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An architecture decision record (ADR) briefly documents a significant design choice, the reasoning behind it, and the consequences the team accepts. ADRs help future maintainers answer “What were they thinking?” when they encounter a choice whose context has faded. ADR Guard is described as a GitHub Action that checks whether watched code changes are accompanied by an ADR update; verify its current implementation before relying on it.
What an ADR records—and when to write one
The UK government’s architecture framework defines an ADR as a formal document for capturing a significant architectural decision. A decision is significant when it affects a system’s structure, quality attributes, or behavior. The framework emphasizes making decisions visible and traceable while leaving decisions at the appropriate level.
Google Cloud describes ADRs as a way to explain why infrastructure or application teams make design choices. A useful record gives the context, options considered, main requirements, selected decision, and consequences—not just the final answer. Google Cloud’s ADR guidance identifies triggers such as an unresolved technical question, an inaccessible explanation of an existing solution, or a choice among engineering options.
Write an ADR when the choice is consequential enough that a later engineer may need its rationale, particularly when alternatives exist or the choice affects system qualities or behavior. Routine implementation details that do not meaningfully shape the architecture generally do not need a formal record. The aim is a compact explanation of a material decision, not a record of every discussion.
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What to include in a useful ADR
Keep one significant decision in each record. State the problem and relevant constraints, identify the options that mattered, explain the choice, and record its consequences. Include drawbacks, obligations, and neutral effects alongside benefits: a decision can be right for its context while still imposing costs.
The Ministry of Justice’s example recommends a concise format, sequential numbers that are not reused, and explicit positive, negative, and neutral consequences. Those are that team’s conventions, not universal ADR rules. Its ADR guidance is a practical illustration of how a team can make records readable and maintainable.
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Where to keep ADRs and how to preserve their history
Make records easy to find from the code or service they describe. Google Cloud notes that teams often keep ADR Markdown files close to the relevant codebase; the Ministry of Justice example uses a public repository. A central register can help with decisions spanning teams, but it should still make clear which systems and code are affected.
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Do not erase a decision merely because it is later reversed. Preserve the original record and mark it as superseded, then add a new record explaining the replacement and why circumstances changed. This leaves maintainers a legible history rather than a current answer stripped of the reasoning that once made another choice sensible.
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How to choose an ADR workflow
There is no single required placement or enforcement model. Choose a workflow that makes records findable without making routine changes needlessly burdensome.
| Choice | When it helps | Trade-off to consider |
|---|---|---|
| ADRs near the relevant code | Service-specific decisions need to be found by maintainers working in that codebase. | Cross-team decisions may be harder to discover unless linked or indexed. |
| Central register | Teams need one overview of decisions that span services or organizational boundaries. | Readers may need links from code or service documentation to reach the relevant records. |
| Service-level scope | The decision primarily affects one service or codebase. | Shared implications should be surfaced to the other teams affected. |
| Cross-team scope | The decision sets a shared constraint, interface, or architectural direction. | Ownership and review need to be clear so the record does not become detached from implementation. |
| Lightweight team convention | The team can keep records current through normal review practices. | Consistency depends on reviewers noticing when a decision deserves an ADR. |
| Automated pull-request check | A team wants a reminder or gate tied to changes in specified paths. | Path rules and exemptions need careful tuning to avoid irrelevant failures or misleading confidence. |
These are practical comparison axes drawn from the cited approaches, not a prescribed standard. Keep the template and review process concise: excessive ceremony can discourage records, while too little context makes them unhelpful later.
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What ADR Guard is described to do
A GitHub repository that lists ADR resources describes ADR Guard as a GitHub Action that fails a pull request when watched code paths change without a new or updated ADR. The same description says an ADR-Exempt: line with a reason can waive the check, and characterizes the project as template-agnostic, dependency-free, and MIT-licensed. These are repository-described properties, not independently verified implementation details. The repository reference is not a substitute for checking the action’s own current specification.
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Use a check as a prompt, not as the decision process
An automated check can connect changes in selected paths to a reminder that architecture documentation may need attention. It cannot determine whether a change is architecturally significant, whether the record explains the trade-offs, or whether an old decision has genuinely been superseded. Those remain team responsibilities.
Keep the watched paths aligned with the decisions the team wants to capture, and treat a reasoned exemption as an intentional exception rather than a substitute for review. A reliable history comes from discoverable records that explain choices and retain their predecessors; automation can support that habit but cannot create the rationale.
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