## Text File Analyzer and Synthesizer Application Requirements Document **Version:** 1.0 **Date:** June 3, 2025 ### Introduction This document outlines general requirements for developing robust, user-friendly, and intelligent web applications. It draws inspiration from a text analysis and synthesis application but is designed to be adaptable for various projects involving data input, processing (potentially with AI), state management, and rich user interaction. The goal is to ensure high standards in functionality, usability, performance, and maintainability. --- ### I. Core Application Principles 1. **Clear Purpose & User Value:** - **REQ-CORE-001:** The application must have a clearly defined primary purpose and deliver tangible value to the target user. - **REQ-CORE-002:** All features should directly support the primary purpose or significantly enhance the user's ability to achieve their goals. 2. **Intuitive User Experience (UX):** - **REQ-CORE-003:** The application flow must be logical, intuitive, and minimize cognitive load on the user. - **REQ-CORE-004:** Navigation should be consistent and predictable throughout the application. - **REQ-CORE-005:** The application must provide clear feedback to the user for their actions (e.g., loading states, success messages, errors). 3. **Performance & Responsiveness (UI):** - **REQ-CORE-006:** The UI must be responsive and performant, providing quick feedback to user interactions. - **REQ-CORE-007:** Long-running processes should be handled asynchronously to avoid freezing the UI, with clear progress indicators. - **REQ-CORE-008:** The application should be optimized for fast load times. 4. **Data Fidelity & Reliability:** - **REQ-CORE-009:** The application must ensure the integrity and accuracy of user data and processed results. - **REQ-CORE-010:** AI-generated content or suggestions should be clearly distinguishable from user-provided or definitive data, and mechanisms for review/correction should be provided. 5. **Accessibility:** - **REQ-CORE-011:** The application should adhere to WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) AA standards. - **REQ-CORE-012:** All interactive elements must be keyboard accessible. - **REQ-CORE-013:** Appropriate ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes must be used to enhance accessibility for assistive technologies. --- ### II. Input Management 1. **Flexible Data Ingestion:** - **REQ-IN-001:** The application must support relevant input methods for its domain (e.g., file upload, direct text input, form entry). - **REQ-IN-002:** If file uploads are supported, provide multiple mechanisms (e.g., click-to-select, drag-and-drop). - **REQ-IN-003:** Support for uploading multiple files and entire folders (if applicable) should be considered. - **REQ-IN-004:** Clearly indicate supported file types and provide client-side filtering where appropriate. 2. **Input Validation & Pre-processing:** - **REQ-IN-005:** Implement client-side and server-side validation for all user inputs. - **REQ-IN-006:** Handle various file encodings and formats gracefully (e.g., parsing text from PDFs, text files). - **REQ-IN-007:** Provide mechanisms to generate previews or summaries of input data where appropriate. 3. **Real-time Feedback:** - **REQ-IN-008:** Provide immediate visual feedback during file uploads or data entry (e.g., progress bars, file lists). --- ### III. AI/Computational Service Integration 1. **Secure API Key Management:** - **REQ-AI-001:** API keys for external services (like Gemini API) must be managed securely and not exposed on the client-side. - **REQ-AI-002:** Assume API keys are provided via secure environment variables on the server or execution environment. The application must not provide UI for API key input. 2. **Configurable Model/Service Parameters:** - **REQ-AI-003:** Allow for centralized configuration of AI model parameters (e.g., model name, temperature, top-P, specific task flags like "thinking budget"). - **REQ-AI-004:** Select model parameters optimized for the specific task (e.g., low temperature for factual summarization, disabling thinking for low-latency tasks). 3. **Effective Prompting/Querying Strategies:** - **REQ-AI-005:** Prompts/queries sent to AI services must be clearly structured, providing sufficient context and explicit instructions. - **REQ-AI-006:** Request structured output (e.g., JSON) from AI services when possible to simplify parsing and improve reliability. - **REQ-AI-007:** Implement strategies for handling content that exceeds AI service input limits (e.g., truncation with clear indication). - **REQ-AI-008:** Prompts should be designed to elicit desired outputs, such as verbatim excerpts, specific data points, or confidence levels. 