doccraft-adr

name

doccraft-adr

description

Author or update architecture decision records (a.k.a. ADRs, design decisions, architecture decision log entries) under docs/adr/ as NNN-kebab-case.md with Nygard-style Context, Decision, Consequences, and an explicit Status. Use whenever the user is recording a new decision, superseding an old one, capturing a rejected option so the team doesn't revisit it, or editing anything under docs/adr/ — even if they call it a design note, tech decision, or RFC outcome.

Managed by doccraft — doccraft update regenerates this file. Local edits will be overwritten. See doccraft.json to override project-specific vocabulary and paths without touching this file.

doccraft — architecture decision records (ADRs)

When to use

• A chat or design exploration reached a conclusion worth keeping (yes, no, defer, or "use X instead of Y").
• You need to supersede an older ADR without rewriting history.
• A rejected option should stay visible so the team does not revisit the same dead end.

Not every brainstorm needs an ADR — only decisions you want git history and agents to reuse.

YAML frontmatter

Use valid YAML between --- delimiters at the top of the file, or an inline **Status:** line immediately after the title. If the project sets adr.require_frontmatter: true in doccraft.yaml, frontmatter is mandatory — otherwise either form is acceptable, but frontmatter is preferred for machine-readability.

Field	Required	Values / notes
adr	yes	Three-digit zero-padded string matching the filename number (e.g. "007"). MUST be unique — verify before writing.
status	yes	One of the values in adr.status config (default: Proposed | Accepted | Superseded by NNN-slug | Deprecated). If the user does not specify, default to Proposed.
updated	yes	ISO date YYYY-MM-DD. MUST be set on creation and updated on every meaningful edit.
supersedes	optional	YAML list of ADR filenames this record supersedes (e.g. [005-old-approach.md]). Omit or [] if none.
superseded_by	optional	Filename of the ADR that replaced this one. Set to null or omit when active.

Do not invent new values for status without first adding them to the adr.status list in doccraft.yaml — that is the single source of truth. One-off nuance belongs in the body, not as a new enum value.

File location and naming

• Path: docs/adr/NNN-short-slug.md — three-digit zero-padded index, kebab-case slug (e.g. 001-managed-postgres.md).
• docs/adr/README.md is the index — do NOT treat it as an ADR; no NNN- prefix, no required Nygard sections.
• Pick the next unused number. NEVER renumber published ADRs; add a new ADR that supersedes instead.

Document structure (Nygard-style)

Use markdown with a top-level title, then these sections. MUST use these headings for grep-ability. Order MUST follow the sequence below:

Context

Problem, forces, constraints, what question was being answered.

Decision

Clear statement of what was chosen (including "we will not implement X").

Consequences

Positive and negative effects, follow-up work, coupling introduced.

Alternatives considered

Optional but MUST include when multiple options existed. Brief bullets: what was considered and why it was not chosen.

Do not add other top-level sections. Put additional context in Consequences or inline under the relevant heading.

Status and supersession

Record status near the top (after the title) as an inline **Status:** line, in YAML frontmatter, or both. Every ADR MUST have a status.

Status	Meaning
Proposed	Draft; not yet agreed.
Accepted	This is the active record (including "rejected feature" outcomes).
Superseded by NNN-other-slug	Replaced; link to the new ADR file by name.
Deprecated	No longer applies; one line why.

When superseding:

1. Add new ADR with higher number; Context MUST cite the old ADR.
2. Update old ADR's status line to Superseded by NNN-new-slug.
3. NEVER delete old ADRs — they are the record of what was considered.

Linking to stories

• Accepted ADR → implementation: add a story under docs/stories/ and reference the ADR filename in the story's adr_refs frontmatter field (see doccraft-story if installed).
• Story → ADR: list ADR filenames in the story's adr_refs when the story implements or is constrained by a decision.

Example skeleton

---
adr: "008"
status: Accepted
updated: 2026-05-30
supersedes: []
superseded_by: null
---

# ADR 008: Adopt managed Postgres for primary datastore

**Status:** Accepted

## Context

We need durable transactional storage for user and billing data. Running our
own Postgres adds oncall burden that doesn't match current team size.

## Decision

Use a managed Postgres offering (initial target: the cloud provider already
hosting the app). Review annually or when egress costs cross $X/month.

## Consequences

- + Backups, failover, and point-in-time recovery handled by the provider.
- + One less service to include in the oncall rotation.
- - Vendor lock-in on specific extension availability; portability audit
  required before any future migration.

