The charter is how the store works, written down in the store itself: processes, employees’ duties, rules for orders, suppliers, the warehouse and products, the technical setup. Employees read it in the Program, and the AI assistant reads it before any work.
Software development has a “specification first” approach (Spec-Driven Development): before writing code, people write down what the result should be, and the code is built from what is written, not from a verbal agreement. Melbis carries this approach over to the business. The owner says how they want it — in their own words. The assistant turns what was said into a charter document, points out what is unclear and asks. Only on the approved document does it act and build tools:
conversation → charter document → tools and dataThis way what is said in passing becomes rules that everyone works by alike: an employee today, a new employee a year later, the assistant in any session. Inconsistencies and misunderstandings show up while still in the text — before they turn into errors in the data.
A new store gets a sample charter: how to use the charter, how to lay out documents, the “What’s New” log and a draft of the catalog’s structure. The assistant’s note for everyone sends it to the charter from the first session. The sample is written in English: before the first edit the assistant translates it into the language you speak with it. The layout rules are yours: they lie in the charter itself and change like any other document. In a store without a charter the assistant will offer to set one up once agreements pile up.
Memory is about how the assistant works with a particular person: manner, habits, current affairs. The charter is about how the business works: it is shared by everyone and outlives any employee and any session. A decision about how something is done in the store the assistant offers to write into the charter, not into its own memory.