weseek__growi/.kiro/settings/templates/specs/design.md

Design Document Template

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Purpose: Provide sufficient detail to ensure implementation consistency across different implementers, preventing interpretation drift.

Approach:

• Include essential sections that directly inform implementation decisions
• Omit optional sections unless critical to preventing implementation errors
• Match detail level to feature complexity
• Use diagrams and tables over lengthy prose

Warning: Approaching 1000 lines indicates excessive feature complexity that may require design simplification.

Sections may be reordered (e.g., surfacing Requirements Traceability earlier or moving Data Models nearer Architecture) when it improves clarity. Within each section, keep the flow Summary → Scope → Decisions → Impacts/Risks so reviewers can scan consistently.

Overview

2-3 paragraphs max Purpose: This feature delivers [specific value] to [target users]. Users: [Target user groups] will utilize this for [specific workflows]. Impact (if applicable): Changes the current [system state] by [specific modifications].

Goals

• Primary objective 1
• Primary objective 2
  
• Success criteria

Non-Goals

• Explicitly excluded functionality
• Future considerations outside current scope
• Integration points deferred

Architecture

Reference detailed discovery notes in research.md only for background; keep design.md self-contained for reviewers by capturing all decisions and contracts here. Capture key decisions in text and let diagrams carry structural detail—avoid repeating the same information in prose.

Existing Architecture Analysis (if applicable)

When modifying existing systems:

• Current architecture patterns and constraints
• Existing domain boundaries to be respected
• Integration points that must be maintained
• Technical debt addressed or worked around

Architecture Pattern & Boundary Map

RECOMMENDED: Include Mermaid diagram showing the chosen architecture pattern and system boundaries (required for complex features, optional for simple additions)

Architecture Integration:

• Selected pattern: [name and brief rationale]
• Domain/feature boundaries: [how responsibilities are separated to avoid conflicts]
• Existing patterns preserved: [list key patterns]
• New components rationale: [why each is needed]
• Steering compliance: [principles maintained]

Technology Stack

Layer	Choice / Version	Role in Feature	Notes
Frontend / CLI
Backend / Services
Data / Storage
Messaging / Events
Infrastructure / Runtime

Keep rationale concise here and, when more depth is required (trade-offs, benchmarks), add a short summary plus pointer to the Supporting References section and research.md for raw investigation notes.

System Flows

Provide only the diagrams needed to explain non-trivial flows. Use pure Mermaid syntax. Common patterns:

• Sequence (multi-party interactions)
• Process / state (branching logic or lifecycle)
• Data / event flow (pipelines, async messaging)

Skip this section entirely for simple CRUD changes.

Describe flow-level decisions (e.g., gating conditions, retries) briefly after the diagram instead of restating each step.

Requirements Traceability

Use this section for complex or compliance-sensitive features where requirements span multiple domains. Straightforward 1:1 mappings can rely on the Components summary table.

Map each requirement ID (e.g., 2.1) to the design elements that realize it.

Requirement	Summary	Components	Interfaces	Flows
1.1
1.2

Omit this section only when a single component satisfies a single requirement without cross-cutting concerns.

Components and Interfaces

Provide a quick reference before diving into per-component details.

• Summaries can be a table or compact list. Example table: | Component | Domain/Layer | Intent | Req Coverage | Key Dependencies (P0/P1) | Contracts | |-----------|--------------|--------|--------------|--------------------------|-----------| | ExampleComponent | UI | Displays XYZ | 1, 2 | GameProvider (P0), MapPanel (P1) | Service, State |
• Only components introducing new boundaries (e.g., logic hooks, external integrations, persistence) require full detail blocks. Simple presentation components can rely on the summary row plus a short Implementation Note.

Group detailed blocks by domain or architectural layer. For each detailed component, list requirement IDs as 2.1, 2.3 (omit “Requirement”). When multiple UI components share the same contract, reference a base interface/props definition instead of duplicating code blocks.

[Domain / Layer]

[Component Name]

Field	Detail
Intent	1-line description of the responsibility
Requirements	2.1, 2.3
Owner / Reviewers	(optional)

Responsibilities & Constraints

• Primary responsibility
• Domain boundary and transaction scope
• Data ownership / invariants

Dependencies

• Inbound: Component/service name — purpose (Criticality)
• Outbound: Component/service name — purpose (Criticality)
• External: Service/library — purpose (Criticality)

Summarize external dependency findings here; deeper investigation (API signatures, rate limits, migration notes) lives in research.md.

