11. Risks and Technical Debts

This chapter documents known risks, technical debts, and their current status as of October 2025.

Note: This chapter has been updated to reflect the actual implementation status. Many originally identified risks have been mitigated.

11.1 Mitigated Risks ✅

These risks from the original PRD have been successfully addressed:

Table 1. Mitigated Risks
Original Risk How It Was Mitigated Evidence Status

Include Resolution Complexity

Custom parser with cycle detection, tested with real arc42 docs

100% test coverage for document_parser.py, handles circular includes

✅ Mitigated

File Corruption

Atomic writes via backup-and-replace strategy (ADR-004)

Zero corruption incidents in testing, 82% overall test coverage

✅ Mitigated

Performance

In-memory index (ADR-002) delivers <2s startup for 600 pages

Measured: <2s startup, <100ms API calls, ~50MB memory

✅ Mitigated

Format Variations

Focused on standard AsciiDoc/Markdown, tested with arc42 templates

Successfully handles arc42 documentation (600 pages)

✅ Mitigated

Stale Index (No File Watching)

File watching implemented with watchdog library

Auto-refresh working, <500ms to detect and re-index changes

✅ Mitigated

Key Insight: All high-priority risks from the original design were successfully mitigated during implementation. The combination of comprehensive testing (82% coverage) and proven architectural patterns (ADR-001 through ADR-008) eliminated the major risk areas.

11.2 Remaining Risks and Limitations

These are known limitations of the current implementation:

Table 2. Current Limitations
Risk Level Description Impact Mitigation Plan

Low

Very Large Projects (>1000 pages)

Memory usage could exceed 100MB, startup >5s

Current limit is 600 pages (tested). For larger projects, consider persistent index or pagination.

Low

Non-Standard Markup

Custom AsciiDoc extensions may not parse correctly

Parser focuses on standard syntax. Extensions would require parser enhancements.

Low

Concurrent Write Conflicts

Multiple clients modifying same section simultaneously

Last-write-wins currently. Could add optimistic locking in future.

Low

Web Server Port Exhaustion

If ports 8080-8099 all in use

Fails gracefully with error message. User can manually specify port.

Risk Assessment: All remaining risks are Low severity. The system is production-ready for its target use cases (LLM-assisted documentation editing for projects up to 600 pages).

11.3 Technical Debt (Current Status)

Table 3. Technical Debt Status
Item Description Status Action Plan

Custom Parser

Custom document parser (ADR-005) requires ongoing maintenance

✅ Manageable

100% test coverage provides safety net. Re-evaluate quarterly for library alternatives.

~~No File Watching~~

~~Index doesn’t auto-refresh~~

✅ REPAID

Implemented in Oct 2025 with watchdog library. Debt eliminated.

Monolithic mcp_server.py

~~916-line file violated maintainability~~

✅ REPAID

Refactored into 7 modules (Issue #12, ADR-006). Debt eliminated.

Insufficient Test Coverage

~~Original design had minimal tests~~

✅ REPAID

82% coverage achieved (Issue #13, ADR-008). Debt eliminated.

Technical Debt Summary: - Repaid: 3 of 4 original debts eliminated - Remaining: 1 manageable debt (custom parser) - New Debt: None introduced

The aggressive debt repayment (Issues #12, #13, file watching implementation) resulted in a cleaner, more maintainable codebase than originally planned.

11.4 Deferred Features (Not Technical Debt)

These features from PRD v1.0 were consciously deferred, not forgotten:

Table 4. Deferred Features
Feature Reason for Deferral Future Consideration

Real-time Diff Display (Web UI)

Complexity higher than expected, web UI functional without it

Consider for v3.0 if user demand exists

get_elements() API

Requires sophisticated content parsing beyond section structure

Would need parser enhancement for diagram/table/code extraction

get_summary() API

Requires LLM integration for AI-generated summaries

Natural fit when LLM providers offer summarization APIs

replace_element() API

Complex interaction with content structure, low user demand

Defer until specific use case emerges

Important Distinction: These are deferred features, not technical debt. They were explicitly moved to "Future Features" in PRD v2.0 after evaluation. No code shortcuts were taken - the decision was made at design level.

11.5 Monitoring and Review

Debt Management Process:

  1. Quarterly Review - Re-evaluate custom parser alternatives

  2. Performance Monitoring - Track memory/CPU with larger projects

  3. User Feedback - Collect feedback on deferred features

  4. Library Updates - Monitor AsciiDoc library ecosystem

Success Criteria for Declaring Debt Paid: - Test coverage maintains >80% - All files remain <500 lines - No data corruption incidents - Performance within quality goals (Chapter 10)

Current Status: ✅ All criteria met as of Oct 2025.