# Communities

Communities in Gardens are formed under ecosystems and are managed by a Covenant along with a Council Safe. These communities are also permissionless, allowing anyone to create them within the ecosystem. 

The governance within a community can be centralized, where the Council Safe has the authority to manage settings and oversee the community’s activities, ensuring adherence to agreed-upon rules and standards.

### Covenant

The Covenant is a foundational agreement that governs the operations and decision-making processes within a Community. It outlines the rules and responsibilities of participants, ensuring that all actions align with the community's values and objectives. 

{% content-ref url="../the-covenant" %}
[the-covenant](https://docs.gardens.fund/the-covenant)
{% endcontent-ref %}

### Council Safe

The purpose of the Council Safe is to manage the settings of Pools and the community as a whole. Basically, the Council Safe is a Safe that exclusively manages a Community and has the power to establish a Community Covenant, initiate Conviction Voting modules (including funding and signaling pools), update pool parameters, collect revenue from members via a Community Fee, and boot members with malicious intentions from the Community.

* It allows council members to manage and allocate resources effectively while maintaining transparency and accountability to the community.

### Tribunal

The Tribunal serves as a dispute resolution body within a Community, addressing conflicts and ensuring fair governance. Members can submit grievances, and the Tribunal will adjudicate based on established guidelines, promoting a harmonious community environment. 

Specifically, communities select a Safe address for arbitration on funding and signaling proposals and any community member can dispute a proposal if they think it violates the Community Covenant, and the Tribunal Safe then rules on whether to remove the proposal.

 Securing pools with arbitration allows them to be open and permissionless in communities while protecting the community from abuse. 

* **Gardens Tribunal as a service:** provides external governance support to other projects or communities seeking to implement a structured dispute resolution system. This service leverages the expertise of existing Gardens to enhance governance frameworks elsewhere.

### Registration Stake

Refers to the registration cost of any user to join a Community. This requirement helps ensure that participants have a vested interest in the community's success and decision-making processes.

### Community Fee & Protocol Fee

You will find 2 different types of fees in Gardens v2: Community and Protocol Fees. 

* **Community Fees** are optionally set by the Council Safe of a community along with a beneficiary address, and are paid by their members on registration. 
* **Protocol Fees** (is a % of the community fee) go to the Gardens platform and are also paid by users when joining a community. Beekeeper and Protopian NFTs don't affect a Gardens community's ability to collect Community Fees.