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ADR 0005: Risk-tiered recommended preset strategy

Status​

Accepted

Context​

Consumers need a starter preset that is practical for adoption in existing codebases. Enabling all rules at error from day one creates high migration friction and encourages blanket disabling.

Decision​

  • Keep etcMisc.configs.recommended intentionally selective.
  • Use severity tiering:
    • error for correctness and safety rules with strong signal.
    • warn for low-risk maintainability and style guidance.
  • Keep etcMisc.configs.all as the exhaustive preset for teams that want full rule coverage.

Consequences​

Positive​

  • Lower adoption friction and faster initial rollout.
  • Clear path from baseline (recommended) to strict enforcement (all plus local severity promotion).

Negative​

  • Some teams may expect stricter defaults and need to promote warnings sooner.
  • Recommended composition needs regular review as new rules are introduced.

Alternatives considered​

  1. Make recommended equal to all.
    • Rejected: too disruptive for first-time adopters.
  2. Keep recommended minimal and avoid new additions.
    • Rejected: under-delivers practical value and slows policy evolution.

Follow-up work​

  • Re-evaluate recommended membership when new rules are added.
  • Document rationale for each recommended inclusion in changelog/release notes.