ADR3 min read

ADR-002 — Repository Boundaries Remain Independent

A workspace does not turn related repositories into one release or history boundary.

Status

Accepted

Context

Systems often combine repositories with different owners, release cadences, and CI pipelines.

Decision

Keep Git history, CI, release lifecycle, and integration policy at the repository boundary. Repositories may be physically nested below the ignored repos/ directory of the Git control repository, but remain independently cloned and managed. Record each one with a workspace-relative path and Git url; do not use submodules by default.

Alternatives considered

Move to a monorepo or implement a multi-repo transaction layer.

Consequences

Adoption remains incremental and repository-native. ws repo clone and ws repo sync provide convenience without merging histories; ws repo add can register an existing checkout and infer its remote URL. Cross-repository changes need explicit coordination.

Trade-offs

Independent boundaries preserve autonomy but make atomic system changes out of scope.

Extension path

Add a higher-level release coordinator without changing repository ownership.