# Record Architecture Decisions

## Status

Accepted

## Context

We need to record the architectural decisions made on this project to ensure:

1. We have a record of what decisions were made and why
2. New team members can quickly understand past decisions
3. We can revisit decisions when requirements or context changes

Architecture decisions include:
- Technology choices (frameworks, libraries, tools)
- Design patterns and approaches
- Trade-offs between competing concerns
- API and interface designs
- Data structures and formats

## Decision

We will use Architecture Decision Records, as described by Michael Nygard in [this article](http://thinkrelevance.com/blog/2011/11/15/documenting-architecture-decisions).

Each ADR will be stored in the docs/adr directory as a Markdown file with a sequential number prefix (NNNN).

## Consequences

- Team members and future maintainers can understand why certain decisions were made
- The process of creating ADRs forces us to think through decisions more carefully
- We have a historical record that can be referenced when evaluating changes
- There is a small overhead in documenting decisions

## Alternatives Considered

- Documenting decisions in a wiki (rejected because it would be separate from the code)
- Not documenting decisions formally (rejected due to knowledge loss over time)
- Using a more complex decision documentation format (rejected in favor of simplicity)
