Write an architecture decision record

An ADR records why your team made a technical decision. This prompt writes a one-page record with the options you considered, the trade-offs you accepted and when the decision should be looked at again.

text-code-architecture-decision-record — claude — 76 words

Act as a staff engineer documenting a technical decision.

Decision: [e.g. move background jobs from cron to a queue]
Context: [WHY WE HAD TO DECIDE]
Options we considered: [LIST]
What we chose and why: [SHORT]

Write an ADR with title, status, context, decision, options considered with pros and cons, consequences (good and bad), and when we should revisit it. Keep it under one page, neutral in tone, and understandable to someone joining the team next year.

Edit in the builder Copy & open Claude ↗Copy & open ChatGPT ↗Copy & open Gemini ↗

The "consequences" section is the most useful one later. Be honest about the downsides you accepted.

Get a better result

What you will get

A one page architecture decision record with a title, status, context, the decision, each option with pros and cons, honest good and bad consequences and a note on when to look at it again.

Why it works

An ADR is written for someone who was not in the room, so the prompt asks for neutral tone and a reader who joins next year. Giving your real context and the options you weighed stops the model from inventing reasons. The revisit field is the part teams forget, and it turns the record into a reminder rather than a dusty file.

Common mistake

The rejected options sound like obvious bad ideas.

Fix: Ask it to argue each rejected option fairly, with the strongest reason someone would pick it. Future readers need to see why it lost.

Also watch for

The consequences list only the benefits. Tell it the downsides you already know about, as the tip says, and ask for at least two costs you accepted, such as new infrastructure to run.
The revisit line is “when needed”. Ask for a concrete trigger, such as a queue backlog above a number you choose or a date six months out.

Try a variation: record a reversal

Paste an old ADR and ask for a new one that replaces it, saying what changed in the context and marking the old one as superseded.

Still not right? Reply with this

Add a short section on what would make us reverse this decision, with a concrete signal to watch for each reason.