19 KiB
PROJECT.md Structure Example
A well-structured PROJECT.md example demonstrating best practices for GOALS, SCOPE, CONSTRAINTS, and ARCHITECTURE sections.
Example: SaaS Platform PROJECT.md
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Project Name: TaskFlow - Team Task Management Platform
Vision: Enable remote teams to collaborate efficiently with intuitive task management and real-time communication.
Phase: MVP (Launch in Q1 2025)
Last Updated: 2024-11-16
GOALS
Clear, measurable objectives that define project success.
Primary Goals
1. Launch Minimum Viable Product by March 31, 2025
- Metric: Product live in production
- Success Criteria: Core features functional, minimal bugs
- Why: First-mover advantage in remote work tools market
2. Validate Product-Market Fit
- Metric: 100 active teams (500+ users) within 3 months of launch
- Success Criteria: 60% weekly active user rate, NPS > 40
- Why: Prove demand before scaling investment
3. Achieve Technical Excellence
- Metric: 80% test coverage, zero critical security vulnerabilities
- Success Criteria: Automated tests pass, security audit clean
- Why: Build foundation for reliable, secure platform
Secondary Goals
4. Keep Operating Costs Low
- Metric: Infrastructure costs < $5,000/month
- Success Criteria: Serve 1,000 users within budget
- Why: Maintain runway until revenue starts
5. Enable Fast Iteration
- Metric: Deploy new features weekly
- Success Criteria: CI/CD pipeline < 10 minutes, zero downtime deploys
- Why: Respond quickly to user feedback
SCOPE
In Scope (MVP Features)
Authentication & User Management
- ✓ Email/password registration and login
- ✓ OAuth (Google, GitHub) for easy sign-in
- ✓ User profile management (name, email, avatar, password)
- ✓ Team creation and member invitations
- ✓ Role-based access control (Admin, Member, Viewer)
Core Task Management
- ✓ Create, edit, delete tasks
- ✓ Task assignment to team members
- ✓ Task status (To Do, In Progress, Done)
- ✓ Task priority (High, Medium, Low)
- ✓ Due dates and reminders
- ✓ Task comments and activity log
- ✓ File attachments (up to 10MB per file)
Team Collaboration
- ✓ Team workspaces with multiple projects
- ✓ Project boards (Kanban view)
- ✓ Real-time updates (WebSocket notifications)
- ✓ @mentions in comments
- ✓ Activity feed per project
Basic Integrations
- ✓ Email notifications for task assignments and mentions
- ✓ Slack webhook for team notifications
- ✓ Calendar export (iCal format)
Admin Features
- ✓ Team member management
- ✓ Usage dashboard (tasks created, users active)
- ✓ Audit log for team actions
Out of Scope (Future Versions)
Advanced Task Features (v2.0 - Q2 2025)
- ✗ Recurring tasks
- ✗ Task dependencies and Gantt charts
- ✗ Time tracking and estimates
- ✗ Custom task fields
- ✗ Advanced filtering and saved views
Enterprise Features (v3.0 - Q3 2025)
- ✗ Single Sign-On (SAML)
- ✗ Advanced permissions and team hierarchies
- ✗ Custom branding and white-labeling
- ✗ SLA guarantees and dedicated support
Advanced Integrations (v2.0+)
- ✗ Two-way sync with Jira, Asana, Trello
- ✗ GitHub/GitLab issue sync
- ✗ Zapier integration
- ✗ Mobile apps (iOS, Android)
Billing & Payments (v2.0 - Q2 2025)
- ✗ Subscription management
- ✗ Payment processing
- ✗ Usage-based billing
- ✗ Invoicing
AI Features (v3.0+ - TBD)
- ✗ AI-powered task suggestions
- ✗ Automated task prioritization
- ✗ Natural language task creation
Scope Boundaries
What "Real-time updates" means in MVP:
- ✓ Task status changes appear immediately for all team members
- ✓ New comments show up without refresh
- ✓ User presence indicators (who's online)
- ✗ NOT real-time collaborative editing of task descriptions
- ✗ NOT typing indicators in comments
What "File attachments" means in MVP:
- ✓ Upload files to tasks (images, PDFs, documents)
- ✓ Maximum 10MB per file, 100MB per team
- ✓ Virus scanning before storage
- ✗ NOT file versioning or history
- ✗ NOT online document editing
