ADR-0001: Use TOML for ADRs and Work Items

Status: accepted | Date: 2026-01-17

References: RFC-0000:C-ADR-DEF, RFC-0000:C-WORK-DEF

Context

ADRs and Work Items need a human-readable, machine-parseable format. JSON is verbose and hard to edit manually. YAML has implicit typing issues. TOML provides explicit typing, clean multiline strings, and good tooling support.

Decision

Use TOML for ADRs and Work Items instead of JSON. Structure follows [govctl] metadata section and [content] body section. This aligns with Rust ecosystem conventions (Cargo.toml).

Consequences

Positive: Easier manual editing, cleaner diffs, natural multiline support. Negative: Different format from RFC clauses (which remain JSON for richer structure). Migration: Existing JSON-based work items would need conversion.