Governance guide

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Cardano On-Chain Governance Guide

Help developers, DReps, SPOs, and ADA holders understand and participate in Cardano's on-chain governance system introduced by CIP-1694 in the Conway era.

When to use

• Developer needs to integrate governance features into a dApp
• Someone wants to understand how CIP-1694 governance works
• Registering as a DRep or delegating voting power
• Building governance-aware tools or dashboards
• Submitting or voting on governance actions
• Understanding the Constitutional Committee, DReps, and SPO roles
• Practicing governance on preprod/preview (or SanchoNet for bleeding-edge features)

When NOT to use

• General smart contract development (use Aiken/Plutus skills)
• Stake pool setup or configuration (separate topic)
• Token minting or NFT creation
• Basic wallet integration without governance (use connect-wallet skill)

Key principles

1. Three governance bodies share power. Constitutional Committee, DReps, and SPOs each have defined voting roles. No single body controls governance.
2. Every ADA holder participates. Either directly as a DRep or by delegating to one. Abstain and No-Confidence are also valid delegation choices.
3. The Constitution constrains governance. All actions must be constitutional. The Constitutional Committee certifies this.
4. Governance actions have specific types. Each type has its own voting thresholds and required approvals.
5. Tools are maturing. GovTool, SanchoNet, and SDK support are actively developing. Check current status before advising.

Workflow

Step 1: Identify the role

Ask the developer (if not already clear):

• What is your role? (developer | drep | stake-pool-operator | ada-holder)
• What do you want to do? (understand governance | vote | build governance features | register as DRep)

Step 2: Search Bundled Documentation

Search the bundled documentation for relevant content:

• ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../docs/sources/cips/ - CIP specifications (CIP-1694, CIP-95)
• ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../docs/sources/sanchonet/ - SanchoNet governance testnet docs
• ${CLAUDE_SKILL_DIR}/../../docs/sources/govtool/ - GovTool docs

Step 3: Explain how governance works

Reference the CIP-1694 summary for detailed structure:

File: skills/governance-guide/references/cip-1694-summary.md

Quick overview

Cardano governance has three pillars:

1. Delegated Representatives (DReps): ADA holders who vote on governance actions. Any ADA holder can become a DRep or delegate to one.
2. Stake Pool Operators (SPOs): Vote on specific governance actions (hard forks, no-confidence, new committees, security-relevant protocol parameters).
3. Constitutional Committee (CC): A group that certifies governance actions are constitutional. Does not propose or select -- only approves/rejects constitutionality.

Governance action types

Action	DRep vote	SPO vote	CC vote
Motion of no-confidence	Yes	Yes	No
New Constitutional Committee	Yes	Yes	No
Update Constitution	Yes	No	Yes
Hard fork initiation	Yes	Yes	Yes
Protocol parameter changes	Yes	Security-relevant only*	Yes
Treasury withdrawal	Yes	No	Yes
Info action	Yes	Yes	Yes

* Changes to security-relevant parameters (block/tx sizes, fees, utxoCostPerByte, govActionDeposit, and similar) require an additional SPO vote with its own threshold (Q5, ~0.51) — see CIP-1694.

Step 4: Role-specific guidance

For developers

Integrating governance into a dApp:

1. Read governance state: Query current proposals, DRep list, voting results

   • Use Blockfrost, Koios, or Ogmios governance endpoints
   • Governance state is on-chain in Conway era

2. Build governance transactions: Use CIP-95 wallet extensions

   • Register as DRep: dRepRegistration certificate
   • Vote on action: votingProcedure in transaction body
   • Delegate vote: voteDelegation certificate
   • Submit proposal: proposalProcedure in transaction body

3. CIP-95 wallet integration: Extension to CIP-30 for governance

   • getRegisteredPubStakeKeys() -- get stake keys
   • getPubDRepKey() -- get DRep key
   • Enables signing governance transactions in browser wallets

4. SDK support:

   • Mesh SDK: Governance transaction builders available
   • Evolution SDK: Conway-era governance — DRep registration via .registerDRep({ drepCredential }), voting via .vote({ votingProcedures }), DRep delegation, proposals, and committee operations
   • cardano-cli: Full governance command set (cardano-cli latest governance ...; the era-pinned conway group also still works, but prefer latest)

