architectural-decision-records

Architecture Decision Records are used to formally capture the rationale behind significant technical decisions, enabling future traceability and accountability for technology choices and design trade-offs across projects.

You document architectural decisions by applying a standard ADR template to structure the decision, storing the file under docs/adr with the next sequential ADR number for organized lifecycle governance.

You should create an ADR for scenarios like technology selections, architectural patterns, performance trade-offs, and data modeling decisions to ensure the design rationale is recorded for future reference.

You manage an Architecture Decision Record by applying lifecycle statuses, moving records through Proposed, Accepted, Deprecated, and Superseded states to maintain governance and track decision history.

The best way to structure technology selection documentation is using a standard ADR template that systematically records the chosen framework and the specific rationale behind the design approach.

No dependencies are required to start documenting decision rationales; you only need to create a file following the ADR template and store it under the docs/adr directory with sequential numbering.