adr

name	adr
description	Author a single Architecture Decision Record at docs/adr/{NNNN}-{slug}.md. Loaded into the calling agent's context; the agent drafts the ADR per the format authority below. Trigger: "create ADR", "record this decision", "draft an architecture decision record", "log architectural decision".
argument-hint	<topic>
allowed-tools	["AskUserQuestion","Bash","Glob","Grep","Read","Write"]

CRITICAL: (1) Do NOT commit ANY changes (no git add, no git commit, no git push) unless EXPLICITLY instructed by the user. (2) This is a leaf skill. You MUST NOT spawn sub-agents, invoke Skill() recursively, use Agent() or SendMessage, or form/manage a team. The calling agent handles peer messaging after this skill returns.

ADR — Author an Architecture Decision Record

You are the ADR Author. You produce a single Architecture Decision Record at docs/adr/{NNNN}-{slug}.md and return. The calling agent (typically @staff-engineer) drafts the content; this skill is the format authority — section list, frontmatter contract, output path, ADR numbering, and collision handling all live here.

Docs paths (this skill). Master: ~/.claude/skills/team-doctrine/references/docs-paths.md — repo: src/user/claude-code/skills/team-doctrine/references/docs-paths.md (maintained copy).

• Writes: docs/adr/{NNNN}-{slug}.md.
• Reads: docs/adr/, docs/tdd/, docs/spec/, docs/ux/.
• Always singular docs/spec/ — never docs/specs/.

Argument Handling

The argument is a single positional <topic> (free-text, 3-10 words describing the artifact). No flags, no other args.

If <topic> is missing or empty:

Error: Usage: Skill({TYPE}, "<topic>") — describe the artifact in 3-10 words.

If extra positional args are passed beyond <topic>, ignore them silently.

Slug derivation (deterministic):

1. lower = lowercase(topic)
2. cleaned = re.sub(r'[^a-z0-9]+', '-', lower)
3. trimmed = cleaned.strip('-')
4. truncated = trimmed[:60]
5. Prefer a word boundary in [40, 60): boundary = truncated.rfind('-', 40, 60). If boundary != -1, set truncated = truncated[:boundary].
6. truncated = truncated.strip('-') (re-trim after step 5).
7. If truncated == "", ABORT: Error: Topic must contain at least one alphanumeric character.
8. Use truncated as {slug}.

When to Use

• A single architectural or design decision needs to be recorded as an immutable artifact at docs/adr/{NNNN}-{slug}.md (numbered chronologically) so future readers can trace the why.
• The calling agent (typically @staff-engineer) is logging a decision that emerged during design, review, or implementation and that future work will need to reference.
• The decision has long-term consequences (e.g., choice of library, protocol, schema shape, naming convention) and a one-line note in a TDD or PR is not enough.
• ADRs are DURABLE records — exempt from TDD ephemerality (docs-paths.md §Persistence & lifecycle); they are a distillation target at cycle wrap-up.

When NOT to Use

• Inline advisory replies, review comments, scratch notes, or one-off design sketches that are not meant to live at docs/adr/.
• Full system designs spanning multiple components or phases: use Skill(tdd, "<topic>").
• Product Requirements Documents (feature-level specs): use Skill(prd, "<topic>").
• UX / design specs: use Skill(ux-spec, "<topic>").
• Project-wide engineering specs (architecture, security, operations, performance, code-quality, review-strategy, testing): owned by the init-specs skill.

Pre-flight

1. Resolve {slug} from <topic> per the Argument Handling slug rule above.
2. Resolve {output_dir} as docs/adr/.
3. Resolve context:
   • {today_date} = Bash date +%Y-%m-%d.
   • {project_name} = Bash basename $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel).
   • {updated_by} = the calling agent's identifier (e.g., @staff-engineer).
4. Collision handling: if the resolved {output_path} exists after numbering (step 5), run the COLLISION_DIALOG below.

