ADR-NNNN:

• Status: Proposed | Accepted | Superseded by ADR-NNNN
• Date: YYYY-MM-DD
• Deciders:

Context

What forced a decision. Include the constraint that made it non-obvious — if there was no constraint, this does not need an ADR.

Options considered

Option A —

What it is. What it costs.

Option B —

What it is. What it costs.

Decision

What we chose, in one sentence.

Consequences

Good: what this buys.

Bad: what it costs — state this even when it is uncomfortable, especially then.

Revisit when: the condition under which this decision should be reopened.

What would change this

The observation that would make this decision wrong. Name a measurement, a threshold, or a constraint that could actually be checked — not "if requirements change".

A decision without a falsifier is a preference. This section is what makes an ADR reviewable by someone who was not in the room, and it is the first thing an interviewer reads.

Example, from ADR-0003 (LSA as the default encoder): "If a sentence-transformer model can be loaded offline in under 3 seconds on a cold machine with no network, the argument for LSA collapses — its only advantage is that it has no download."