ADR-0003 — Values are captured when the event is written

type: decision status: accepted tags: [decision]

Context

Events may be delivered later — by the asynchronous and batching sinks — and by other threads. Anything an event refers to could have changed by then.

Decision

[[src/PuduLangLog/Domain/Capture]] turns every argument into an immutable [[src/PuduLangLog|Value]] when the event is written: scalars as they are, structures rendered to text unless destructured with @, and every value cut to the policy's depth, text length, and collection size. Destructuring rules — transforms by tag, tags kept as text, custom rules, ignored or masked members — run at the same moment.

Consequences

• Sinks never see program data, only captured values, so no sink can change or retain it.
• Very large arguments cost their capture even when a filter later drops the event; the level check before capture is the cheap guard.

Referenced by

[[decisions/_MOC]] · [[domain/Capture]] · [[handoffs/2026-09-29-complete-api]]