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ADR-002: Parent-direction arrows in diagrams

Status: Accepted Date: 2026-04-19

Context

Git internally stores parent pointers — each commit points to its parent, not the other way around. The original PNG diagrams had inconsistent arrow directions, some pointing forward in time, some backward.

Decision

All commit arrows point from child to parent (right-to-left in horizontal layouts). This matches Git's internal pointer direction and the ASCII diagrams in the tutorial (A ← B ← C).

Alternatives considered

  • Timeline direction (left-to-right): More natural for reading time progression, but technically incorrect and contradicts the ASCII diagrams

Consequences

  • All draw.io diagrams must use child-to-parent arrows
  • ASCII diagrams in chapters already use ← — consistent
  • Readers learn the correct mental model from day one