Decision records that write themselves
Teams know they should keep Architecture Decision Records — and almost nobody sustains the habit, because ADRs are a separate document someone has to remember to write. Arialine generates the record as a side effect of the conversation: every diagram change is logged to a Slack Canvas with the who, when, and why, deep-linked to the source message.
Why ADR habits fail
- Writing the ADR is a separate chore after the decision is already made — so it gets skipped.
- The template lives in a repo or wiki nobody opens during the actual debate.
- Six months later, 'why is there a dead-letter queue?' has no findable answer.
- New joiners re-litigate settled decisions because the reasoning is buried in old threads.
How the decision ledger works
Every version records its cause
When a reply changes the diagram, the new version stores the author, the timestamp, and a quote of the message that caused it — with a Slack permalink back to the exact moment.
A canvas per board
Each diagram gets a Slack Canvas ledger with a visual Timeline (every version's render embedded) and a Decision log. It updates automatically; nobody maintains it.
Ask why
Ask '@arialine why is there a retry queue?' and it answers from the decision log, citing the original message and author.
Audit-friendly history
History is additive — Undo and Rewind are themselves recorded as new versions, so the ledger always matches reality.
Frequently asked
Is this a replacement for formal ADR documents?+
For many teams, yes — the ledger captures decision, context, author, and date automatically. For formal processes you can export the history and attach it to your ADR template.
Who can see the ledger?+
It's a Slack Canvas shared with the channel (or the DM participants for DM boards) — normal Slack permissions apply.
Does it work retroactively on old threads?+
Use the 'Render as diagram' shortcut on an old discussion to bootstrap a board from it; from then on every change is recorded.
Related use cases
- The whiteboard alternative that lives in Slack
- Generate diagrams from plain language, inside Slack
- Turn Markdown files into native Slack Canvases
Try it in your workspace
Free for small teams. Arialine only joins channels you invite it to.
Add to Slack