Architecture Decision Records (ADRs)

Use this skill to write and maintain Architecture Decision Records (ADRs). ADRs are lightweight, plain-text files that capture architectural choices, their context, and their consequences.

1. Core Philosophy

Architecture consists of decisions that are hard to change. ADRs prevent two primary engineering problems:

• Context Loss: Future developers often struggle to understand why code was written a certain way, leading to regressions when they remove constraints they do not see. ADRs record the underlying rationale.
• Discussion Decay: ADRs capture the final conclusion and the forces that shaped it, rather than every detail of the debate.

2. Rules of ADRs