Governance

Tag-Oriented Programming is led by a Director — authority held in trust for the community, inside a structure built to grow.

The Director

Julio Toboso (@JulTob) is the Director of Tag-Oriented Programming: the steward and, for now, the final design authority over the Specification. The Director sets the direction and keeps the paradigm coherent while it is young — the way the head of an agency sets the mission its Agents carry out.

This is a Bastón de Mando, not a throne — a staff of command held in trust for the community. (English has no exact word for it; "staff of command" or "stewardship" come closest.) It is held to organize and serve, not to own. The Director is the first to answer for TOP's coherence — and the first to hand off responsibility as the project earns it.

Growth path

The role is built to broaden:

• As contributors prove out a track, the Director appoints Section Chiefs — trusted leads for a track (the Specification, a language implementation, the process itself).
• A Council of Section Chiefs advises and, over time, shares decisions, with the Director as first among equals rather than sole decider.
• Trademark and final authority may pass to a neutral body if and when the project outgrows a single steward.

Until then the Director holds the staff — to keep one source of truth, and protect it from fragmenting before it can stand on its own.

How decisions are made

Changes move through the STEP process — see steps/README.md and CONTRIBUTING.md. Every STEP records its status and the reason it was Cleared or Redacted, in the open. Small fixes go through ordinary issues and PRs; all merges to main require the Director's review (CODEOWNERS).