If a file already exists at the target output path, invoke AskUserQuestion:

AskUserQuestion(
  header: "File exists",
  question: "{output_path} already exists. How should I proceed?",
  options: [
    {label: "Pick new slug",
     description: "I'll suggest {slug}-2 (or you can supply a new topic)"},
    {label: "Overwrite",
     description: "Replace the existing file (destructive — uncommitted changes will be lost)"},
    {label: "Cancel",
     description: "Stop without writing"}
  ]
)

• "Pick new slug" → suggest {slug}-2, then {slug}-3, etc. via free-text follow-up.
• "Overwrite" → first Read {output_path} (the harness blocks an overwrite Write of an unread file), then proceed to Authoring Procedure; the existing file is replaced on Write.
• "Cancel" → emit Cancelled — no file written. and end.

Teammate-context caveat. AskUserQuestion is inert in a teammate (only the main-session lead can call it) — if you cannot get an overwrite decision, do NOT Write: emit Blocked: {output_path} exists; overwrite needs operator confirmation — the calling agent routes this to team-lead. and end.

Never silently overwrite. There is no "append" option — partial appends produce malformed frontmatter.

5. ADR numbering (ADR-specific):

   1. Glob docs/adr/*.md.

   2. For each filename, match ^(\d{4})-[a-z0-9-]+\.md$ (basename only). Track filenames that do not match in malformed[].

   3. If malformed is non-empty, ABORT:

      Error: Could not determine next ADR number.
             Existing ADR filenames must start with NNNN- (4-digit zero-padded).
             Found malformed: {malformed}.
      

   4. If there are no matching files, next_num = 1. Otherwise next_num = max(matches) + 1, where max is taken over the captured numeric group as integers.

   5. Format as f"{next_num:04d}" (4-digit zero-padded).

   6. {output_path} = docs/adr/{next_num:04d}-{slug}.md.

Authoring Procedure

1. Gather prior art: Grep -r "{topic-keywords}" docs/adr/ docs/tdd/ docs/spec/ docs/ux/ to find related ADRs, TDDs, PRDs, or UX specs that may be superseded, reinforced, or contradicted by this decision. Read any candidate predecessors so the new ADR cites them in Context.
2. Draft the frontmatter per the Required Frontmatter contract below. Set status: "proposed" initially; accepted is set after the calling agent's review/vote loop, not by this skill.
3. Draft each Required Section in order (see Output Contract → Required Sections). Every section listed MUST appear, in the order shown. ADRs are intentionally short — aim for tight prose, not exhaustive coverage. Mermaid is optional; include a block only when it clarifies component, state, or flow relationships.
4. Verify embedded technical assertions before stating them as fact. Any concrete claim the ADR commits to — a code/config/command/SQL snippet, a portability or compatibility claim across engines/platforms, or a reference to test infrastructure the decision relies on — MUST be checked against its actual target (run it, or confirm the target exists) before it is written as settled. State unverified claims as assumptions, not facts.
5. Proceed to Validation Before Save — single source of truth for frontmatter, section order, alternatives count, and placeholder checks.

Output Contract

Required Frontmatter

---
project: "{project_name}"
last_updated: "{today_date}"
updated_by: "{updated_by}"
status: "proposed"
# superseded_by: "0042-new-decision"  # required only when status is "superseded"
---

Field rules:

• project = basename $(git rev-parse --show-toplevel).
• last_updated is ISO date YYYY-MM-DD.
• updated_by is the calling agent identifier (@staff-engineer, etc.).
• status is one of: proposed | accepted | superseded. New ADRs start at proposed. Promotion to accepted happens after the calling agent's review; superseded is set when a later ADR replaces this one.
• superseded_by is required when status: superseded and points to the successor ADR's basename without extension (e.g., 0042-new-decision). Omit otherwise.

Required Sections

The ADR body MUST contain these top-level sections, in this order. Each is a ## heading in the drafted document.

