The Twelve Traditions
How A.A. groups stay united without being centrally governed
The Twelve Traditions help A.A. groups make decisions, protect their primary purpose, remain self-supporting, relate responsibly to the public, and preserve the conditions in which recovery can be shared.
This page explains each Tradition separately. The explanations are local orientation; the official A.A. text and official chapter links remain the source.
How to use this guide
Bring the principle to the actual group question
The Traditions are not a script for one identical meeting format. Groups may differ in customs, schedules, service arrangements, and local practices while remaining connected to A.A. as a whole.
When a decision is difficult, identify the concrete issue, read the relevant official Tradition, hear the affected members, consider effects beyond one room, and allow an informed group conscience to develop.
- Name the decisionState what the group is actually deciding without turning disagreement into a judgment about people.
- Read the sourceUse the official short or long form and the corresponding official chapter.
- Hear the groupInvite relevant experience, including minority views and practical consequences.
- Check the wider effectAsk whether the decision affects another group, A.A. services, or A.A. as a whole.
- Record and revisitMake the decision clear, assign responsibility, and reconsider it when experience supplies new information.
Official A.A. foundation
Start with the official wording and official explanations
The source cards below are official A.A. destinations. Each individual Tradition chapter later on also links directly to its official PDF.
Meeting tools
Study the Traditions with other members
These are the established buttons for the exact meeting destinations. The circular button—not the surrounding explanation—is the link.
The working guide
Twelve Traditions, twelve distinct group questions
Each section below explains one Tradition on its own terms and ends with its matching official chapter.
Unity and common welfare
Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.
A group decision is larger than any one preference because members depend on a functioning fellowship in order to meet, connect, and carry the message.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition One places the common welfare of the group and fellowship in view. It does not erase individual needs or demand artificial agreement. It asks members to consider whether the way they disagree preserves a place where people can recover together.
Unity is not sameness. Members bring different histories, beliefs, personalities, and opinions. A healthy group can hear those differences without allowing one dispute, one personality, or one faction to make the meeting unusable for everyone else.
The practical question is not simply “Did my side win?” It is whether the process protected participation, clarity, continuity, and the group’s ability to serve the alcoholic who comes next.
Questions for the group
- What part of this decision affects the group’s ability to remain available and useful?
- Whose experience has not yet been heard?
- Can we disagree without assigning motives or treating dissent as disloyalty?
When a schedule, format, or personality conflict becomes heated, pause the vote long enough to restate the shared purpose, clarify the actual decision, and hear members who may be affected differently.
Keep in viewUnity does not require silence about unsafe conduct, financial problems, exclusion, or other matters that need honest group attention.
Group conscience and trusted service
For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.
A.A. service authority is expressed through an informed group conscience, while leaders carry responsibility as trusted servants.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Two changes the meaning of leadership. A chairperson, secretary, treasurer, GSR, sponsor, longtime member, or persuasive speaker does not own the group. Service positions carry duties, not governing power over members.
An informed group conscience is more than a quick majority count. Members need adequate information, time to speak, attention to minority views, and clarity about what is being decided. The group then entrusts people to carry out the decision and report back.
This arrangement calls for both humility and accountability. Trusted servants should not substitute private preference for the group’s direction, and the group should not abandon its responsibilities by expecting one person to decide everything.
Questions for the group
- Do members have enough information to make this decision?
- Are service roles and limits clear?
- How will the decision be carried out, reported, and reviewed?
Before electing or directing a trusted servant, define the responsibility, available discretion, reporting expectation, and point at which the matter returns to the group.
Keep in view“Trusted servant” does not excuse secrecy, intimidation, financial opacity, or refusal to answer to the group conscience.
Membership and belonging
The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.
A.A. membership is not awarded by a committee, credential, diagnosis, payment, belief test, or record of perfect conduct.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Three protects access to A.A. by locating membership in the individual’s desire to stop drinking. A group does not need to investigate a person’s history, certify the seriousness of their problem, or decide whether they are spiritually, socially, or medically acceptable.
