decision-memo

decision-memo is a command for Claude Code from adamwstauffer/shidler. It costs 0 tokens per session (720 once invoked), scanned A, original, MIT.

A command for writing a decision memo, a durable record of why a project or policy choice was made.

In plain words
What is it for?
Searching previous decision records, then creating or superseding a memo under docs/decisions/ with verified supporting details.
Why use it?
It keeps important decisions and their relationship to earlier decisions documented for later human review.

Command for Claude Code

Written for Claude Code: installed under .claude/. Also seen: model in frontmatter; mentions CLAUDE.md.

Good fit Searching previous decision records, then creating or superseding a memo under docs/decisions/ with verified supporting details.

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Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add commands/adamwstauffer/shidler/decision-memo
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/adamwstauffer/shidler

Made for: Claude Code.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for decision-memo

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/adamwstauffer/shidler/decision-memo/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/commands/adamwstauffer/shidler/decision-memo)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/commands/adamwstauffer/shidler/decision-memo"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/commands/adamwstauffer/shidler/decision-memo/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for decision-memo

Your own site · 80×15
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Per session 0 Only the description is in the session, so the agent can decide to use it. The body loads when it is invoked.
When invoked 720 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin original No closer match found in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00000 $0.00720
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.00360
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.00144
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00072

Measured 9d ago against content hash 75125dba0589, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-09, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

decision-memo scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 9d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

.claude/commands/decision-memo.md · 32 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 32 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

/decision-memo [<topic-or-path>] — Author a decision memo (Fable-pinned)

Run when you need to capture a decision — a ratified choice, a course/project restructure, a trade-off resolution, a deprecation/supersession, a grading-policy call. Pinned to Fable: these memos are canonical and caught only at human review, so they get the strongest judgment model regardless of session model.

This command writes a memo under docs/decisions/. It does not write stage assignments, templates, or specs — a decision memo records why a choice was made; live materials implement it (CLAUDE.md working principle: "when records document a past change, update live materials, not the record").

What this command does

You author a decision memo to house standard. Work in this order:

  1. Grep prior decisions FIRST. Search docs/decisions/ and _archive/ for memos on the same topic before drafting. If one exists, decide: amend it, or write a new memo that explicitly supersedes it (and note the old one as superseded). Course-specific memos carry the -<course-code>- infix (e.g. 2026-05-07-bus629-stage2-restructure.md); repo-wide ones don't.
  2. Verify load-bearing claims against ground truth before asserting them — path/link claims via Grep/Read with file:line citations; spreadsheet claims via the xlsx skill / recalc.py; doc claims by opening the doc at HEAD. A memo that cites a moved path is worse than no memo.
  3. Draft to house format. Match the existing memos exactly:
    • YAML frontmatter: title, date, status: proposed, owner: Adam W. Stauffer, scope, related: [<prior memo filenames>].
    • Body: ## Executive Summary (100–150 words, active voice — the CLAUDE.md writing convention), ## Background/## Context, ## Decisions (numbered, each with Action + Rationale), ## Alternatives considered (rejected options with reasons), ## Consequences, ## Status.
    • Filename: docs/decisions/YYYY-MM-DD-<slug>.md (add the -<course-code>- infix for course-specific memos).
    • If Claude drafted it for review, open with the house callout: > **Drafted by Claude for Adam's review — nothing here is adopted.**
  4. Pause for ratification. End by naming what ratifying unblocks. Do not flip status: to accepted/implemented until Adam ratifies — leave it proposed.

Read the full file on GitHub · 32 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 9d ago First seen · 32 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A 75125dba0589

Subscribe to this mod's changes

decision-memo is a command published in the GitHub repository adamwstauffer/shidler (10 stars, last pushed yesterday), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 720 tokens. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. No closer match exists in the catalogue, so it is treated as the original; first seen 2026-08-31.