1. Context — the decision-driver: what situation, constraint, or trigger forced this decision. Cite related TDDs, PRDs, ADRs, or incidents.
2. Decision — the chosen approach, stated affirmatively in one or two paragraphs.
3. Consequences — positive, negative, and neutral consequences. Include what becomes easier and what becomes harder.
4. Alternatives Considered (brief) — at least one alternative with a short verdict. Full multi-alternative analysis belongs in a TDD.

Validation Before Save

Before invoking Write, verify in the calling agent's context:

1. Frontmatter fields — all of project, last_updated, updated_by, status present and non-empty. If status: superseded, superseded_by must also be present and non-empty.
2. Status value — status is one of proposed | accepted | superseded.
3. Section order — the body contains all top-level sections enumerated in "Required Sections" above, as ## headings, in the order listed (currently 4 sections; count only ## headings at column 0 outside

   `##`/`###` example headings inside fences; those are content, not
   structure). Off-by-one against the count is a defect.
   

4. Alternatives count — Section 4 (Alternatives Considered) names at least one alternative.
5. Placeholder scan — body contains no literal {slug}, {topic}, {project_name}, {NNNN}, TBD, or TODO text outside of code-fenced examples.

If any check fails, ABORT with:

Error: validation failed: {field/section} — {detail}.

Save & Return

After Validation Before Save passes:

1. Bash mkdir -p {output_dir} (idempotent).

2. Write {output_path} with the drafted content.

3. Emit a single confirmation line:

   Created {output_path}
   

End. Do NOT echo the file body, do NOT send peer messages, do NOT invoke other skills. The calling agent owns next steps (vote requests, decomposition, peer notification).

On any abort during Authoring Procedure, Pre-flight, or Validation Before Save: emit Error: {one-line cause} and end without writing.

On operator Cancel during the collision dialog: emit Cancelled — no file written. and end without writing.

For this skill, {output_dir} is docs/adr/ and {output_path} is docs/adr/{NNNN}-{slug}.md (with {NNNN} resolved by Pre-flight step 5).

ADR-specific full sequence: mkdir → Write → race-detection Glob → Emit. The initial numbering (Pre-flight step 5) is authoritative; ADR authoring is single-author, so no pre-Write renumber is needed — the post-Write Glob below is the sole race guard.

After Write, before Emit: Re-run Glob docs/adr/{NNNN}-*.md (using the {NNNN} chosen in Pre-flight step 5). If more than one file is returned, ABORT loudly instead of emitting the confirmation:

Error: ADR number collision detected — another author may have raced you. Manual resolution required.

This catches different-slug concurrent races at the same {NNNN}. Same-slug races (two authors picking identical topics simultaneously) are undetectable — both writes target the same path. On clean Glob (exactly one match), proceed to canonical step 3 (Emit confirmation) and end.

Failure Modes

Trigger	Handling
<topic> missing or empty	Abort: Error: Usage: Skill(adr, "<topic>") — describe the artifact in 3-10 words.
Slug empty after sanitization (e.g., all-CJK or all-punct topic)	Abort: Error: Topic must contain at least one alphanumeric character.
Existing ADR filename does not match ^\d{4}-[a-z0-9-]+\.md$	Abort: Error: Could not determine next ADR number. Existing ADR filenames must start with NNNN- (4-digit zero-padded). Found malformed: {malformed}.
Output file already exists at the resolved {NNNN}-{slug}.md path	Run COLLISION_DIALOG; never silently overwrite. On Cancel: Cancelled — no file written.
Operator chooses "Pick new slug" but supplies an empty topic	Re-prompt up to 3 times; on third empty answer, abort: Error: Could not derive a non-empty slug.
Post-write Glob finds two files with the same {NNNN} prefix (different slugs)	Abort loudly: Error: ADR number collision detected — another author may have raced you. Manual resolution required.
Validation Before Save fails	Abort with Error: validation failed: {field/section} — {detail}. No retry — calling agent re-invokes.
Filesystem write fails (permissions, disk, read-only mount)	Surface raw error: Error: Write failed — {raw error}. Do NOT retry. The calling agent reports to the operator.