Problem
Running charter (no subcommand) on a repo that already has it installed returns:
Charter Quickstart
Turns governance from abstract policy into merge-time guardrails.
Repo snapshot:
- Git repo: yes
- Governance baseline (.charter): installed
- Recent commits scanned: 20
- Governance-linked commit coverage: 5%
- High-risk commits without governance links: 0
Why teams use Charter:
- Catch risky, unreviewed changes before merge
...
Next action: Run: charter audit --format text for a shareable governance posture report
The "Why teams use Charter" block is shown every time even on repos where charter is already adopted. For daily developer use, this is noise — they don't need to be sold on a tool they've already installed.
Proposed UX
Split the default view into two modes:
First-time / not-installed (no .charter/ dir): show the current adoption pitch + quickstart
Installed (.charter/ exists): show a compact daily posture view:
charter — governance snapshot (2026-05-23)
Coverage: 5% (↓ from 12% last week) [warn]
Patterns: 0 active [warn]
Drift: no patterns to scan
Last audit: 2 days ago — score 0/100 [fail]
Run 'charter audit' for full report · 'charter doctor' to fix warnings
This makes charter a useful daily status command rather than a one-time onboarding tool. The adoption content can live in charter why (which already exists).
Notes
- Trend tracking (↑/↓) could be stored in
.charter/history.json or derived from git history
- The compact view should exit non-zero if any
[fail] is present when --ci flag is used
Problem
Running
charter(no subcommand) on a repo that already has it installed returns:The "Why teams use Charter" block is shown every time even on repos where charter is already adopted. For daily developer use, this is noise — they don't need to be sold on a tool they've already installed.
Proposed UX
Split the default view into two modes:
First-time / not-installed (no
.charter/dir): show the current adoption pitch + quickstartInstalled (
.charter/exists): show a compact daily posture view:This makes
chartera useful daily status command rather than a one-time onboarding tool. The adoption content can live incharter why(which already exists).Notes
.charter/history.jsonor derived from git history[fail]is present when--ciflag is used