/architect-review
Get focused architectural guidance — design review, technology evaluation, or pattern recommendation — from the system-architect agent on a specific question, with options enumerated and trade-offs named.
When to use it
Run this when a design decision is in front of you and the right answer isn’t obvious. The system-architect agent walks the question through context-clarification, options analysis (2–4 viable approaches with pros + cons), a recommendation with rationale, and implementation guidance. If you accept the recommendation, the output includes a draft Architecture Decision Record (ADR) ready to commit.
Use it for: new feature architecture before scoping tickets, technology evaluations (database choice, framework swap, third-party integration), refactoring proposals, resolution of technical disagreements between contributors, and capturing the rationale behind decisions you’ve already made (the “ADR after the fact” use case is real and valuable — better to write it down than not).
Don’t use this for implementation-level questions (“which library should I import?”). That’s day-to-day judgment. Use this when the question is “what shape should this whole system take?” — the level above implementation.
How it fits
Inputs are a focused design question. Outputs are options + a
recommendation + (optionally) an ADR. If the recommendation
produces actionable work, it routes to /create-ticket.
What it does (quick)
- Clarifies the problem being solved + constraints (time, budget, skills, tech)
- Presents 2–4 viable architectural approaches with pros, cons, best-fit use cases
- Identifies risks and trade-offs being accepted
- Provides a recommendation with rationale
- Drafts an ADR if you accept the recommendation (status: Proposed, ready to commit)
Related commands
/bootstrap-architecture— the one-time setup version; this command is the ongoing version run per design question/review-pr— when a PR raises an architectural question, the reviewer agent escalates via this command rather than blocking inline/create-ticket— the natural follow-up when an ADR’s “Implementation Guidance” produces actionable work
Canonical spec: .claude/commands/architect-review.md