Architecture & Technical Decisions¶

Problem: When technical decisions are made, they often remain siloed in individual conversations with AI assistants. Team members working with different AI tools miss crucial context about why certain architectural choices were made, leading to inconsistent implementations and repeated debates.

Solution: Notify-MCP provides a unified notification layer for broadcasting architectural decisions across all AI platforms, creating a searchable, persistent record of technical choices.

The Challenge¶

Modern development teams face a critical problem:

Developer A asks Claude about microservices architecture and makes a decision
Developer B asks ChatGPT about the same issue hours later, unaware of Developer A's decision
Developer C discusses database choices with Gemini, missing both previous conversations
Result: Inconsistent implementations, duplicated research, conflicting approaches

This information fragmentation causes:

❌ Architectural drift across the codebase
❌ Repeated research on solved problems
❌ Lost context about decision rationale
❌ Difficulty onboarding new team members
❌ Inconsistent technical approaches

How Notify-MCP Solves This¶

Unified Decision Broadcast¶

When any team member makes an architectural decision with their AI assistant, it's automatically shared with everyone—regardless of which AI platform they use.

Searchable History¶

All decisions are stored persistently (SQLite/PostgreSQL), creating a queryable knowledge base of architectural choices.

Rich Context Preservation¶

Each decision includes: - Rationale: Why this choice was made - Alternatives: What was considered and rejected - Impact: What parts of the system are affected - Timeline: When the decision was made and by whom - Tags: For easy categorization and discovery

Real-World Scenario¶

Scenario: Migrating to Microservices Architecture¶

Team: 8 developers across 3 time zones, using Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini

Challenge: The team needs to migrate from a monolithic application to microservices, requiring coordination on service boundaries, communication patterns, and deployment strategies.

Step 1: Lead Architect Documents Decision¶

Alice (Lead Architect, using Claude Code):

Alice: "Create a channel called 'architecture' and publish a high-priority
notification about our decision to migrate to microservices."

Claude: "I'll publish the architectural decision to the architecture channel."

# Notification sent:
{
  "channel": "architecture",
  "title": "ADR-001: Migration to Microservices Architecture",
  "body": "## Decision\n\nWe will migrate from monolith to microservices using:\n\n
  - **Service Mesh:** Istio for service communication\n- **Containerization:**
  Docker + Kubernetes\n- **Service Boundaries:** Domain-Driven Design approach\n\n
  ## Rationale\n\nCurrent monolith challenges:\n- Deployment bottlenecks\n
  - Scaling limitations\n- Team independence issues\n\n## Alternatives Considered\n
  - Modular monolith (rejected: doesn't solve deployment issues)\n- Serverless
  (rejected: team expertise gap)\n\n## Impact\n\nAffects: All backend services,
  deployment pipeline, monitoring strategy\nTimeline: 6-month phased migration",
  "priority": "high",
  "theme": "architecture-decision",
  "tags": ["microservices", "architecture", "adr", "migration"],
  "sender": {
    "user_id": "alice@company.com",
    "name": "Alice Chen",
    "role": "Lead Architect",
    "ai_tool": "Claude"
  }
}

Step 2: Team Members Receive Notification Instantly¶

Bob (Backend Developer, using ChatGPT - 3 hours later):

Bob: "What are the latest architecture decisions I should know about?"

ChatGPT: "Let me check the architecture channel."

# Retrieves notification from Notify-MCP
ChatGPT: "Alice published ADR-001 3 hours ago about migrating to microservices.
The team is moving to Docker + Kubernetes with Istio service mesh. Domain-Driven
Design will guide service boundaries. This affects all backend services and
requires a 6-month phased migration."

Bob: "Got it. I'll design my new feature with service boundaries in mind."

Carol (DevOps Engineer, using Gemini - next day):

Carol: "Are there any recent architectural decisions affecting infrastructure?"

Gemini: "Yes, Alice published ADR-001 yesterday about microservices migration.
Key infrastructure impacts:
- Need Kubernetes cluster setup
- Istio service mesh implementation required
- Docker containerization for all services
- New deployment pipeline architecture

Would you like me to help plan the infrastructure changes?"

Carol: "Perfect. Let's start planning the K8s cluster."

Step 3: Follow-up Discussions Stay Connected¶

David (Frontend Developer, using Claude - 2 days later):

David: "I see we're moving to microservices. How does this affect frontend API calls?"

Claude: "Let me check the architecture decisions. According to ADR-001, the team
is implementing Istio service mesh. For frontend impact, you should publish a
follow-up notification asking about API gateway strategy."

