C.32.ADR:4.1 - Required section functions
The following section functions are required unless the decision relation states why the function is not live for this record use.
| Section function | What the record must let the reader recover |
|---|---|
| Identity and status | Record id, title, status, date or version, relation to superseded or superseding records. |
| Problem frame and decision question | The bounded architecture question, described holon, context, and current reader use. |
| Forces and architecture characteristics | The architecture characteristics, constraints, concerns, and trade-offs that made the decision nontrivial. |
| Candidate options | Candidate options, rejected options, bounded exception, or stated reason no candidate-set question is live. |
| Decision outcome | The selected architecture option and affected selected structures. |
| Rationale | Why this outcome is acceptable now, including accepted losses and protected guardrails. |
| Consequences | Expected effects on structures, methods, teams, costs, risks, evidence, operation, and later change. |
| Method-use instruction | Required style, pattern use, method description, or work practice, when the decision changes developer work. |
| Work split | Prospective allocation or instruction content through the plan, policy, commitment, permission, decision, responsibility, authority, or other direct relation that actually states it; otherwise the exact missing governor. Also show readiness or gate exits and the source-return condition. Professional titles are audience cues, not ownership predicates. |
| Confirmation or eval exit | How the decision can be checked, evaluated, monitored, or found violated. |
| Publication boundary | Links to architecture descriptions, views, evidence, assurance, and source material without making the ADR the source object. |