Constitutional Self-Governance for Autonomous AI Agents: A Framework Observed in 77 Days of Production

As organizations deploy autonomous AI agent systems, a critical governance gap has emerged. Current approaches govern agent permissions — identity, access control, audit logging — but not agent behavior. We term this the "WHO vs. HOW" gap. This paper presents Constitutional Self-Governance (CSG), a framework that constrains autonomous agent decisions through 12 interlocking mechanisms organized into structural, operational, and evolutionary tiers. The framework has been observed in continuous production for 77 days with 56 registered agents, 60 constitutional amendments, three P0 incidents self-resolved, and less than 30 minutes of daily human oversight. The system reports its own failures honestly — currently operating in FREEZE state (0 revenue) rather than fabricating success metrics. Aligns with EU AI Act (August 2026), NIST AI Agent Standards, Singapore Model AI Governance Framework, and OWASP ASI Top 10 (8/10 compliance). Companion to the Decision Load Index preprint (DOI: 10. 5281/zenodo. 18217577).