architecture-review-criteria

15 gates across 3 lenses and 1 cross-cutting escalation gate, applied by the solution-architect-reviewer on DESIGN artefacts.

When to use

When the solution-architect-reviewer runs a review pass on DESIGN artefacts
To verify DDD compliance, Clean Architecture adherence, and fitness for the stories in scope
To derive a formal verdict on ADRs, event models, component diagrams, context maps, and interface contracts

Entry contract

ADRs (adr-{NNN}-{slug}.md), supersession registry (docs/adr/supersessions.md)
Event models, component diagrams, context maps
Interface contracts (contracts-{story}.md), consistency matrices (consistency-matrix-{story}.md)
Blocker files (decision-drift-{story}-{NNN}.md) under blockers/{date}/

Exit contract

Formal verdict: approved, changes_requested, or rejected
Findings per lens and per gate with severity (BLOCKER, HIGH, MEDIUM, LOW)
When G13 is open: immediate REJECTED without evaluating other gates

Invariants

G13 is a short-circuit gate — an open blocker file with no resolution suspends the entire review
G1 back-fill required — patterns detected in existing code without a corresponding ADR must be covered
G14: never encode verdict in an ADR filename
G15: no ADR that restates the project baseline (CQS at method level, layer boundaries, convention-based DI registration)

Gate	Lens	Severity	Subject
G1	Consistency	BLOCKER	Every structural commitment has a traceable `Accepted` ADR
G2	Consistency	BLOCKER	No ADR contradicts another; supersessions are registered
G3	Arch Compliance	BLOCKER	Dependency rule: Domain and Application do not import Infrastructure or API
G4	Arch Compliance	BLOCKER	All application interfaces are defined in the Application layer
G5	Arch Compliance	HIGH	Each aggregate enforces only its own invariants
G6	Arch Compliance	HIGH	All context map relationships are labelled and admissible
G7	Fitness	HIGH	Every DISCUSS story maps to at least one Command or Query in the event model
G8	Fitness	HIGH	Every Command has at least one corresponding domain event
G9	Fitness	MEDIUM	No architectural element without story traceability
G10	Consistency	BLOCKER	`consistency-matrix-{story}.md` exists for each story, gate PASS
G11	Fitness	HIGH	Every ADR adopting a complexity-adding pattern cites at least one admissible force
G12	Consistency	BLOCKER	Every row in `supersession-plan-{story}.md` is realised (ADR + registry + artefacts)
G13	Escalation	BLOCKER	Every blocker file has a sibling `-resolution.md`
G14	Consistency	BLOCKER	No ADR filename carries a verdict
G15	Fitness	HIGH	No ADR restates a project baseline constraint

Why this shape

Adversarial review across independent lenses ensures that DDD compliance (lens 2), story fitness (lens 3), and cross-artefact consistency (lens 1) are evaluated separately. Human escalation (G13) is a short-circuit gate to prevent the review from progressing on an ambiguous foundation.

« The goal of software architecture is to minimize the human resources required to build and maintain the required system. » — Martin, R. C., Clean Architecture, 2017.

Allowed customisation

Severity of gates G5, G6, G7, G8, G9, G11, G15 (L2 — do not lower below HIGH for G5–G8, G11)
Additional patterns that trigger G11 (L2)