Kleio vs RFCs / Design Docs
RFCs cover the big bets.
The other 95% of decisions disappear.
RFCs and design documents are excellent for high-stakes decisions that deserve ceremony. Most engineering decisions are too small for an RFC but too important to lose.
Where RFCs work well
- Thorough pre-implementation analysis with considered alternatives and tradeoffs.
- Team input through structured review — everyone has a chance to weigh in.
- Written record of the decision, rationale, and alternatives considered.
- Good for decisions that affect multiple teams or have long-term architectural impact.
- Forces disciplined thinking about consequences before committing.
Where they break down
- Heavy process — only used for decisions big enough to justify the ceremony. Most decisions fall below the threshold.
- RFCs are a point-in-time snapshot — reality diverges during implementation, and the RFC is rarely updated.
- AI-speed development means RFC timelines don't fit. By the time the RFC is reviewed, the agent already shipped it.
- Pros/cons lists become trojan horses — listing unwanted options "for completeness" gives them unearned legitimacy.
- Most decisions are too small for an RFC but too important to lose. There's no lightweight capture path.
- RFCs can't reference the hundreds of micro-decisions that followed during implementation.
How Kleio is different
- Zero-friction capture — decisions are recorded inline as you work, no formal process required.
- Captures the full spectrum, from architecture decisions down to "I chose approach A over B because..."
- Decisions can reference RFCs, but also capture all the micro-decisions that happened after the RFC was approved.
- Queryable — ask kleio_ask about any past decision, regardless of whether it was RFC-worthy.
- Living history — unlike static RFCs, Kleio's signal links track how decisions evolved through implementation.
- Works at AI speed — captures context from agent sessions that move faster than any RFC process.
See it in action
An agent plans a migration. Kleio captures every signal along the way.
Agent Plan
Task: Migrate auth from Firebase to Clerk
- 1.Scaffold Clerk provider and session hooks
- 2.Replace Firebase login/signup flows
- 3.Update API middleware for Clerk JWT validation
Press Build to run the capture demo.
Your AI agents already make decisions. Kleio makes sure they're remembered. Try it free →
Side-by-side
| Capability | RFCs / Design Docs | Kleio |
|---|---|---|
| Structured analysis | Via decision context | |
| Team review process | ||
| Micro-decision capture | ||
| Implementation tracking | ||
| AI-speed compatible | ||
| Queryable over time | Manual search | Semantic (kleio_ask) |
| Linked to code changes | ||
| Staleness risk | High | Low |
Better together or full replacement?
Complementary. RFCs are excellent for the 5% of decisions big enough to justify ceremony. Kleio captures the other 95% automatically. Together, you get both the deliberate, high-ceremony analysis for big bets and the continuous, zero-friction capture for everything else.
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