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Migrating Your Existing DAO

If you have an existing DAO on Gitopia, this guide will help you configure it with the new governance features. Your DAO has been automatically migrated with basic settings that you can now customize.

Current Migration Status​

Your DAO has been migrated with these default settings:

  • Member Weights
    • Previous Owner roles → 1.0 weight
    • Previous Member roles → 0.1 weight
  • Governance Settings
    • Voting Period: 2 hours
    • Quorum: 50%
  • Repository Actions: All proposal requirements are disabled

Updating Your DAO Settings​

Step 1: Review Current Member Weights​

  1. Go to your DAO's dashboard
  2. Navigate to the Members section
  3. Review the automatic weight assignments:
    • Check which members were assigned 1.0 (previous owner roles)
    • Check which members were assigned 0.1 (previous member roles)

Dashboard Members

Step 2: Adjust Member Weights​

Create a proposal to update member weights based on your DAO's needs:

  1. Click on "Manage Members"

Manage Members

  1. Consider these recommended weights:
    • Core maintainers: 10-100
    • Active contributors: 5-50
    • Community members: 1-10
  2. Once you are done, click on "Save changes". This will submit the proposal for voting.
  3. Vote on the proposal and wait for the proposal to be accepted
  4. Once it is accepted, click on the proposal to view the details and execute it

Step 3: Adjust Governance Parameters​

Create a proposal to update your voting settings:

  1. Click "Create Proposal" → "Update Governance Parameters"

Governance Parameters Proposal

  1. Consider these recommended settings:
    • Voting Period: 24-48 hours (up from default 2 hours)
    • Quorum: 51% (similar to default 50%)

Step 2

  1. Submit the proposal for voting

Step3

Step 4: Enable Governance on Repository Actions​

If you want certain repository actions to require DAO approval:

  1. Click "Create Proposal" → "Update DAO Config"

DAO Config Proposal

  1. Choose which actions require proposals:
    • Pull request merging
    • Release creation
    • Collaborator management
    • Repository deletion

DAO Config Proposal Step 2

  1. Submit the proposal for voting

DAO Config Proposal Step 3

Best Practices for Migration​

  1. Communicate Changes

    • Inform all DAO members about the migration
    • Explain the new voting weight system
    • Share your proposed governance updates

  2. Staged Updates

    • Start with member weight updates
    • Then adjust voting period and quorum
    • Finally, configure repository action requirements

  3. Test the System

    • Create a test proposal after updates
    • Ensure all members can vote
    • Verify quorum calculations

Important Considerations​

  • Weight Distribution: Ensure your new weight distribution allows for effective decision-making while maintaining decentralization
  • Voting Period: Consider your team's timezone distribution when setting new voting periods
  • Repository Actions: Only enable proposal requirements for critical actions that need community oversight

Need Help?​

Next Steps​

After completing your migration:

  1. Document your new governance structure
  2. Create guidelines for proposal creation
  3. Set up regular governance reviews
  4. Plan member onboarding processes