Principles
An open-source list of principles used in software engineering
Install / Use
/learn @PrinciplesDotDev/PrinciplesREADME

Open-source principles to align engineering and leadership teams. Build is published onto <a href="https://principles.dev">principles.dev<a>. Contributors welcome. <br ><br > <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-CC%20BY--SA%204.0*-blue" /> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/License-GPLv3*-blue" /> <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/Since-2019-blue" /> <a href="https://twitter.com/principles_dev" ><img src="https://img.shields.io/twitter/follow/principles.dev?style=social" /></a> <br > <sub><sup>(*) Principle licensing may vary, read below for more info</sup></sub>
</div>Contributing
We are a group of contributors with a goal to make software engineering and leadership behaviors visible, to make software better for everyone.
You can create your principle by using the Editor, reading the how to write a principle and, of course, the <a href="https://github.com/PrinciplesDotDev/principles/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md">Contributing.md</a>. Once done you can submit a pull request back to this repo.
<br><br> <a href="https://principles.dev/editor/">

Keeping in touch
- Sign up for an account at https://principles.dev where you can save your principles drafts (for submitting to this repo) and organising your favourite principles in your profile.
- Follow @principles_dev to hear more about principles.
- There's also a mailing list on the website with infrequent emails about principles.
Licensing
Principles are generally licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International. But may be licensed under other creative commons license. Refer to the individual principle meta-data file for license claims - you can find this at the top of every principles file.
e.g. license = "CC BY-SA 4.0"
Principles may also be licensed under a dual GPLv3.0 license to allow software distribution under the same terms. Refer to the individual principle meta data for license claims - you can find this at the top of every principles file.
e.g. allow_dual_licensing_to_GPLv3 = true
For more information on licensing, read here: https://principles.dev/license/
<div align="center"> <br><br> <a href="https://principles.dev"> <img src="https://user-images.githubusercontent.com/610638/124029515-2370be80-d9ed-11eb-97e4-d20e54b51423.png" height="96" /> </a> <br><br> </div>Security Score
Audited on Mar 5, 2026
