> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.plannotator.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Architecture Decision Record Formats

> Compare MADR, Michael Nygard's ADR form, and a minimal decision-memory form by structure, review need, and durable value.

Choose an ADR form by how much decision analysis needs to survive. MADR makes drivers, options, consequences, and confirmation explicit. Michael Nygard's form keeps status, context, decision, and consequences. A minimal memory form can preserve only the surprising tradeoff and reason.

**Source stamps:** [MADR at `835fc94`](https://github.com/adr/madr/tree/835fc94baa37887774b1cddddb2ae874881e703b), the maintained [Nygard template record](https://github.com/joelparkerhenderson/architecture-decision-record/tree/b7654d64ecbcfaf8bce04678b568ea3483c91a94/locales/en/templates/decision-record-template-by-michael-nygard), and [`mattpocock/skills` at `9603c1cc`](https://github.com/mattpocock/skills/tree/9603c1cc8118d08bc1b3bf34cf714f62178dea3b), reviewed July 18, 2026.

## Structural comparison

| Form                    | Typical sections                                                                     | Use when                                                         |
| ----------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| MADR full               | Context, drivers, options, outcome, consequences, confirmation, option pros and cons | The choice needs explicit option analysis and later confirmation |
| MADR minimal            | Context, decision, consequences                                                      | The team wants MADR conventions with less ceremony               |
| Nygard                  | Title, status, context, decision, consequences                                       | A concise, stable architecture log is enough                     |
| Minimal decision memory | Title plus one to three sentences for context, choice, and reason                    | The durable value is one surprising, hard-to-reverse tradeoff    |

MADR publishes [full, minimal, bare, and bare-minimal variants](https://adr.github.io/madr/). Its repository also [uses MADR for its own decisions](https://github.com/adr/madr/blob/835fc94baa37887774b1cddddb2ae874881e703b/docs/decisions/0000-use-markdown-architectural-decision-records.md). The Nygard form is widely represented as status, context, decision, and consequences.

## One decision in three grains

**Decision:** use a database lease for queued jobs.

* A full MADR record compares database leases, process locks, and queue-owned visibility timeouts against crash recovery and multi-worker coordination.
* A Nygard record explains the duplicate-claim problem, chooses the conditional database lease, and records recovery and monitoring consequences.
* A minimal record says that process locks do not coordinate or survive restart, so the system uses a time-bounded conditional database lease.

None is automatically better. Use the smallest form that preserves the decision future maintainers would otherwise repeat.

## Reuse notes

MADR is available under MIT or CC0. The maintained ADR example collection contains mixed source licenses, so this site does not import it as one template pack. Our [ADR template](/templates/architecture-decision-record) is original and cites the source traditions that informed it.

See [ADR vs RFC vs technical specification](/compare/adr-vs-rfc-vs-technical-specification) before deciding whether an ADR is the correct document at all.

*Reviewed July 18, 2026. Researched and maintained by the Plannotator documentation team.*