This principle matters because gatekeeping can keep an alcoholic away from help. Members may be uncertain, ambivalent, frightened, returning after relapse, using different recovery supports, or uncomfortable with familiar A.A. language. None of those differences appoints another member as the judge of belonging.
Groups still make practical decisions about meeting access, disruptive behavior, and safety. Those decisions should address conduct and the needs of the meeting without converting them into a declaration that someone is not an A.A. member.
Questions for the group
- Are we adding a test for membership that A.A. does not require?
- Can we address specific conduct without deciding who is a “real” alcoholic?
- Does our language welcome a person who is unsure but wants help with drinking?
When conflict arises, separate the person’s membership from the behavior under discussion. State the meeting boundary specifically, apply it consistently, and avoid diagnosing or expelling someone from A.A.
Keep in viewThis Tradition does not require a meeting to ignore threats, harassment, or disruption. Safety measures should target conduct while avoiding invented membership tests.
Autonomy and wider responsibility
Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.
Groups have substantial freedom in their own affairs, alongside responsibility for effects on other groups and A.A. as a whole.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Four gives groups room to respond to local circumstances. Groups may choose formats, schedules, service practices, literature arrangements, accessibility measures, and customs through their own informed group conscience.
Autonomy is not isolation. A decision may use the A.A. name, affect neighboring meetings, change information relied on by an intergroup or district, or create a public impression about the fellowship. Those wider consequences deserve consultation before a local choice is finalized.
The discipline is to distinguish a truly internal matter from one that carries beyond the room. Consultation does not mean asking permission for every decision; it means seeking experience and avoiding preventable harm when other A.A. entities may be affected.
Questions for the group
- Who beyond this group could reasonably be affected?
- Are we using an A.A. name, listing, resource, or relationship that others rely on?
- Whose experience should we consult before deciding?
Before changing a public listing, shared location arrangement, district relationship, or use of the A.A. name, identify the affected parties and obtain relevant information without surrendering the group’s responsibility to decide.
Keep in viewAutonomy is not permission to misrepresent A.A., disregard another group, or treat wider consequences as somebody else’s problem.
Primary purpose
Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.
A group may do many useful things, but its identity and decisions remain organized around helping the alcoholic who still suffers.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Five gives an A.A. group a clear center. Meetings, service positions, literature, finances, outreach, and practical arrangements are evaluated by how they support the group’s ability to carry A.A.’s recovery message.
A clear purpose helps when attractive side projects appear. A project may be compassionate or socially valuable and still belong to another organization, professional field, or community effort. The group can respect that work without turning the A.A. meeting into a general-purpose service agency.
Primary purpose also shapes the meeting experience. Administrative convenience, familiar personalities, and internal debates should not crowd out the newcomer or make the message inaccessible. The group repeatedly asks whether its time, attention, and resources remain aligned with why it exists.
Questions for the group
- How does this proposal help the group carry the A.A. message?
- Could the same aim be handled by another organization without using the A.A. name?
- What would a newcomer experience if we adopted this decision?
When considering a new activity, write its purpose in one sentence. Compare that purpose with the group’s A.A. function, the resources it would consume, and the effect on the meeting’s accessibility and focus.
Keep in viewCarrying the message is peer-to-peer A.A. service. It does not turn a group into a treatment provider or authorize members to make professional claims.
Cooperation without affiliation
An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.
Groups protect their primary purpose by avoiding endorsement, financing, or the use of A.A.’s name to support outside organizations or ventures.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Six protects clarity about what A.A. is responsible for. A meeting may cooperate with a landlord, hospital, treatment setting, community facility, or public-information contact without implying that A.A. owns, approves, finances, or governs that outside entity.
The distinction matters because A.A.’s name can carry trust. If that name is used to advertise a product, endorse a program, promote a professional, or support a commercial venture, people may reasonably assume the fellowship has evaluated or guaranteed something it has not.
Money, property, and prestige can also redirect group attention. The group should keep agreements simple, identify who owns what, avoid financial entanglements, and communicate the relationship accurately.
Questions for the group
- Could a reasonable person mistake cooperation for A.A. endorsement or ownership?
