# POSITIONING DECISION

**Initiative:** INITIATIVE-011A  
**Date:** 2026-06-23  
**Decision class:** D1 — Refactor (messaging change, no data change)  
**Approved by:** Program Director + Governance Officer (INITIATIVE-011A)

---

## The Three Options

### OPTION A — AI Engineering Learning Graph

| Criterion | Score (1–10) | Rationale |
|-----------|-------------|----------|
| Virality | 6 | "Learning Graph" is accurate but academic; doesn't travel fast on social |
| Clarity | 8 | Clear what it is — education + structure |
| Searchability | 7 | "AI Engineering" is a searched term; "Learning Graph" less so |
| Contributor appeal | 7 | Teachers and learners contribute; engineers less compelled |
| **Total** | **28/40** | |

**Verdict:** Strong clarity but low viral energy. "Graph" is insider terminology. Best for academic/education audiences.

---

### OPTION B — AI Engineering Operating System

| Criterion | Score (1–10) | Rationale |
|-----------|-------------|----------|
| Virality | 9 | "OS" is a powerful metaphor — implies foundational, essential, shared infrastructure |
| Clarity | 8 | Familiar concept (OS) applied to new domain — immediately evocative |
| Searchability | 8 | "AI Engineering OS", "AI agent OS", "agent operating system" are emerging search terms |
| Contributor appeal | 9 | "You're contributing to the OS for AI agents" is a strong identity signal |
| **Total** | **34/40** | |

**Verdict:** Strong across all dimensions. The OS metaphor communicates: foundational, shared, essential, community-governed. Aligns with existing tagline "The AI Agent Skill OS".

---

### OPTION C — AI Agent Architect Platform

| Criterion | Score (1–10) | Rationale |
|-----------|-------------|----------|
| Virality | 7 | "Architect Platform" is credible but corporate; less shareable |
| Clarity | 7 | Clear for enterprise buyers; less clear for individual developers |
| Searchability | 8 | "AI Agent Architect" is searched; "Platform" is competitive |
| Contributor appeal | 6 | "Platform" implies product company, not community project |
| **Total** | **28/40** | |

**Verdict:** Good for enterprise positioning but weakens the open-source community appeal. Sounds like a SaaS product, not a community OS.

---

## Scoring Summary

| Option | Virality | Clarity | Searchability | Contributor Appeal | **Total** |
|--------|---------|---------|--------------|-------------------|-----------|
| A — Learning Graph | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 28 |
| **B — AI Engineering OS** | **9** | **8** | **8** | **9** | **34** ✅ |
| C — Agent Architect Platform | 7 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 28 |

---

## WINNER: OPTION B — AI Engineering Operating System

### Rationale

1. **Aligns with existing tagline** — README already says "The AI Agent Skill OS"; this is a natural evolution
2. **The OS metaphor is the strongest frame** — An OS is foundational, shared, essential, community-governed. Skills-tree is all of these.
3. **Highest contributor appeal** — "Contribute to the OS for AI agents" is a stronger identity signal than "add to a learning graph"
4. **Viral energy** — "AI has an OS now" is a narrative that travels. People share it because it reframes how they think about the space.
5. **Search positioning** — "AI Engineering OS", "AI agent operating system", "agent skill OS" are defensible, emerging search terms

---

## Recommended Tagline Evolution

| Layer | Current | Recommended |
|-------|---------|------------|
| Primary | "The AI Agent Skill OS" | **"The AI Engineering OS"** |
| Secondary | "Build Smarter Agents, Faster" | **"The shared operating system for AI agent capabilities"** |
| GitHub description | (update) | **"AI Engineering OS — 368 skills, versioned, queryable, community-governed"** |

---

## Implementation Actions

- [ ] Update README.md H1 subtitle to "The AI Engineering OS"
- [ ] Update GitHub repository description
- [ ] Update PyPI package description
- [ ] Update all social share links with new positioning
- [ ] Align all meta documents to "AI Engineering OS" terminology

---

*Decision is binding for all INITIATIVE-011A outputs. Future repositioning requires new D1+ decision.*
