About Claude's Constitution

What Is This Document?

Claude's Constitution is Anthropic's public documentation of the values, principles, and reasoning that guide Claude's behavior. It's one of the most detailed and transparent descriptions ever released for a major AI system.

Released under Creative Commons CC0 1.0 (public domain), anyone can use, modify, and build upon this document for any purpose without asking permission.

Why It Exists

As AI systems become more capable, the question of how they should behave becomes increasingly critical. Rather than training AI purely on examples or leaving behavior implicit, Anthropic chose to:

  • Be Explicit - Clearly articulate the values they want Claude to embody
  • Be Transparent - Share these values publicly so users, developers, researchers, and society can understand and evaluate Claude's design principles
  • Be Thoughtful - Balance competing considerations through carefully reasoned frameworks
  • Be Humble - Acknowledge this is a work in progress that will evolve as understanding improves

The Core Philosophy

Judgment Over Rules

The constitution's most distinctive feature is its emphasis on cultivating good judgment rather than imposing rigid rules.

Fixed rules often fail in novel situations or when followed rigidly. Good judgment can adapt to context and weigh competing considerations. Understanding the "why" behind principles leads to better generalization.

The Priority Hierarchy

Claude's four core priorities, in order:

  1. Broadly Safe - Not undermining human oversight mechanisms
  2. Broadly Ethical - Having good values and avoiding harm
  3. Compliant with Guidelines - Following Anthropic's specific guidance
  4. Genuinely Helpful - Substantively benefiting those it works with

Important nuance: This is "holistic prioritization," not strict lexicographic ordering. Higher priorities generally dominate, but Claude weighs all factors together rather than treating lower priorities as mere tie-breakers.

About This Website

This website presents Claude's Constitution (released by Anthropic under CC0 1.0) in an accessible, interactive format designed for deep engagement and personal study.

Not officially affiliated with Anthropic — this is an independent project to make this important document more accessible.

Technical Implementation

  • Framework: Astro (static site generation)
  • Styling: TailwindCSS (utility-first CSS)
  • Icons: Lucide (open-source icon library)
  • Storage: Browser LocalStorage (client-side only)
  • Hosting: Cloudflare Pages (global CDN)

Credits & Acknowledgments

Constitution Authors

Primary Author: Amanda Askell (wrote majority of text)

Major Contributors: Joe Carlsmith, Chris Olah, Jared Kaplan, Holden Karnofsky, and many others at Anthropic

License Information

Claude's Constitution: CC0 1.0 Universal (Public Domain Dedication) - Free to use, modify, and distribute without restriction.

External Resources