Architecture Decision Record (ADR) — An architecture decision record (ADR) is a short document that captures a significant technical decision, its context, and its consequences — creating a durable, reviewable trail of why the system is built the way it is.
Architectures are the sum of many decisions, most of which are forgotten soon after they're made. An ADR records each significant one: what was decided, what alternatives were considered, and what trade-offs were accepted. Months later, ADRs answer 'why did we do it this way?' without archaeology.
In AI-native delivery, ADRs are doubly useful: they give agents the rationale behind constraints they must respect, and they're a natural place to flag architectural landmines.
Skaftor keeps ADRs inside blueprints and links them into the knowledge graph, so decisions live next to the architecture they shaped and travel with it into review and execution.
Typically the decision itself, the context and forces that led to it, the alternatives considered, and the consequences or trade-offs accepted. The value is a durable record of why — not just what — so future changes are made with the original reasoning in view.
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Last updated July 28, 2026 · https://skaftor.com/glossary/architecture-decision-record