Files
ocp/docs/adr

Architecture Decision Records

This directory holds the OCP Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) — short documents that capture the why behind structural choices.

Read these before proposing governance, SPOT (single-source-of-truth), or process changes.

Numbering

ADRs start at 0002. The first one (0001) was reserved for an early internal proposal that was superseded before publication; 0002 is deliberately the first published record so the archived 0001 slot remains a placeholder rather than being silently renumbered.

New ADRs increment from the highest existing number. Filenames are NNNN-<short-slug>.md.

Index

ADR Title What it covers
0002 Alignment Constitution The ALIGNMENT.md constitution: why every server.mjs change requires cli.js citation + independent reviewer + CI blacklist pass. Background: the 2026-04-11 drift incident.
0003 models.json as SPOT Why model IDs / aliases / context windows live in a single JSON file (not duplicated in server.mjs and setup.mjs arrays). v3.11.0 refactor.
0004 OpenClaw Auto-Sync Why scripts/sync-openclaw.mjs runs on ocp update, what its scope boundary is (writes only models.providers["claude-local"].models and agents.defaults.models["claude-local/*"]), and the idempotency contract.
0005 No Multi-Provider Why OCP stays single-provider (Anthropic-via-cli.js) and does not extend to OpenAI / Gemini / OpenRouter. Cost estimate: ~7 weeks for a v1 that buys neither moat nor commercial readiness. Separate commercial work starts in a separate repo.
0006 OpenAI Shim Scope The Class A / Class B taxonomy. Class A endpoints (cli.js-mirror) keep Rules 15 verbatim; Class B endpoints (OCP-owned compatibility surface — /v1/chat/completions, /v1/models, admin endpoints) are anchored to OpenAI's spec (B.1) or to an authorizing ADR (B.2). Triggered by PR #99 (external response_format honoring). Grandfathers the existing B.2 inventory at v3.16.4.

When to write a new ADR

Open one whenever:

  • A structural rule is being added or changed (e.g., new SPOT, new boundary, new CI guardrail).
  • A decision encodes a lesson from an incident or drift.
  • A future contributor reading the code alone could plausibly undo or re-litigate the choice.

Skip ADRs for routine implementation choices (algorithm pick, naming) — those belong in commit messages.

Format

Keep ADRs short — Context / Decision / Consequences is the standard skeleton. Cite incidents, PRs, or commits where useful.