Bliki: Architecture Decision Record

This article introduces Architecture Decision Records (ADRs), concise documents that capture and explain a single architectural decision for a product or ecosystem. It covers the purpose of ADRs—both as a historical record and a tool for clarifying group thinking—and provides guidelines on structure, including an inverted pyramid style, storage in source repositories (e.g., doc/adr), use of lightweight markup like Markdown, and numbering conventions. It details statuses (proposed, accepted, superseded) and emphasizes never modifying accepted ADRs but superseding them. The content also highlights including rationale, alternatives, and consequences, making it a practical guide for software teams managing technical decisions.