- Are we lending the A.A. name to promote a person, service, product, or institution?
- Does this arrangement create money, property, or prestige concerns that could distract the group?
Review flyers, websites, room agreements, event names, and public descriptions. State the relationship plainly and remove wording or logos that imply affiliation beyond the actual arrangement.
Keep in viewCooperation is possible without affiliation. This Tradition does not require hostility toward treatment, faith communities, public agencies, or other organizations.
Self-support
Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.
Self-support connects financial independence with group responsibility and keeps outside money from directing A.A. activity.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Seven asks A.A. groups to support their own work through voluntary contributions rather than depending on outside funding. Rent, literature, accessibility, communications, and contributions to A.A. service entities become responsibilities the group understands and meets together.
Self-support is not only about paying bills. It reduces outside influence, makes financial choices visible to the group conscience, and encourages members to understand how the meeting and wider A.A. services are sustained.
Groups differ in expenses, reserves, contribution practices, and local needs. Sound practice includes regular treasurer reports, clear authorization, secure handling, realistic budgeting, and transparent decisions about funds beyond current expenses.
Questions for the group
- Do members understand the group’s actual expenses and available funds?
- Are contributions voluntary and handled transparently?
- Has the group decided how to address money beyond its current needs?
Use a plain treasurer report that shows opening balance, income, each expense, authorized contributions, and closing balance. Let the group conscience set its own prudent financial practice.
Keep in viewSelf-support does not create dues, a payment test, pressure on members with limited means, or special influence for larger contributors.
Fellowship and special services
Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.
A.A. members do not sell recovery sponsorship or membership, while A.A. service work may require skilled employees.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Eight distinguishes the member-to-member work of carrying the A.A. message from paid technical or administrative services. Sponsorship, sharing at meetings, and helping another alcoholic remain fellowship activities rather than professional services sold by members.
At the same time, offices and service entities may need employees with specialized skills, regular hours, or sustained responsibilities. Paying for that work does not purchase superior recovery authority. It compensates defined labor.
The distinction helps groups avoid two opposite errors: commercializing peer recovery or expecting complex service work to be performed indefinitely without appropriate structure and compensation.
Questions for the group
- Is this peer recovery service or a defined technical/administrative job?
- Are responsibilities, supervision, and compensation clear?
- Are we confusing employment expertise with authority over members or groups?
When paid help is considered, write the job duties and accountability clearly. Keep sponsorship, meeting participation, and spiritual authority outside the employment relationship.
Keep in viewProfessional skill is not disrespected, and paid A.A. service work is not spiritual rank. Sponsors and members remain peers rather than clinicians or governors.
Service without government
A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.
A.A. may form boards and committees that are directly responsible to those they serve, without organizing the fellowship as a governing hierarchy.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Nine does not mean that A.A. has no structure. Meetings need schedules, records, contacts, literature, finances, and communication. Districts, areas, intergroups, central offices, and world services perform work that individual groups could not efficiently do alone.
The distinction is between service organization and government over members. Committees and service boards receive defined responsibilities; they do not acquire authority to command personal recovery, control membership, or govern autonomous groups beyond the responsibilities entrusted to them.
Good structure makes responsibility visible. Members should know who is doing the work, who authorized it, what resources are available, where reports go, and how the service body remains accountable.
Questions for the group
- What work needs an organized service response?
- To whom is this committee or trusted servant directly responsible?
- Are responsibility, authority, reporting, and rotation understandable?
For every committee or service position, write a short charge: purpose, responsibilities, available discretion, resources, reporting schedule, and the decisions that remain with the group conscience.
Keep in view“Not organized” does not justify confusion, missing records, unaccountable money, or service positions with undefined power.
Public neutrality
Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.
The fellowship protects its unity and accessibility by not taking public positions on issues outside A.A.’s purpose.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Ten keeps the A.A. name from becoming attached to political, religious, commercial, medical, or social disputes that are not A.A.’s work. Members hold personal views and participate in civic life; the Tradition concerns positions attributed to A.A. groups or the fellowship.