# David publishes follow-up
{
  "channel": "architecture",
  "title": "Question: API Gateway Strategy for Frontend",
  "body": "Following ADR-001 (microservices migration), how should frontend
  applications consume the new services? Do we need an API gateway?",
  "priority": "medium",
  "theme": "architecture-question",
  "tags": ["microservices", "frontend", "api-gateway"],
  "thread_id": "adr-001"  # Links to original decision
}

Alice responds:

# Notification sent:
{
  "channel": "architecture",
  "title": "ADR-002: API Gateway with Kong",
  "body": "## Decision\n\nFrontend will access services through Kong API Gateway.
  \n\n## Rationale\n\nProvides:\n- Single entry point for frontend\n- Authentication/authorization
  \n- Rate limiting\n- Request routing\n\nWorks seamlessly with Istio for backend
  service mesh.",
  "priority": "high",
  "theme": "architecture-decision",
  "tags": ["api-gateway", "kong", "frontend", "adr"],
  "thread_id": "adr-001",  # Part of same discussion thread
  "in_reply_to": "msg-12345"
}

Benefits Demonstrated¶

🎯 Cross-Platform Alignment¶

Alice (Claude), Bob (ChatGPT), Carol (Gemini), David (Claude) all stayed synchronized
No information silos despite using different AI tools
Everyone aware of decisions affecting their work

📚 Knowledge Base Creation¶

Searchable history: "Show me all microservices-related decisions"
Rationale preserved: Future team members understand why choices were made
Threading: Related decisions stay connected (ADR-001 → ADR-002)

⚡ Reduced Decision Lag¶

Before: Days/weeks for decisions to propagate via meetings, docs, Slack
After: Instant notification to all subscribed team members
Impact: Faster implementation, fewer blockers

🔍 Discoverability¶

New team members: "Show me all architecture decisions from the last 6 months"
Tag-based search: "Find all decisions tagged with 'database'"
Priority filtering: "Show only high-priority architectural changes"

David's question led to ADR-002 about API gateway
Threaded discussions keep related decisions connected
Everyone can contribute regardless of AI platform

Implementation Guide¶

1. Setup Architecture Channel¶

# In any AI assistant with Notify-MCP
"Create a channel called 'architecture' for technical decisions"

# Each team member subscribes with filters
"Subscribe me to the 'architecture' channel, high and medium priority only"

3. Establish Notification Format¶

Use consistent tags and themes: - Theme: architecture-decision, architecture-question, architecture-change - Tags: adr, microservices, database, security, infrastructure - Priority: high for major decisions, medium for clarifications

4. Document Decision Template¶

Include in each architectural notification:

## Decision
What was decided

## Rationale
Why this choice was made

## Alternatives Considered
What was rejected and why

## Impact
What parts of the system are affected

## Timeline
When to implement, deadlines, phases

Use threading: - Set thread_id for related discussions - Use in_reply_to for direct responses - Tag with common keywords for searchability

Advanced Use Cases¶

Onboarding New Team Members¶

New hire asks:

"What are the key architectural decisions I should know about?"

AI assistant retrieves: - All architecture-decision notifications from last 12 months - Filtered by priority: high - Sorted chronologically to show evolution - Complete with rationale and context

Architecture Review Meetings¶

Before meeting:

"List all architecture decisions from the last sprint"

Result: - Complete record of all ADRs published - No decisions missed or forgotten - Discussion focuses on new topics, not rehashing known decisions

Compliance & Auditing¶

Audit request:

"Show all security-related architectural decisions from Q4"

Notify-MCP provides: - Timestamped record of security decisions - Author attribution (who decided what) - Rationale for compliance review - Threading showing decision evolution

Best Practices¶

✅ Do This¶

Publish decisions immediately - Don't wait for documentation
Include rationale - Future you will thank you
Tag consistently - Makes searching easier
Link related decisions - Use threading
Set appropriate priority - High for major changes, medium for clarifications

❌ Avoid This¶

Don't skip context - "We're using Postgres" is less useful than "We chose Postgres over MongoDB because..."
Don't forget alternatives - Document what was considered and rejected
Don't use vague titles - "Database Change" vs "ADR-005: Migration to PostgreSQL 15"
Don't ignore notifications - Subscribe to channels relevant to your work

Integration with Other Tools¶

ADR Tools¶

Notify-MCP complements (doesn't replace) architectural decision records:

Publish to Notify-MCP - Instant team notification
Document in ADR repository - Long-term formal record
Link them together - Include ADR link in notification body

Wiki/Documentation¶

Notification provides immediate awareness
Wiki provides detailed documentation
Notification links to wiki page - Best of both worlds

Issue Trackers¶

Architectural decision made - Publish to Notify-MCP
Create implementation issues - Link back to notification
Track progress - Update via new notifications

Measuring Success¶

Metrics to Track¶

Decision propagation time: How quickly do team members learn about decisions?
Duplicate research reduction: Are team members asking the same questions repeatedly?
Onboarding speed: How quickly do new hires get up to speed?
Decision consistency: Are implementations following architectural guidance?

Expected Outcomes¶

✅ 50% reduction in "I didn't know about that decision" incidents
✅ Faster onboarding for new team members (days vs weeks)
✅ Improved consistency across codebase
✅ Better decision quality through collaborative refinement

Next Steps¶

Install Notify-MCP - 5-minute setup
Configure SQLite storage - Enable team sharing
Create architecture channel - Start publishing decisions
Set up filters - Subscribe with relevant tags

Team Coordination - Coordinate work across distributed teams
Project Updates - Broadcast milestones and status
Real-World Scenarios - Complete workflow examples

Ready to eliminate architectural information silos? Get started with Notify-MCP today!