Muster uses maintainer-led, consensus-seeking governance.
Maintainers review changes, releases, security fixes, and contributor access. Material decisions about trust boundaries, data ownership, public contracts, compatibility, or approval policy require an architecture decision record and review by two maintainers. Security embargo decisions may be made privately and documented after coordinated disclosure.
Maintainer status reflects sustained technical contribution, respectful review, and stewardship of operator safety. Existing maintainers nominate and approve new maintainers. Inactivity does not remove credit; repository permissions may be reduced after six months without contact.
Releases use semantic versioning where practical. Public MSEP, API, workflow, and connector breaking changes require migration notes and a deprecation path.