## Alternatives considered

- **Self-hosted on VMs** — lower monthly cost but higher operational load;
  revisit if the team grows past a single platform engineer.
- **Serverless Postgres (e.g. Neon)** — attractive pricing model but
  connection-pooling behaviour didn't fit our long-lived worker pattern.

Rejected decision example

Title can state the outcome:

# ADR 009: Do not introduce a separate event bus (for now)

Decision: Keep using direct service-to-service calls. Revisit when a second consumer of any given event emerges, or when queue durability becomes a hard requirement.

This kind of ADR is valuable even though nothing ships from it — the next time someone proposes "let's add Kafka", the record explains why it was deferred and what would change the answer.

Invalid examples (do not use)

• Renumbering existing ADRs to "fill gaps" — NEVER renumber, always use the next available number.
• Status values like Draft, Approved, Closed — use the canonical values only (Proposed, Accepted, Superseded by …, Deprecated).
• Deleting or overwriting an old ADR instead of superseding it.
• Adding new top-level sections beyond Context, Decision, Consequences, and Alternatives considered — put extra detail under an existing heading.

Pre-write validation

Before writing or updating an ADR file, MUST complete these checks:

1. Next number — scan all docs/adr/NNN-*.md files and pick the next unused three-digit number. NEVER reuse or renumber existing ADRs.
2. Unique slug — confirm the kebab-case slug does not collide with an existing file. If it does, adjust the slug.
3. Valid status — status MUST be one of: Proposed, Accepted, Superseded by NNN-slug, Deprecated. No other values unless extended in doccraft.yaml.
4. Supersession consistency — if the new ADR supersedes an older one, verify the old ADR exists and update its status line to Superseded by NNN-new-slug in the same turn.
5. Required sections present — Context, Decision, and Consequences MUST all be present. Alternatives considered MUST be included when multiple options existed.

Done condition

The task is complete when:

• The ADR file exists at the correct path (docs/adr/NNN-slug.md) with the correct next number.
• Context, Decision, and Consequences sections are all present.
• Status is recorded (frontmatter, inline **Status:** line, or both).
• If superseding: the old ADR's status line has been updated in the same turn.
• docs/adr/README.md index has been updated with the new entry.

Configuration

Read doccraft.yaml at invocation. The adr: section is this skill's customisation surface; override the defaults in the tables above with the values found there. If the file is missing or the adr: section is absent, use the defaults as-is.

Relevant keys:

• docsDir — root folder for all docs, relative to project root. Default: docs. ADRs live at {docsDir}/adr/.
• adr.status — allowed values for the status: field. Default: [Proposed, Accepted, Deprecated] (plus the Superseded by … form). Extend if your project uses additional states.
• adr.require_frontmatter — when true, YAML frontmatter is mandatory on every ADR. Default: false (inline **Status:** line is also acceptable).
• adr.number_format — digit padding for the NNN prefix. Default: 3 (zero-padded to three digits).

Adding to a list in doccraft.yaml teaches the skill a new valid value without touching this file (which doccraft update regenerates). That is the intended way to extend vocabulary for a project.

Package context

For monorepo projects, ADRs may live at the project root or under a declared package's docs/adr/ tree (a Known package roots block appears above when packages are declared). For single-root projects no block appears, every ADR lives at the project-root docs/adr/, and the namespace rules below do not apply.

When the project declares packages, decide which scope to write to:

• Explicit package: arg. Honour an explicit package argument — write under that package's docs/adr/.
• Active-file inference. If the user is editing a file under a declared package path, default to that package's docs root.
• Root default. Otherwise, write to the project-root docs/adr/.

ADR numbering is per-scope: root and each package have independent number sequences. audio-engine/003-foo.md and the root 003-bar.md are both valid concurrent ADRs.

References in Status: Superseded by … and a story's adr_refs: may use the namespaced form <slug>/NNN-slug.md. Unprefixed filenames always refer to the project-root docs/adr/.

Conventions

• Prefer short ADRs (roughly one screen); split only if appendices are huge.
• Link to roadmap ids (P2.1) or story ids when it clarifies scope.
• If your project uses conventional commits, docs: scope is fine for ADR-only commits (e.g. docs(adr): add 008 managed postgres).

Workflow reminders

• After creating an ADR that drives implementation, create a story under docs/stories/ with adr_refs pointing to this ADR (use doccraft-story if installed).
• After superseding an ADR, verify no story's adr_refs still points only to the old ADR — update references to include the new one.
• After creating or superseding, update docs/adr/README.md index in the same turn.