GovSCH

GovSCH (Governance Schema) is an open‑source project that provides standardized, machine‑readable schemas for authoring and translating cybersecurity and AI governance documents.
It delivers three schemas:

• Executive Orders Schema (eoschema): for U.S. presidential directives
• Framework Schema (frameworkschema): for cybersecurity and risk management frameworks
• Regulations Schema (regschema): for international data protection and privacy regulations

These schemas bridge the gap between high‑level governance language and technical implementation, making policies easier to interpret, automate, and operationalize.

Quick Start

Validate any governance document against a GovSCH schema in minutes.

1. Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/newamericafoundation/GovSCH.git 
cd GovSCH

2. Install dependencies

For Python:

pip install jsonschema pyyaml

For Bash (optional):

npm install -g ajv-cli

3. Validate a document

Using Python:

python scripts/validate.py executiveorders/eoschema.json examples/eo.sample.json

Using Bash:

./scripts/validate.sh executiveorders/eoschema.json examples/eo.sample.json

4. Try other schemas

Swap in a different schema and sample:

python scripts/validate.py frameworks/frameworkschema.json examples/framework.sample.json
python scripts/validate.py regulations/regschema.json examples/regulation.sample.json

5. Extend or contribute

• Fork this repository and add new schema fields or examples.
• Submit a pull request with your improvements.

Repository Structure

GovSCH/
├── schemas/
│   ├── executiveorders/
│   │   ├── eoschema.json
│   │   ├── eoschema.yaml
│   ├── frameworks/
│   │   ├── frameworkschema.json
│   │   ├── frameworkschema.yaml
│   ├── regulations/
│   │   ├── regschema.json
│   │   ├── regschema.yaml
├── examples/
│   ├── eo.sample.json
│   ├── framework.sample.json
│   ├── regulation.sample.json
├── scripts/
│   ├── validate.py
│   ├── validate.sh
├── docs/
│   ├── documentation.md
│   ├── methodology.md
├── VERSION
└── LICENSE

Contributing

We welcome community contributions!

• Open an issue to suggest enhancements or report bugs.
• Fork and submit a pull request with changes to schemas, examples, or documentation.
• Share feedback to improve the schema for real‑world use cases.

License

This project is open‑source and licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for more details.

Author

Developed by Dr. Ibrahim Waziri Jr. as a New America #STMIC Fellow and explored in depth in his report GovSCH: An Open-Source Schema for Authoring Cybersecurity and AI Governance Documents.

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Christina Morillo, Lauren Zabierek, Camille Stewart Gloster, Peter W. Singer, Bridget Chan, Olatunji Osunji, the 2025 #ShareTheMicInCyber cohort, and the New America teams whose guidance, feedback, and sponsorship made this work possible.