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COMPEL Glossary / adr-architecture-decision-record

ADR (architecture decision record)

A short, dated document capturing the context, decision, consequences, and status of an architectural decision — e.g., "we chose hybrid retrieval over naive RAG because X".

What this means in practice

Stored as immutable history alongside the code; the ADR trail is the audit artefact for architecture-review gates and post-incident review.

Synonyms

architecture decision record , design decision record

See also

  • Architecture runway — The reusable platform components — inference infrastructure, retrieval stack, observability, policy engine, evaluation harness — that future AI use cases inherit rather than re-build.
  • Technical documentation (Annex IV) — The mandatory documentation that the provider of a high-risk AI system must draw up before placing it on the market.

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