Mode d’emploi
- Copiez la commande et examinez le paquet avant de l’installer dans votre environnement agent.
- Consultez le document original pour les outils, identifiants et environnements requis.
- Décrivez les entrées et le livrable souhaité ; comparez la sortie aux sources.
npx skills add https://github.com/riekelt/technical-writer --skill recording-decisionsAvant de commencer
- L’installation n’inclut ni abonnement au modèle, ni quota API, ni accès aux fichiers.
- Étoiles et installations reflètent l’activité, pas un test indépendant de qualité ou de sécurité.
Rendu depuis le dépôt source en conservant titres, exemples, code, tableaux, liens et images.
Recording decisions
REQUIRED BACKGROUND: the technical-writing skill (hard rules, truth rules, style).
Overview
Two formats, by weight: a full ADR for a decision with architecture-level consequences; a decision log entry for the running stream of smaller choices. Both are append-only: an accepted decision is immutable; new context is a new entry that supersedes the old one.
When to invoke, and not
Invoke when a choice has been made and needs recording, when someone asks "write down why we did this", or when an existing decision is superseded. Do NOT invoke for a decision still being argued (that is writing-design-docs; its Why & What box becomes the ADR once accepted).
Also invoke on the signals that an unrecorded decision is passing by: "we decided X instead of Y", "let's just go with", a trade-off resolved in a PR comment or chat thread, or a rationale someone has now explained twice. Each is a decision living in a non-durable place; offer to record it.
Record the decision before citing it. A chat session is not a durable source. Put the dated substance in the log, quote the decider where wording matters, commit the entry, then cite it. Record the smallest complete decision, not a transcript.
ADR
Nygard format. One decision per ADR.
# ADR-[number]: [short title of the decision]
| | |
|---|---|
| **Status** | Proposed / Accepted / Superseded by ADR-XXX |
| **Date** | YYYY-MM-DD |
| **Deciders** | [who took part] |
## Context
[The forces at play: technical, organizational, political. What must be solved.
Factual, without giving away the decision.]
## Decision
[What was decided. Active voice: "We release on tags", not "it was decided that".]
## Consequences
**Positive:** [what gets easier]
**Negative:** [what gets harder, which trade we accept]
**Neutral:** [what changes without being better or worse]
## Alternatives considered
**[Alternative]** - For: [...] Against: [...] Why not chosen: [...]
## References
[Evidence, related decisions, measurements]Negative is mandatory and may not be empty. Each alternative carries its strongest argument for; a rejection without it is a strawman.
The sole permitted edit to an accepted ADR is its Status line gaining "Superseded by ADR-XXX". An objection raised but never answered goes in at full strength as a negative consequence with a named owner: the writer never invents a rebuttal and never withholds a decision its owner has declared. Names unknown at writing time are marked fill-before-filing, because a filed record carries real people.
Decision log (lightweight)
For the running log a full ADR would kill. Cheap enough to maintain:
## YYYY-MM-DD
### [Decision stated as an imperative sentence]
[One paragraph: the rule.]
Why:
- [reason]
- [reason]
Instead of: [rejected option] - [why not]Rules
- Append-only. A wrong entry gets a new dated entry that supersedes it, never an edit. Convert relative dates to absolute.
- Record the why, not only the what.
- When a written rule and shipped reality have diverged, record which one the team intended. Every doctrine document states what it owns and what it leaves to others.
- Scope guard at the top when a sibling could overlap: "product ideas live in ROADMAP.md; this file is for engineering decisions."
- Capture negative results and unknowns explicitly: "four theories, four disproved, cause not found" is a result. A search returning nothing is a result.
