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One important caveat: “RFC” can also mean a formally published document in the Internet RFC Series. That is not simply an internal proposal awaiting comments, and an RFC is not automatically an Internet Standard.
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What is the difference between an ADR, RFC, and design document?
| Document | Main purpose | Typical timing | What it should make clear |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design document | Explain a proposed implementation well enough for people to review and improve it | While the design is still open to change | Problem, goals, proposed approach, alternatives, risks, open questions, and feedback needed |
| Internal RFC | Invite comments on a proposal from a defined group before a choice is settled | Before the decision | Scope, options, trade-offs, affected teams, review process, decision owner, and how feedback will be resolved |
| ADR | Record why a significant architectural choice was made and what follows from it | When a decision is made; updated through a new record if it changes | Context, selected option, consequences and trade-offs, status, date, and links to supporting material |
| IETF Internet-Draft or RFC | Develop or publish Internet technical specifications through the relevant standards process | Through IETF collaboration, review, and publication processes | The document’s stream and status, and its relationship to other RFCs or standards work |
The first three are not competing templates so much as artifacts for different jobs: explain, solicit feedback, and preserve a decision. Google’s documentation best practices describe design documents as proposals used to collect feedback; after implementation, they can serve as archives of decisions rather than authoritative, continuously current implementation instructions. AWS and Google Cloud similarly describe ADRs as records of significant decisions and their rationale.
When should you write an ADR?
Write an ADR when a consequential architectural choice is worth understanding later—especially when it affects system structure, quality attributes, or behavior, and a future team might otherwise repeat the debate or miss a trade-off. Google Cloud’s ADR overview frames the use case around choosing between two or more engineering options and recording the reasons for the selection.
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An ADR is a decision record, not a repository for every implementation detail. Include the material context, the chosen option, and its consequences. Add status and date, and link to the proposal, review, or implementation where useful. AWS Prescriptive Guidance summarizes the core as: “Each ADR describes the architectural decision, its context, and its consequences.” See its ADR process for lifecycle guidance.
If the decision changes
Keep the old ADR as a record of what was decided at the time, and create a new ADR that supersedes it. Explain which constraints or evidence changed. AWS describes accepted ADRs as immutable, with a later accepted ADR superseding an earlier one; the GOV.UK Architectural Decision Record Framework is another published framework for structuring these records.
Rank #2
Should you write an RFC or a design document?
Choose a design document to explain the proposed implementation
Use a design document when reviewers need enough detail to assess how a solution might work: its goals, approach, alternatives, risks, impact, and unresolved questions. Google’s guidance says, “A good design doc or PRD discusses the proposed implementation at length for the purpose of collecting feedback on that design.” The useful length and format depend on the problem; the document should give reviewers the information they need, not satisfy an arbitrary page count.
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Rank #3
Choose an internal RFC when your team has a review process for proposals
An internal RFC is useful when a proposal needs comments from a defined audience before a decision. Include the review scope, affected teams, options and trade-offs, who owns the decision, how long feedback is open if your process sets a window, and how the final disposition will be recorded.
There is no universal company-wide RFC workflow. Teams use the term differently, so make the local meaning explicit: who comments, who decides, and whether the RFC itself is updated after the decision or linked to a separate ADR. An internal RFC is not a substitute for a decision record unless it clearly preserves the final choice and rationale.
Rank #4
Do you need both an RFC or design document and an ADR?
Often, yes—when a proposal needs substantial review and its eventual architectural choice will matter to future maintainers. Keep the proposal focused on exploring the options and collecting feedback; use the ADR to state what was actually chosen and why. Link the documents rather than copying the whole discussion into each one.
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Is every RFC an Internet Standard?
No. In Internet standards work, an RFC is a published document in the RFC Series. The series includes multiple streams and statuses, and RFC publication alone does not make a document an Internet Standard. An Internet-Draft is a working document, not an RFC, and its publication does not mean that it has been approved or will eventually become an RFC.
The RFC Editor explains the series, streams, and statuses in What Is an RFC? Its How RFCs Are Created guide describes the Internet-Draft and publication process. When evaluating a particular RFC, check its current metadata, stream, status, and any related updates or obsoletions rather than inferring its standards standing from the RFC number.
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