4. **Reliable Response Handling & Parsing:** - **REQ-AI-009:** Implement robust parsing for AI service responses, including handling potential variations like markdown code fences around JSON. - **REQ-AI-010:** Validate the structure and content of AI responses against expected schemas. 5. **Management of Asynchronous Operations:** - **REQ-AI-011:** All calls to external AI services must be asynchronous, with UI updates reflecting processing, success, or error states. 6. **Error Handling & Retries for External Services:** - **REQ-AI-012:** Implement robust error handling for API calls, including network errors, rate limits (e.g., 429), and service errors (5xx). - **REQ-AI-013:** Consider implementing graceful retry logic (e.g., exponential backoff) for transient errors. --- ### IV. Data Processing & Workflow Management 1. **Modular Processing Steps:** - **REQ-DP-001:** Break down complex data processing into logical, manageable steps or stages. - **REQ-DP-002:** Clearly define the inputs and outputs for each processing stage. 2. **Stateful Workflow Management:** - **REQ-DP-003:** The application must manage the state of the overall workflow (e.g., 'idle', 'processing', 'completed', 'error'). - **REQ-DP-004:** The UI should clearly reflect the current stage of processing for individual items and the overall batch. 3. **User Control & Intervention Points:** - **REQ-DP-005:** Allow users to initiate processing actions (e.g., an "Analyze" button). - **REQ-DP-006:** Provide users with opportunities to review and modify intermediate data or settings before proceeding with computationally intensive steps (e.g., reviewing bibliographic info, confirming file relationships). - **REQ-DP-007:** Allow users to cancel or reset ongoing processes where feasible. 4. **Batch Processing Capabilities:** - **REQ-DP-008:** If applicable, support processing of multiple inputs as a batch. - **REQ-DP-009:** Provide mechanisms to define relationships between items in a batch (e.g., 'highly cohesive', 'related collection'). - **REQ-DP-010:** Perform batch-level analysis or synthesis based on individual item results and their relationships. 5. **Contextual Awareness in Processing:** - **REQ-DP-011:** Processing logic should adapt based on context, such as item relationships, user-defined settings, or existing metadata. --- ### V. User Interface (UI) & Interaction 1. **Clear Visual Hierarchy & Information Architecture:** - **REQ-UI-001:** Design the UI with a clear visual hierarchy that guides the user's attention to important elements and actions. - **REQ-UI-002:** Organize information logically on screen, avoiding clutter. 2. **Responsive Design for Multiple Devices:** - **REQ-UI-003:** The application UI must be responsive and usable across various screen sizes (desktop, tablet, mobile). 3. **Interactive & Dynamic UI Elements:** - **REQ-UI-004:** Buttons, forms, and other interactive elements should have clear states (default, hover, focus, disabled). - **REQ-UI-005:** Disable UI elements that are not applicable in the current application state to prevent errors. - **REQ-UI-006:** Use dynamic content updates (e.g., button text changing based on state) to provide better context. - **REQ-UI-007:** Employ modals for focused tasks like editing details or confirming actions, without losing the main page context. 4. **Feedback Mechanisms:** - **REQ-UI-008:** Use visual indicators (e.g., loading spinners, progress bars) for ongoing operations. - **REQ-UI-009:** Display clear success, warning, or error messages using consistent alert components. 5. **Non-blocking Operations:** - **REQ-UI-010:** Ensure that long-running background tasks do not block UI interactivity. 6. **Consistent Design Language:** - **REQ-UI-011:** Utilize a consistent design system or style guide (e.g., Tailwind CSS, Material Design) for a cohesive look and feel. - **REQ-UI-012:** The footer area can be used to display application-specific information like AI model details or version numbers. --- ### VI. Metadata & Information Management 1. **Automated Metadata Suggestion/Extraction:** - **REQ-META-001:** Leverage AI or other computational methods to suggest or extract metadata from input data, reducing manual entry. - **REQ-META-002:** Focus on inferring information from content rather than relying solely on superficial attributes like filenames. 2. **User-Editable Metadata:** - **REQ-META-003:** Always allow users to review, edit, and override system-suggested metadata. 