diff --git a/docs/DECISIONS.md b/docs/DECISIONS.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a35d3aab0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/DECISIONS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+# Decision Record
+
+A record of design and API decisions with their rationale, enabling prior decisions to guide future ones.
+
+## Hooks as Low-Level Primitives, Not High-Level Abstractions
+
+**Date**: Jan 6, 2026
+
+### Decision
+
+Hooks serve as low-level extensibility primitives for the agent loop. High-level constructs SHOULD be built on top of hooks but MUST NOT expose `HookProvider` as the developer-facing interface.
+
+### Rationale
+
+Exposing `HookProvider` directly to consumers adds complexity to the implementor while offering no guidance on implementation requirements or type safety for specific use cases.
+
+For example, an Agent-provided `retry_strategy` should not be implemented as:
+
+```python
+def Agent.__init__(
+    ...
+    retry_strategy: HookProvider
+)
+```
+
+This is too low-level and gives no guidance on how a retry strategy should be implemented. Instead, a specific interface or base class should be built on top of hooks, providing additional scaffolding:
+
+```python
+class RetryStrategy(HookProvider):
+  
+    def register_hooks(registry):
+        ...
+    
+    @abstractmethod
+    def should_retry_model(e: Exception) -> bool:
+        """Return true if the model call should be retried based on this exception"""
+        ...
+    
+    def calculate_retry_delay(attempt: int) -> int:
+        ...
+```
+
+Higher-level abstractions require additional interface definitions, but this tradeoff provides an improved developer experience through explicit contracts. Developers with edge cases can still drop to raw `HookProvider` (and `agent.hooks`) when needed — optimizing for the common path is worth that escape hatch.