (TRL) · opportunity scoring · market analysis |
| 3 · Business model | business model & pricing · unit economics |
| 4 · Build | SDLC · MVP playbook · engineering · design |
| 5 · Launch | launch playbook · release management |
| 6 · Sell | how to sell · buyer psychology · where to sell · GTM |
| 7 · Raise | pitching · finding investors · fundraising playbook |
| 8 · Operate & scale | operating rhythm · OKRs · continuous improvement |
Preconfigured company types that inherit core Company OS and add domain deltas — see starter-kits/.
ai-startup · saas · developer-tools · enterprise-b2b · marketplace · consumer-app · robotics · drone · embedded · iot · research-lab · fintech · healthtech · climate-tech · gaming · edtech
| Script | Purpose |
|---|---|
| scripts/scaffold.py | Scaffold a new department or agent from the templates |
| scripts/check-links.py | Every internal link resolves |
| scripts/check-structure.py | Departments and agent specs conform |
| scripts/check-conventions.py | Every folder self-indexes; no placeholder text |
The three checkers run in CI on every push and PR (.github/, which also holds issue/PR templates, code of conduct, security policy, support, funding, and a stale-issue bot).
- Two clean sides — handbook/ for humans, ai/ for the agent workforce. Customization is obvious because the boundary is obvious.
- Modular & industry-agnostic — supports SaaS, AI, robotics, embedded, IoT, hardware, drones, healthcare, fintech, climate tech, research labs, developer tools, consumer, and enterprise.
- Same structure everywhere — every department uses the standard structure; every agent uses the standard spec. Predictability makes the system extensible.
- Evidence over assumptions · first principles · long-term value — see handbook/company/principles.md.
- Production-ready, never placeholder — every document is written to actually be used.
To add a department, copy handbook/templates/department-template/
and fill it in. To add an agent, copy ai/agents/agent-template.md. Run
python scripts/check-links.py and python scripts/check-structure.py before opening a PR. See
CONTRIBUTING.md for the full conventions.
The original single-file operating manual that seeded this repository was decomposed into the structure above. Its full text is preserved in git history (pre-decomposition
README.md).
Company OS is released under the MIT License — free to clone, customize, and use commercially.