Design Decisions

Design decisions

An architecture decision record (ADR) is a short document about one important choice. It records the problem, the options, what was chosen, and what follows from it. Anything hard to reverse gets an ADR before the code.

The full list, and the steps to add one, are in the ADR index.

Decisions so far

ADR	Decision	Status
0001	Build the app with Tauri 2, a Rust core, and a TypeScript, React, and Vite interface	Accepted (camera check in ADR 0004 pending)
0002	License OpenNote under Apache 2.0	Accepted
0003	Pin TypeScript to 6.0.x until typescript-eslint supports TypeScript 7	Accepted
0004	Keep WebView2 for ink, draw live strokes on a desynchronized canvas, and try delegated ink trails and a native ink layer in Phase 5	Accepted (camera check and budget review pending)
0005	Build each text container as its own Tiptap editor on one zoomable world, with contained blocks and ink in cached tiles	Accepted (review of the typing budget pending)
0006	Export PDFs with WebView2 PrintToPdf from a hidden WebView, with print CSS and layout rules that keep screen and paper in step	Accepted
0007	Record the microphone and system audio with cpal on WASAPI, align both to the performance counter, and store Opus in 1-second Ogg pages	Accepted

ADR 0000 is the template. Decisions after 0007 are proposed on the phase branches, and this page lists them once they merge to main.

Statuses

Status	Meaning
Proposed	Written and open for discussion, but not yet binding
Accepted	Agreed, and the code should follow it
Superseded	Replaced by a later ADR, which the status line links to

Accepted records aren't rewritten when plans change. A new ADR replaces the old one, and the old status changes to "Superseded by ADR NNNN". Numbers are never reused.

Add a decision

1. Copy the template to a new file with the next free number.
2. Fill in each section. One or two pages is enough.
3. Set the status to Proposed, and open a pull request with the ADR and no code.
4. Before it merges, set the status to Accepted, and add it to the index.

See Development process and Phase 1 spike results, which covers ADRs 0004 to 0007.