ADR-0019: Links to archived documents

Status: Proposed

Context

Documents are archived, never hard-deleted. link_broken means the linked slug does not exist. An archived document still has a slug and a row. The PRD does not say whether a link to it is broken or still valid.

This ADR recommends one rule. The product owner has not confirmed it.

Options

1. Treat an archived target as link_broken.
2. Resolve the link. The document exists. Show it as archived. Do not report link_broken.
3. Resolve the link in the body and reject it in frontmatter.

Decision

This is a recommended resolution of an ambiguity. The product owner has not confirmed it.

Archiving sets archived_at. It does not remove the document or the slug.

A link to an archived document resolves to that document. It is not link_broken. The reader sees the document and that it is archived. Archive does not rewrite links in other documents.

link_broken is only for a slug that matches no document, archived or not.

Replaces

The unspecified status of links to an archived document in section 2.3.

Consequences

• F03: links to archived documents still open the document.
• F06: link_broken does not treat archived_at as a missing slug.