Agent skill · writing content · addyosmani
documentation-and-adrs
Records decisions and documentation. Use when you need to document an architecture decision (ADR) or the reasoning behind a design choice, when changing public APIs, shipping features, or when you need to record context that future engineers and agents will need to understand the codebase.
Why this skill is useful
Provides a structured approach to documenting architectural decisions and context that the AI wouldn't reliably generate on its own.
What it needs
About 6k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-06. 83,053 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Documentation and ADRs Overview Document decisions, not just code. The most valuable documentation captures the why — the context, constraints, and trade-offs that led to a decision. Code shows what was built; documentation explains why it was built this way and what alternatives were considered. This context is essential for future humans and agents working in the codebase. When to Use Making a significant architectural decision Choosing between competing approaches Adding or changing a public API Shipping a feature that changes user-facing behavior Onboarding new team members (or agents) to the project When you find yourself explaining the same thing repeatedly When NOT to use: Don't document obvious code. Don't add comments that restate what the code already says. Don't write docs for throwaway prototypes. Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) ADRs capture the reasoning behind significant technical decisions. They're the highest-value documentation you can write. When to Write an ADR Choosing a framework, library, or major dependency Designing a data model or database schema Selecting an authentication strategy Deciding on an API architecture (REST vs. GraphQL vs. tRPC) Choosing between build tools, hosting platforms, or infrastructure Any decision that would be expensive to reverse Match the existing convention first Before creating an ADR, inspect the available repository context for an established convention — existing ADRs, project instructions, and ADR-related configuration or tooling (e.g. an .adr-dir file). An established convention overrides the defaults below. Match: Location and format — e.g. docs/adr/.md, Documentation/Decisions/.rst, a MADR layout, or an adr-tools setup. Match the existing directory, file extension, and markup (Markdown vs reStructuredText). Numbering and naming — continue the existing sequence and filename pattern (ADR-004-Title.rst, 0004-title.md, …); don't restart at 001 or introduce a second scheme. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills addyosmani/documentation-and-adrs