ADR
An established software engineering pattern for recording significant technical decisions, proposed by Michael Nygard in 2011. Each record documents the decision context, considered alternatives, rationale for the chosen option, and expected consequences. The pattern was subsequently promoted as a best practice by ThoughtWorks and others.
Core Facts
Architecture Decision Records (ADR) is a lightweight documentation practice proposed by Michael Nygard in 2011.
An Architecture Decision Record (ADR) is a lightweight document format used in software engineering to systematically record important technical decisions, typically containing the decision context, alternative options, the final choice, and the rationale behind the trade-offs.
Timeline (last 90 days)
The way to mitigate the risk of tribal knowledge is to externalize it into architecture decision records (ADRs), README comments, or agent instruction files.
Engineering measures to break vendor lock-in include: writing infrastructure as Terraform or Pulumi code and putting it into your own repository, requiring all design discussions to be documented as ADRs, and placing CI/CD pipeline configuration under accounts you control.
An Architecture Decision Record (ADR) is a lightweight document format used in software engineering to systematically record important technical decisions, typically containing the decision context, alternative options, the final choice, and the rationale behind the trade-offs.
ADR (Architecture Decision Records) is a software engineering practice of maintaining decision logs that record the reasons for technical choices, alternative options considered, and the rationale for rejecting them.
After initialization, an AGENTS.md instruction file, a context directory, and technical documents such as ADRs are generated in the project root directory.
AI models have no project memory and start each new session in an amnesiac state, so key technical decisions need to be documented in ADR files for the AI to read.
Architecture Decision Records (ADR) is a practice proposed by Michael Nygard in 2011.
The goal of the information layer is to give agents a comprehensive understanding of the project, including project-level rule files (such as Cursor's .cursorrules and Windsurf's .windsurfrules), architecture decision records, API contract documents, and dependency graphs.
Structural design of the information layer includes project-level rule files (such as Cursor's .cursorrules and Windsurf's .windsurfrules), Architecture Decision Records (ADR), API contract files (such as OpenAPI Spec), and dependency graphs.
ADR (Architecture Decision Record) is a lightweight documentation practice proposed by Michael Nygard, used to record each important architectural decision in a project along with its context, rationale, and consequences.
1 more timeline events
All Facts (12)
Architecture Decision Records (ADR) is a lightweight documentation practice proposed by Michael Nygard in 2011.
70%VerifiedAn Architecture Decision Record (ADR) is a lightweight document format used in software engineering to systematically record important technical decisions, typically containing the decision context, alternative options, the final choice, and the rationale behind the trade-offs.
65%UnverifiedArchitecture Decision Records (ADR) is a practice proposed by Michael Nygard in 2011.
70%UnverifiedThe goal of the information layer is to give agents a comprehensive understanding of the project, including project-level rule files (such as Cursor's .cursorrules and Windsurf's .windsurfrules), architecture decision records, API contract documents, and dependency graphs.
60%UnverifiedADR (Architecture Decision Record) is a lightweight documentation practice proposed by Michael Nygard, used to record each important architectural decision in a project along with its context, rationale, and consequences.
60%UnverifiedThe way to mitigate the risk of tribal knowledge is to externalize it into architecture decision records (ADRs), README comments, or agent instruction files.
50%UnverifiedEngineering measures to break vendor lock-in include: writing infrastructure as Terraform or Pulumi code and putting it into your own repository, requiring all design discussions to be documented as ADRs, and placing CI/CD pipeline configuration under accounts you control.
50%UnverifiedADR (Architecture Decision Records) is a software engineering practice of maintaining decision logs that record the reasons for technical choices, alternative options considered, and the rationale for rejecting them.
50%UnverifiedAfter initialization, an AGENTS.md instruction file, a context directory, and technical documents such as ADRs are generated in the project root directory.
50%UnverifiedAI models have no project memory and start each new session in an amnesiac state, so key technical decisions need to be documented in ADR files for the AI to read.
50%UnverifiedStructural design of the information layer includes project-level rule files (such as Cursor's .cursorrules and Windsurf's .windsurfrules), Architecture Decision Records (ADR), API contract files (such as OpenAPI Spec), and dependency graphs.
50%Unverified过程笔记文件的做法与软件工程中的架构决策记录（ADR）实践高度相似，ADR由Michael Nygard在2011年系统化提出
50%