This APE defines the formal fundamental governance process for the Astropy Project. The Astropy Project broadly follows the philosophy of do-ocracy: project participants who gain experience and knowledge through sustained community contributions and have demonstrated adherence to core principles of inclusion and consensus-building will be entrusted with increasing levels of authority. This peaks with the Coordination Committee, which has relatively broad authority but seeks to exercise it as rarely as possible by working towards consensus. This is because at its core, the Project is both by and for its community, and therefore the community is the final source of authority and direction.