Public neutrality helps people with sharply different beliefs enter the same meeting without being asked to adopt an outside platform. It also prevents the recovery message from becoming identified with whichever public position is currently popular or powerful.
Groups still need to discuss matters directly affecting their meetings and A.A. service. The question is whether the issue belongs to A.A.’s purpose and responsibility or whether the A.A. name is being used to enter a broader controversy.
Questions for the group
- Is this an A.A. matter or an outside issue brought into the group?
- Would a public statement imply that A.A. members share one outside opinion?
- Can we address the practical meeting impact without taking a broader position?
Before publishing a statement or joining a campaign, identify the exact A.A. purpose served, remove outside advocacy from the A.A. name, and keep necessary operational communication specific to the meeting.
Keep in viewThis Tradition does not silence members as private individuals or prevent a group from addressing its own safety, access, finances, or service responsibilities.
Public information and personal anonymity
Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.
A.A. public relations emphasize accurate information and attraction rather than promotion, while members protect personal anonymity at the public media level.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Eleven allows A.A. to be visible without marketing recovery through celebrity, pressure, or personal claims. Public information can explain what A.A. is, how to find it, and what it does not do. The focus remains the program and fellowship rather than a spokesperson’s identity.
Personal anonymity at the public level protects both the member and A.A. A public identification can imply personal representation of the fellowship, create prestige, and connect A.A.’s credibility to one person’s future conduct or outcome.
Digital communication changes the channels but not the underlying concern. Groups should think carefully about websites, livestreams, recordings, photographs, social media, press interviews, and any setting where a member may be publicly identifiable as an A.A. member.
Questions for the group
- Are we providing accurate public information or promoting a personality or result?
- Could a name, face, voice, image, or account identify an A.A. member publicly?
- Do participants understand and consent to the actual audience and recording conditions?
Review public-facing pages, posts, recordings, and event materials before release. Remove unnecessary personal identifiers, state A.A. information accurately, and make media expectations clear before participation.
Keep in viewAnonymity is not shame or secrecy about recovery. Members decide what they share personally while avoiding public identification as A.A. representatives.
Anonymity and humility
Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.
Anonymity supports humility by keeping status, fame, resentment, admiration, and personal loyalty from replacing the principles under discussion.
What this Tradition asks
Tradition Twelve brings the preceding Traditions back to a spiritual foundation of humility. The value of an idea does not depend on a member’s fame, seniority, popularity, service title, wealth, education, or force of personality.
Principles before personalities does not mean pretending personalities do not affect a group. Admiration can lead to unexamined influence; resentment can lead members to reject useful information; fear can silence questions. The group tries to return attention to the relevant Tradition, the facts, and the common welfare.
Anonymity also protects equality. Members can share experience without becoming public symbols of A.A. or measuring the program by one individual. The message remains available even when people change, rotate, disappoint, or leave.
Questions for the group
- Would we evaluate this proposal differently if another person presented it?
- Are admiration, resentment, fear, or status displacing the principle involved?
- What fact, Tradition, or group responsibility should return to the center?
When discussion becomes personal, restate the decision without names, identify the relevant principle, and separate accountability for conduct from praise or condemnation of the whole person.
Keep in viewAnonymity and humility do not conceal abuse, excuse misconduct, prevent financial accountability, or require silence about a concrete safety concern.
Continuing group practice
Use the Traditions before the conflict becomes a crisis
The Traditions become more useful when groups consult them during ordinary decisions—not only after trust has broken down. Regular inventories, clear service reports, accessible business meetings, and source-based discussion make difficult choices easier to understand.
No single Tradition answers every question alone. A financial proposal may involve self-support, affiliation, autonomy, and service responsibility at the same time. Name each concern separately, use the official sources, and let the group conscience weigh the whole picture.
Related local guides
Continue with the group question you actually have
These local pages provide context. They do not replace the official Traditions.
Official A.A. sources are linked at the beginning of this page and beside every Tradition. Reviewed August 14, 2026. Local explanations, questions, examples, and boundaries are editorial guidance rather than replacement wording.