For DReps

Getting started as a DRep:

1. Register: Submit a DRep registration certificate with a deposit (currently 500 ADA)
2. Set metadata: Publish a metadata document (name, bio, motivations) to a URL
3. Vote: Review and vote on governance actions through GovTool or CLI
4. Communicate: Share your voting rationale with delegators
5. Stay active: DReps must vote periodically to remain active (inactivity period defined by protocol)

Tools for DReps:

• GovTool (https://gov.tools): Web interface for DRep registration, voting, delegation
• cardano-cli: Command-line governance operations
• Preprod/Preview: Practice governance flows with test ADA (SanchoNet only for bleeding-edge features)

For stake pool operators

SPO governance participation:

1. SPOs cast votes actively — a vote is a transaction signed with the pool cold key; pool registration alone casts nothing
2. Optionally, delegate the pool's reward account to a pre-defined voting option (Abstain / No-Confidence) as a standing default — this does NOT apply to hard-fork actions, which always need an explicit vote
3. Vote on: hard fork initiation, motion of no-confidence, new CC members, security-relevant parameter changes, info actions
4. Voting weight proportional to delegated stake
5. Use cardano-cli or SPO-specific tools to cast votes

For ADA holders

Participating in governance:

1. Delegate to a DRep: Choose a DRep whose values align with yours
2. Delegate to Abstain: Opt out of governance (your stake does not count toward thresholds)
3. Delegate to No-Confidence: Signal dissatisfaction with the Constitutional Committee
4. Become a DRep yourself: Register and vote directly
5. Use GovTool: Web interface for delegation and exploration

Step 5: Tools and resources

GovTool

• Web-based governance participation tool
• Features: DRep registration, delegation, proposal viewing, voting
• URL: https://gov.tools
• Supports mainnet and testnets

Test environments

• Conway governance is live on mainnet (since 2024) and fully available on preprod and preview — practice DRep registration, voting, and proposals there with faucet test ADA
• SanchoNet is the bleeding-edge governance testnet; use it only for features not yet on the public testnets

cardano-cli governance commands

# Register as a DRep
cardano-cli latest governance drep registration-certificate \
  --drep-verification-key-file drep.vkey \
  --key-reg-deposit-amt 500000000 \
  --out-file drep-reg.cert

# Create a vote
cardano-cli latest governance vote create \
  --yes \
  --governance-action-tx-id <tx-id> \
  --governance-action-index 0 \
  --drep-verification-key-file drep.vkey \
  --out-file vote.json

# Query governance state
cardano-cli latest query gov-state
cardano-cli latest query drep-state --all-dreps

Step 6: SDK integration examples

Querying governance data

// Using Blockfrost
const proposals = await blockfrost.governanceProposals();
const dreps = await blockfrost.governanceDReps();
const votes = await blockfrost.governanceProposalVotes(proposalId);

# Using Koios
import requests
dreps = requests.get("https://api.koios.rest/api/v1/drep_list").json()
proposals = requests.get("https://api.koios.rest/api/v1/proposal_list").json()

Building governance transactions

// Using Mesh SDK
import { MeshTxBuilder } from "@meshsdk/core";

// DRep registration
const tx = new MeshTxBuilder({ fetcher, submitter });
tx.drepRegistrationCertificate(drepKeyHash, deposit);
// ... build, sign, submit

Step 7: Common issues

• Deposit requirements: DRep registration and proposals require deposits (returned when deregistered/enacted)
• Voting thresholds: Different action types have different thresholds (see CIP-1694 summary)
• Era mismatch: Governance transactions require Conway era; ensure node and tools are up to date
• Metadata hosting: DRep and proposal metadata must be hosted at a stable URL with a matching hash
• Wallet support: Not all wallets support CIP-95 yet; check wallet compatibility

References

• skills/governance-guide/references/cip-1694-summary.md -- CIP-1694 structure and voting thresholds
• CIP-1694: https://github.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/tree/master/CIP-1694
• CIP-95: https://github.com/cardano-foundation/CIPs/tree/master/CIP-0095
• GovTool: https://gov.tools
• SanchoNet: https://sancho.network
• Intersect governance: https://www.intersectmbo.org