Architecture Principles
Trigger Boundary
- •Use when architecture drivers are known but principles and guardrails are undefined.
- •Do not use to choose between concrete architecture options; use
architecture-tradeoff-analysis. - •Do not use to document finalized decisions; use
architecture-decision-records.
Goal
Define stable architecture principles that guide consistent decisions across teams.
Shared Architecture Contract (Canonical)
- •Use
skills/architecture-principles/references/architecture-governance-contract.mdas the only schema source. - •Validate all IDs, lifecycle states, and gate rules against the canonical contract.
- •Run machine validation:
python3 skills/architecture-principles/scripts/validate_architecture_contract.py --manifest <path/to/manifest.json>. - •Block host-specific path leakage with
python3 scripts/validate_no_absolute_paths.py. - •Start from valid samples when drafting manifests:
- •
skills/architecture-principles/references/samples/arc-prn-manifest.valid.json - •
skills/architecture-principles/references/samples/arc-cmp-manifest.valid.json
- •
- •Use the field-level guidance reference:
- •
skills/architecture-principles/references/manifest-field-guide.md
- •
- •Do not define local ID formats or alternate state machines.
Compliance & Governance Baseline (US, Japan, EU)
- •Encode privacy, security, residency, and transfer constraints as explicit principles.
- •Treat legal obligations as hard architecture constraints.
- •Prepare an
ARC-CMP-*evidence package for review.
Inputs
- •Business goals and quality attribute priorities
- •Regulatory and security constraints
- •Team topology and operational constraints
Outputs
- •Principle catalog with rationale and anti-patterns
- •Guardrail checklist for design reviews
- •Open principle conflicts and decision owners
Workflow
- •Translate business goals into measurable architecture drivers.
- •Draft principles with rationale, tradeoffs, and scope.
- •Define anti-pattern examples for each principle.
- •Convert principles into reviewable guardrail checks.
- •Resolve conflicts and assign owners for future revisions.
Quality Gates
- •Every principle is testable in architecture review.
- •Principle set contains no unresolved contradictions.
- •
ARC-CMP-*evidence package exists and is complete. - •Required approvers are assigned according to the contract.
Failure Handling
- •Stop when principles are vague or not reviewable.
- •Stop when canonical contract validation fails.
- •Escalate when mandatory legal constraints conflict with product goals.