@madhurahuja/adrcli

AI-powered Architecture Decision Record CLI for AI Architects.

adrcli takes a one-line business problem (or a structured YAML file) and runs it through a 7-step AI pipeline to produce a complete architecture report: candidate approaches, pros/cons matrix, cost & ROI, risk register, a formal ADR in MADR format, an implementation roadmap, and Mermaid diagrams — all in one command.

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Table of Contents

• Installation
• Quick Start
• LLM Providers
• Commands
• Input File Format
• Output Sections
• Configuration Reference
• Plugin Interfaces
• Troubleshooting
• License

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Installation

npm install -g @madhurahuja/adrcli

Verify:

adrcli --version

Requires: Node.js 18+

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Quick Start

The default provider is Ollama (local, free, private). adrcli auto-detects whether Ollama is running and guides you through setup if not.

adrcli analyze "Build a customer churn prediction system"

Produces a full architecture report in ./reports/.

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LLM Providers

Ollama (default — local, free, private)

Runs AI models on your own machine. No API key. Data stays local.

Install Ollama:

# macOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://ollama.com/install.sh | sh

# Windows — download from https://ollama.com/download

# Docker
docker run -d -p 11434:11434 ollama/ollama

Pull a model and start the server:

ollama pull llama3
ollama serve

Configure adrcli (these are already the defaults):

adrcli config set provider ollama
adrcli config set model llama3
adrcli config set ollamaUrl http://localhost:11434

Switch to a different local model:

ollama pull mistral
adrcli config set model mistral

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Claude (Anthropic)

adrcli config set provider claude
adrcli config set apiKey sk-ant-...

Optional — choose a specific model:

adrcli config set model claude-opus-4-6

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OpenAI

adrcli config set provider openai
adrcli config set apiKey sk-...

Optional — choose a specific model:

adrcli config set model gpt-4o

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Commands

analyze

Run the full 7-step architecture analysis pipeline.

adrcli analyze [prompt] [options]

Arguments:
  prompt              One-line problem description (optional)

Options:
  -f, --file <path>   Path to YAML/JSON problem input file
  -i, --interactive   Guided wizard — step-by-step input
  -w, --wizard        Alias for --interactive
  -o, --out <dir>     Output directory  (default: ./reports)
  --format <fmt>      markdown | html | pdf | all  (default: markdown)

Examples:

# Inline prompt
adrcli analyze "Build a real-time fraud detection system"

# From YAML file, all output formats
adrcli analyze --file problem.yaml --format all

# Interactive wizard
adrcli analyze --interactive

# Wizard with HTML output
adrcli analyze --wizard --format html

# Custom output directory
adrcli analyze "Migrate monolith to microservices" --out ./architecture/decisions

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config

Read and write persistent settings stored in ~/.adrcli/config.json.

# Show all settings
adrcli config get

# Set values
adrcli config set provider ollama
adrcli config set model llama3
adrcli config set apiKey sk-ant-...
adrcli config set ollamaUrl http://localhost:11434
adrcli config set outputDir ./reports

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Input File Format

Use -f / --file with a YAML or JSON file for structured input.

title: "Customer Churn Prediction"
description: "Predict churn 30 days out using transaction and support data"

constraints:
  budget: "$50k/year"
  timeline: "6 months"
  team_size: 5

stakeholders:
  - role: "Product"
    concern: "Accuracy > 85% F1-score"

successMetrics:
  - "Reduce churn 15% within 6 months"
  - "Inference latency < 200ms p99"

existingStack: ["AWS", "Python", "PostgreSQL"]

adrcli analyze --file problem.yaml --format all

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Output Sections

Section	What's inside
Architecture Candidates	4 distinct approaches with key components
Pros & Cons Matrix	Fit scores, tradeoffs per candidate
Cost & ROI	Monthly infra + LLM costs, payback period, ROI %
Risk Register	Severity-ranked risks with mitigations and owners
ADR (MADR format)	Formal decision record for the recommended approach
Implementation Roadmap	Phased delivery plan with milestones
Diagrams	Mermaid flowchart + Gantt chart

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Configuration Reference

Key	Default	Description
provider	ollama	LLM provider: ollama, claude, or openai
model	llama3	Model name passed to the provider
apiKey	(none)	API key for Claude or OpenAI
ollamaUrl	http://localhost:11434	Ollama server base URL
outputDir	./reports	Default output directory

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Plugin Interfaces

Extend the pipeline with custom providers or report sections.

Custom LLM Provider

interface LLMProvider {
  readonly id: string
  call(prompt: string, opts?: LLMOptions): Promise<string>
}

Custom Report Section

interface ReportSection {
  readonly id: string
  readonly title: string
  generate(context: AnalysisContext, provider: LLMProvider): Promise<SectionOutput>
}

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Troubleshooting

Ollama not running

Symptom: connect ECONNREFUSED 127.0.0.1:11434

adrcli will detect this and offer to start Ollama if it's installed. To start manually:

ollama serve

If Ollama is not installed, download from https://ollama.com.

Model not found

Symptom: model "llama3" not found

ollama pull llama3

Switch models:

ollama pull mistral
adrcli config set model mistral

API key errors

Symptom: 401 Unauthorized

adrcli config set provider claude
adrcli config set apiKey sk-ant-...
adrcli config get

PDF output fails

PDF requires Puppeteer (headless Chromium, ~170MB):

npm install -g puppeteer

Linux may also need:

sudo apt-get install -y libgbm-dev libnss3 libatk-bridge2.0-0 libxss1 libasound2

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License

MIT — see LICENSE for details.