SEC-001 Required sections

Overview

Validates that documents contain every required section heading. If any heading listed in sections is missing, an error is reported.

Why it matters

Even when documents like ADRs, requirement specs, or design docs are expected to follow a shared template, individual writers can drop sections such as ## Background or ## Decision. AI-generated drafts and rushed updates make this especially common, and reviewers often miss the omission. This rule detects missing headings mechanically.

Options

Field	Type	Required	Description
sections	string[]	Yes	Array of required section heading texts
files	string	—	Glob of files this rule applies to

Bad example

# ADR-001 Authentication mechanism

## Background

We need to choose an authentication mechanism.

## Decision

Adopt JWT.

With sections: ["Background", "Decision", "Consequences"], the missing Consequences section triggers a violation.

docs/adr/001.md
  line 0  error  Missing required section "Consequences"  SEC-001

After fix

# ADR-001 Authentication mechanism

## Background

We need to choose an authentication mechanism.

## Decision

Adopt JWT.

## Consequences

We no longer need a session store.

Configuration example

{
  "rule": "sec001",
  "options": {
    "sections": ["Background", "Decision", "Consequences"],
    "files": "adr/*.md"
  }
}

Use files to enforce a template only on documents in a specific directory, such as ADRs or requirement specs.

Related rules

• SEC-002 Section order — Once required sections exist, validates their order
• STR-001 Required files — Validates that the required files exist in the first place