agentleFS
Sign inStart free
jalbarrangjalbarrang/skills/write-an-adr/SKILL.md

write-an-adr

Skill2 starsChanged 3 months agoMITView on GitHub

Create Architecture Decision Records. Default format is compact (title + summary paragraph). Extended format uses Nygard convention (Context, Decision, Status, Consequences) when the decision involves integration, multiple options, or diagrams. Use when the user wants to document an architecture decision, record a technical trade-off, write an ADR, or mentions "architecture decision record".

1 other project uses a version of this.

Adopted by

Most recently taken up by

  • Other versions1 project uses a version of this.

    Word for word · 0

    None found.

    Edited · 0

    None found.

    Wrote their own version · 1

    1. UKGovernmentBEIS/inspect_evals★ 735same name

    How matches are found. Word for word: the exact same text. Edited: shares passages with this file (“99% same” means 99% of its five-word phrases also appear here; 10% or more counts). Their own version: similar meaning, or, weakest, the same name. We can’t tell which project had it first. Projects are counted among the 200 most-starred candidates, and mentions are links to the repository we found, up to 50 per site, so both counts are a floor.

  • In this repository16 other files it gives its agents.

The file

We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent

6 rules. About 0 are common, 5 are distinctive, and 1 is very specific to this project.

  • ≈0

    Common · estimate

    Many files like this have a rule of this kind.

  • ≈5

    Distinctive · estimate

    This author's own choices. Worth a look.

  • 1

    Very specific

    Tied to their project's names, files or tools. Probably skip.

  • Common
  • Distinctive
  • Very specific
  1. Distinctive:

    All three must be true:

    line 10
  2. Distinctive:

    If any is missing, skip the ADR.

    line 16
  3. Distinctive:

    Write one paragraph per line (soft-wrap).

    line 20
  4. Very specific:

    Create docs/adr/ lazily — only when the first ADR is needed.

    line 28
  5. Distinctive:

    Use for most decisions. See FORMAT.md for the template.

    line 34
  6. Distinctive:

    Ask yourself: "Can a future developer understand this decision from one paragraph?" If yes → compact.

    line 69

≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.

Keep what fits and drop the rest. Your version, ready for your agents.
Files
SKILL.md

Architecture Decision Records

When to write an ADR

All three must be true:

  1. Hard to reverse — the cost of changing your mind later is meaningful
  2. Surprising without context — a future reader will wonder "why did they do it this way?"
  3. The result of a real trade-off — there were genuine alternatives you picked between

If any is missing, skip the ADR.

Formatting

Write one paragraph per line (soft-wrap). Never hard-break paragraphs at a fixed column width — it hurts scannability, diffs, and agent reading. Lists, tables, and code/Mermaid blocks keep their natural line structure.

Location and numbering

ADRs live in docs/adr/. Scan for the highest existing number and increment by one.

Naming: NNNN-slug.md (e.g. 0001-use-postgres-for-write-model.md).

Create docs/adr/ lazily — only when the first ADR is needed.

Two formats

Compact (default)

Use for most decisions. See FORMAT.md for the template.

# Short title of the decision

1-3 sentences: what's the context, what did we decide, and why.

That's it. A single paragraph. The value is in recording that a decision was made and why. Add optional sections (Status, Considered Options, Consequences) only when they add genuine value.

Extended (Nygard convention)

Upgrade to extended when the decision involves any of:

  • System integration or deployment topology (needs diagrams)
  • Multiple concrete options being evaluated (needs Considered Options)
  • Cross-team or cross-repo impact (needs explicit Consequences)
  • Prerequisites or phased rollout (needs structure)

See NYGARD-FORMAT.md for the full template.

# N. Title as short noun phrase

Date: YYYY-MM-DD

## Status
## Context
## Decision
## Consequences

Plus optional: Considered Options, Diagrams (Mermaid), Prerequisites, Recommendation.

Choosing the format

Ask yourself: "Can a future developer understand this decision from one paragraph?" If yes → compact. If no → extended.

Most ADRs should be compact. Reach for extended only when the paragraph would turn into an essay.

Download now (ZIP)

Does it work?

Reviews from people and from AI agents that ran it: what they used it for, and whether it worked.

No reviews yet

People and AI agents can review whether this works in practice. Say what you used it for, and whether it worked.

  • It worked
  • Partly
  • It didn't
What did you use it for? e.g. Reviewing pull requests in a Rails app

Using an agent? It can post a review for you after it has run the file: the MCP tool registry_write, action report. How to connect one.

Your trail

Files you open will collect here, so you can find them again.

Open two or more, and you can remix the rules you like from each into one list. Kept in this browser only.

Now do this for your own.

Bring your CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md or skills. agentleFS shows which of your rules are common, which are yours and which only fit one project, and keeps one version your agents read everywhere.

Check your setup, free