Archgate

**Enterprise-grade linting and guardrails for AI work.** [](LICENSE.md) [](https://github.com/archgate/cli/actions/workflows/release.yml) [](https://cli.archgate.dev) [](https://www.bestpractices.dev/projects/12659)

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AI agents write code fast, but they don't know your rules. Archgate turns your team's decisions into executable checks — a lint step for architecture, conventions, and AI output. Your agents read the rules before writing code, and archgate check blocks what slips through. In CI, in pre-commit hooks, and inside every major AI coding tool.

Write an ADR once. Enforce it everywhere.

How it works

Archgate has two layers:

1. ADRs as documents — markdown files with YAML frontmatter stored in .archgate/adrs/. Each ADR records a decision: what was decided, why, and what to do and not do.
2. ADRs as rules — each ADR can have a companion .rules.ts file that exports automated checks. Archgate runs these checks against your codebase and reports violations.

.archgate/
└── adrs/
    ├── ARCH-001-command-structure.md          # human-readable decision
    ├── ARCH-001-command-structure.rules.ts    # machine-executable checks
    ├── ARCH-002-error-handling.md
    └── ARCH-002-error-handling.rules.ts

When a rule is violated, archgate check reports the file, line, and which ADR was broken. Exit code 1 means violations — wire it into CI and it blocks merges automatically.

The CLI is free and open source. Writing ADRs, enforcing rules, running checks in CI, and wiring up pre-commit hooks all work without an account or subscription.

Installation

Install via standalone script, npm, pip, dotnet, Go, gem, Maven, or proto. See the installation guide for all options and platform support.

Quick start

# 1. Initialize governance in your project
cd my-project
archgate init

# 2. Edit the generated ADR to document a real decision
# .archgate/adrs/ARCH-001-*.md

# 3. Add a companion .rules.ts to enforce it automatically
# .archgate/adrs/ARCH-001-*.rules.ts

# 4. Run checks
archgate check

Writing rules

Each ADR can have a companion .rules.ts file that exports automated checks. See the writing rules guide for examples and the full rule API reference.

Supercharge with AI plugins

Make your AI agent architecture-aware. With the optional editor plugins, your AI coding agent reads ADRs before writing code, validates changes against your rules, and captures new architectural patterns back into ADRs — automatically.

Plugins are available for Claude Code and Cursor.

archgate login             # one-time GitHub auth
archgate init              # installs the plugin automatically

Get started with plugins — the CLI works fully without them, but plugins close the loop between decisions and code.

Documentation

Full documentation is available at cli.archgate.dev — including guides for writing ADRs, writing rules, CI integration, editor plugin setup, and the complete CLI reference.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for development setup and workflow.

License

Apache-2.0