Some technical material belongs near a product guide but should not become a release artifact. ADRs, PDFs, architecture notes, seed notes and policies are supporting documents. ExtensionFlow stores them as documentation references and displays them next to the public documentation page.
Why this is not an extension artifact
Extension artifacts are installable or release-managed Joomla items: modules, plugins, packages, language packs and ZIPs. Documentation files are explanatory material. Registering ADRs or PDFs as extension artifacts would pollute the catalog and make release workflows confusing.
Admin fields
| Field | Purpose | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Human label for the related document. | Shown publicly on the documentation page. |
| Type | ADR, PDF, architecture note, API reference, guide, policy, release note or other. | Controls the badge shown to readers. |
| Source | URL, uploaded file or internal docs file. | Decides whether the public link redirects externally or serves a safe local file. |
| Public URL | External or already-public file address. | Used for PDFs or docs hosted outside ExtensionFlow. |
| Upload file | Stores a PDF/Markdown/text/XML/JSON file under writable uploads. | Use when the file should be managed from admin. |
| Internal file path | References files already in the repository, for example docs/architecture.md. | Use for ADRs and implementation notes shipped with the platform. |
| Visibility | Public or private. | Only public enabled references appear on the frontend. |
| Sort order | Manual display order. | Lower values appear first. |
Public display
Related files appear as supporting material on the extension documentation page. They are intentionally separated from installation steps and release history so the guide remains readable.
- ADRs explain decisions and architecture context.
- PDFs are useful for external specifications, customer-facing manuals or signed reference material.
- Seed and migration notes can remain linked for maintainers without becoming public product cards.