Adr Keeper

ADR Keeper

Architectural Decision Records capture the WHY behind structural choices. They are append-only (never edit old decisions — supersede with new ones) and sorted chronologically like database migrations.

When to Create an ADR

• Choosing or changing a dependency
• Establishing or changing an architectural pattern
• Making a trade-off that future developers (or agents) need to understand
• Any decision where "why did we do it this way?" would be asked later

File Location & Naming

ADRs live in docs/adrs/ (created by create-claude-md, or create manually).

Naming: YYYY-MM-DD-short-kebab-description.md

Examples:

• 2026-03-01-use-vitest-over-jest.md
• 2026-03-05-separate-ui-from-business-logic.md
• 2026-03-07-adopt-gherkin-acceptance-tests.md
• 2026-03-07-cloudflare-worker-as-api-proxy.md

The date prefix ensures ADRs sort chronologically, like migrations.

Creating an ADR

1. Create the file using the template below (see references/adr-template.md)
2. Fill all sections — Context is the most important (it captures the forces)
3. Add the entry to docs/adrs/index.md

Template

# ADR: [Short Title]

**Date:** YYYY-MM-DD
**Status:** Proposed | Accepted | Superseded by [link]

## Context

[What forces led to this decision? What problem were we solving?
What constraints did we face? Be specific — this is the most valuable
section because it captures WHY.]

## Decision

[What did we decide? State it clearly and concisely.]

## Consequences

### Positive
- [What we gain]

### Negative
- [What we trade away]

### Neutral
- [Side effects that are neither clearly good nor bad]

Managing ADRs

Superseding a Decision

Never edit an old ADR. Instead:

1. Create a new ADR explaining the new decision
2. Update the old ADR's status: **Status:** Superseded by [2026-04-15-new-decision.md](2026-04-15-new-decision.md)
3. Update docs/adrs/index.md for both entries

Maintaining the Index

After every ADR change, update docs/adrs/index.md:

# Architectural Decision Records

| Date       | Decision                              | Status                   |
|------------|---------------------------------------|--------------------------|
| 2026-03-07 | Adopt Gherkin acceptance tests        | Accepted                 |
| 2026-03-05 | Separate UI from business logic       | Accepted                 |
| 2026-03-01 | Use Vitest over Jest                  | Superseded by 2026-04-01 |

For Agents

• Before making structural decisions: Check docs/adrs/ for existing decisions that may justify or contradict the approach
• After making structural decisions: Create an ADR so the next agent (or human) understands why
• ADRs referenced from CLAUDE.md Knowledge Base table (set up by create-claude-md)

Seeding ADRs from Existing Projects

When bootstrapping ADRs for a project that already has undocumented decisions (common when running create-claude-md for the first time):

1. Look for "Key Decisions" sections in existing CLAUDE.md or AGENTS.md
2. Look for inline comments explaining WHY something was done
3. Look for TODO/HACK/FIXME comments that hint at trade-offs
4. Create one ADR per decision, all dated today
5. Update docs/adrs/index.md with all entries