3. **Handling Uncertainty and Confidence Levels:** - **REQ-META-004:** If AI suggestions include confidence levels or uncertainty, clearly present this information to the user. - **REQ-META-005:** Highlight fields with low-confidence suggestions, prompting user verification. 4. **Adaptive UI for Metadata:** - **REQ-META-006:** Adapt metadata entry forms based on the type or context of the data (e.g., showing different fields for a 'book' vs. 'journal article'). 5. **Batch/Collection Level Metadata:** - **REQ-META-007:** For collections of items (especially cohesive ones), allow users to define common metadata that applies to all items in the batch. - **REQ-META-008:** Provide a clear distinction between common batch metadata and item-specific metadata. 6. **Data Formatting & Presentation:** - **REQ-META-009:** Format data for display in a user-friendly way (e.g., "pretty printing" titles, consistent date formats). - **REQ-META-010:** Present extracted information (summaries, key terms, verbatim excerpts) in clearly delineated and styled sections. --- ### VII. State Persistence & Data Retention 1. **User Session Persistence:** - **REQ-STATE-001:** Use browser storage (e.g., localStorage) to persist key application state across sessions. - **REQ-STATE-002:** Saved state should include user inputs, processed data, and relevant settings. 2. **Graceful Recovery from Interruptions:** - **REQ-STATE-003:** On application load, attempt to restore the previously saved state to allow users to resume their work. - **REQ-STATE-004:** Handle potential errors in parsing saved state gracefully (e.g., by clearing corrupt state). - **REQ-STATE-005:** Reset states indicating active processing (e.g., 'processing file X') to a neutral state on load, as these operations cannot typically be resumed directly. 3. **Selective State Saving:** - **REQ-STATE-006:** Avoid persisting large, non-serializable, or security-sensitive objects (e.g., raw File objects) directly in browser storage. Persist references or derived data instead. --- ### VIII. Output & Export 1. **Structured & Usable Data Export:** - **REQ-OUT-001:** Provide functionality to export processed results and analyses in a structured, machine-readable format (e.g., JSON). - **REQ-OUT-002:** The exported data should be comprehensive, including all relevant individual and batch analyses. 2. **User-Friendly Export Options:** - **REQ-OUT-003:** Allow users to easily download exported data with sensible default filenames. - **REQ-OUT-004:** Sanitize user-provided names used in filenames to prevent issues. --- ### IX. Error Handling, Logging & Monitoring 1. **Comprehensive Error Reporting:** - **REQ-ERR-001:** Display clear, user-friendly error messages for both client-side issues and server-side/API errors. - **REQ-ERR-002:** Distinguish between critical errors that block functionality and warnings for non-critical issues. 2. **Graceful Degradation:** - **REQ-ERR-003:** The application should degrade gracefully if certain features are unavailable (e.g., AI features if API key is missing), clearly informing the user. 3. **(Optional) Logging for Debugging & Monitoring:** - **REQ-ERR-004:** Implement client-side logging for important events and errors to aid debugging. - **REQ-ERR-005:** Consider server-side logging for API interactions and critical backend processes. --- ### X. Non-Functional Requirements (Quality Attributes) 1. **Security:** - **REQ-NFR-001:** Follow security best practices for web applications (e.g., protection against XSS, CSRF). - **REQ-NFR-002:** Ensure all external API communication uses HTTPS. - **REQ-NFR-003:** As stated in REQ-AI-001, never expose API keys or sensitive credentials on the client side. 2. **Maintainability & Scalability:** - **REQ-NFR-004:** Write clean, readable, and well-documented code. - **REQ-NFR-005:** Structure the codebase modularly (e.g., components, services, types) to facilitate updates and extensions. - **REQ-NFR-006:** Use a type system (like TypeScript) to improve code quality and reduce runtime errors. 3. **Testability:** - **REQ-NFR-007:** Design code to be testable, with clear separation of concerns. - **REQ-NFR-008:** Implement unit and integration tests for critical application logic. 4. **Offline Capability (as applicable):** - **REQ-NFR-009:** For applications where it adds value, provide limited offline functionality (e.g., access to previously loaded and persisted data). 5. **Cross-Browser Compatibility:** - **REQ-NFR-010:** Ensure the application functions correctly and consistently across modern major web browsers (e.g., Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Edge).