adr-creator

ADR Creator

Overview

Pure writer skill for Architecture Decision Records. Always invoked by the memory skill, never directly for decision-making. It receives a write verdict already decided by the memory skill's reconciliation step and applies it to disk.

Inputs From the Memory Skill

Input	Required	Meaning
verdict	Yes	CREATE, UPDATE, or SUPERSEDE
topic	Yes	Stable topic slug for this subject
target	For UPDATE / SUPERSEDE	Path of the existing ADR being revised or replaced
tag	If already chosen	Shared mem/NNN tag for this session

If the verdict is missing, do not guess. Ask the memory skill to reconcile first — writing without a verdict is what causes duplicate ADRs.

Workflow

Step 1: Determine ADR Number

For CREATE and SUPERSEDE (which creates a new entry):

# List existing ADRs to find the highest number
Glob pattern: .nova/memory/adr/[0-9]*.md
Glob pattern: .nova/memory/archive/adr/[0-9]*.md

# Use next sequential three-digit number (001, 002, 003...)

Include archived entries when scanning — numbers are never reused.

For UPDATE, keep the target's existing number and filename.

Step 2: Determine Memory Tag

# Find the latest mem tag to determine next number
git tag -l 'mem/*' --sort=-version:refname | head -1

# Next tag: mem/NNN (increment by 1)
# If no tags exist, use mem/001

If the memory skill has already provided a tag name (because a DevLog is also being written in this session), use that same tag.

Step 3: Generate ADR Content

Analyze the conversation to extract the architectural decision. Follow the format in references/adr-format.md.

Structure:

---
tags: [tag1, tag2, tag3]
modules: [path/to/module1, path/to/module2]
summary: "One-line summary of the decision for Grep-based retrieval"
topic: stable-topic-slug
status: active
tag: mem/NNN
---

# ADR NNN: Concise Decision Title

## Date
YYYY-MM-DD HH:mm

## Background
- Problem description
- Why a decision was needed
- Technical constraints
- Alternative approaches considered

## Decision
- Chosen approach
- Key implementation points
- Design rationale (why this approach, why not others)

## Consequences
### Advantages
- Positive impacts

### Disadvantages
- Negative impacts and trade-offs

### Risk Mitigation (optional)
- How to reduce negative impacts

## Related Decisions
- ADR XXX: Reference to related decisions