Contracts: Service [ ] / API [ ] / Event [ ] / Batch [ ] / State [ ] ← check only the ones that apply.

Service Interface

interface [ComponentName]Service {
  methodName(input: InputType): Result<OutputType, ErrorType>;
}

• Preconditions:
• Postconditions:
• Invariants:

API Contract

Method	Endpoint	Request	Response	Errors
POST	/api/resource	CreateRequest	Resource	400, 409, 500

Event Contract

• Published events:
  
• Subscribed events:
  
• Ordering / delivery guarantees:

Batch / Job Contract

• Trigger:
  
• Input / validation:
  
• Output / destination:
  
• Idempotency & recovery:

State Management

• State model:
  
• Persistence & consistency:
  
• Concurrency strategy:

Implementation Notes

• Integration:
• Validation:
• Risks:

Data Models

Focus on the portions of the data landscape that change with this feature.

Domain Model

• Aggregates and transactional boundaries
• Entities, value objects, domain events
• Business rules & invariants
• Optional Mermaid diagram for complex relationships

Logical Data Model

Structure Definition:

• Entity relationships and cardinality
• Attributes and their types
• Natural keys and identifiers
• Referential integrity rules

Consistency & Integrity:

• Transaction boundaries
• Cascading rules
• Temporal aspects (versioning, audit)

Physical Data Model

When to include: When implementation requires specific storage design decisions

For Relational Databases:

• Table definitions with data types
• Primary/foreign keys and constraints
• Indexes and performance optimizations
• Partitioning strategy for scale

For Document Stores:

• Collection structures
• Embedding vs referencing decisions
• Sharding key design
• Index definitions

For Event Stores:

• Event schema definitions
• Stream aggregation strategies
• Snapshot policies
• Projection definitions

For Key-Value/Wide-Column Stores:

• Key design patterns
• Column families or value structures
• TTL and compaction strategies

Data Contracts & Integration

API Data Transfer

• Request/response schemas
• Validation rules
• Serialization format (JSON, Protobuf, etc.)

Event Schemas

• Published event structures
• Schema versioning strategy
• Backward/forward compatibility rules

Cross-Service Data Management

• Distributed transaction patterns (Saga, 2PC)
• Data synchronization strategies
• Eventual consistency handling

Skip subsections that are not relevant to this feature.

Error Handling

Error Strategy

Concrete error handling patterns and recovery mechanisms for each error type.

Error Categories and Responses

User Errors (4xx): Invalid input → field-level validation; Unauthorized → auth guidance; Not found → navigation help System Errors (5xx): Infrastructure failures → graceful degradation; Timeouts → circuit breakers; Exhaustion → rate limiting
Business Logic Errors (422): Rule violations → condition explanations; State conflicts → transition guidance

Process Flow Visualization (when complex business logic exists): Include Mermaid flowchart only for complex error scenarios with business workflows.

Monitoring

Error tracking, logging, and health monitoring implementation.

Testing Strategy

Default sections (adapt names/sections to fit the domain)

• Unit Tests: 3–5 items from core functions/modules (e.g., auth methods, subscription logic)
• Integration Tests: 3–5 cross-component flows (e.g., webhook handling, notifications)
• E2E/UI Tests (if applicable): 3–5 critical user paths (e.g., forms, dashboards)
• Performance/Load (if applicable): 3–4 items (e.g., concurrency, high-volume ops)

Optional Sections (include when relevant)

Security Considerations

Use this section for features handling auth, sensitive data, external integrations, or user permissions. Capture only decisions unique to this feature; defer baseline controls to steering docs.

• Threat modeling, security controls, compliance requirements
• Authentication and authorization patterns
• Data protection and privacy considerations

Performance & Scalability

Use this section when performance targets, high load, or scaling concerns exist. Record only feature-specific targets or trade-offs and rely on steering documents for general practices.

• Target metrics and measurement strategies
• Scaling approaches (horizontal/vertical)
• Caching strategies and optimization techniques

Migration Strategy

Include a Mermaid flowchart showing migration phases when schema/data movement is required.

• Phase breakdown, rollback triggers, validation checkpoints

Supporting References (Optional)

• Create this section only when keeping the information in the main body would hurt readability (e.g., very long TypeScript definitions, vendor option matrices, exhaustive schema tables). Keep decision-making context in the main sections so the design stays self-contained.
• Link to the supporting references from the main text instead of inlining large snippets.
• Background research notes and comparisons continue to live in research.md, but their conclusions must be summarized in the main design.