- ✗ NOT file previews (download to view)
What "Integrations" means in MVP:
- ✓ Outbound webhooks (we push to Slack)
- ✓ Email notifications (we send emails)
- ✗ NOT inbound integrations (other services push to us)
- ✗ NOT two-way sync with other platforms
CONSTRAINTS
Technical Constraints
Technology Stack (Required)
- Language: Python 3.11+ (type hints required, async support)
- Web Framework: FastAPI (chosen for async, auto-docs, performance)
- Database: PostgreSQL 14+ (JSONB for flexibility, CTEs for queries)
- Cache/Queue: Redis 7+ (session storage, WebSocket pub/sub, task queue)
- Frontend: React 18+ with TypeScript (type safety, component reuse)
- Deployment: Docker containers on AWS ECS (portability, scaling)
Performance Requirements
- API response time: < 200ms (P95) for read operations
- API response time: < 500ms (P95) for write operations
- Page load time: < 2 seconds (P95) on 3G connection
- WebSocket message delivery: < 100ms
- File upload: Support up to 10MB files
- Concurrent users: Handle 1,000 simultaneous users
Security Requirements
- OWASP Top 10 compliance (no critical vulnerabilities)
- All data encrypted in transit (TLS 1.3)
- Passwords hashed with bcrypt (cost factor 12)
- JWT tokens for authentication (15-minute expiry, refresh tokens)
- CSRF protection on all state-changing endpoints
- Rate limiting: 100 requests/minute per user
- Input validation: All user input sanitized (XSS, SQL injection prevention)
- File uploads: Virus scanning, type validation, size limits
- Audit logging: All sensitive actions logged (CWE-117 compliance)
Scalability Requirements
- Stateless API (can add servers horizontally)
- Database connection pooling (max 20 connections per instance)
- Redis for session storage (no in-memory sessions)
- CDN for static assets (CloudFront)
- Graceful degradation if WebSocket unavailable (fallback to polling)
Code Quality Requirements
- Test coverage: 80% minimum (unit + integration tests)
- Type hints: Required for all public APIs
- Linting: Black, isort, mypy, ESLint pass
- Code review: Required for all changes (2 approvals for core changes)
- Documentation: Docstrings for all public functions/classes
Resource Constraints
Budget
- Infrastructure: < $5,000/month (AWS, Redis, CDN, email service)
- Development tools: < $500/month (GitHub, monitoring, CI/CD)
- Total: < $5,500/month until revenue starts
Timeline
- MVP launch: March 31, 2025 (16 weeks from project start)
- Beta testing: 2 weeks before launch (March 17-31)
- Feature freeze: March 10 (3 weeks before launch)
- No major scope changes after January 31
Team Capacity
- 2 full-time developers (backend + frontend)
- 1 part-time designer (UI/UX)
- 1 product owner (stakeholder decisions)
- No dedicated QA (developers own testing)
- No ML/AI expertise (defer AI features)
Policy Constraints
Compliance
- GDPR compliant (EU users must be able to export/delete data)
- Data residency: US and EU regions only (no data in other countries)
- Privacy policy required before collecting user data
- Terms of service required before launch
Licensing
- MIT/Apache 2.0 dependencies only (no GPL, no AGPL)
- All code owned by company (no copyleft issues)
- Third-party services: Must have commercial license or free tier
Business Rules
- Free tier during beta (no payment processing)
- Email opt-in required for marketing (GDPR, CAN-SPAM)
- No selling user data (privacy commitment)
ARCHITECTURE
High-Level Architecture
Three-Tier Architecture
┌─────────────────┐
│ React SPA │ (Frontend - TypeScript, React 18)
│ (CloudFront) │ - Component-based UI
└────────┬────────┘ - State management (Redux)
│ HTTPS - WebSocket client
▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ FastAPI │ (Backend - Python 3.11, FastAPI)
│ (ECS) │ - RESTful API
└────────┬────────┘ - WebSocket server
│ - Business logic
▼
┌─────────────────┐
│ PostgreSQL │ (Database - RDS)
│ Redis │ (Cache, Queue, Pub/Sub)
└─────────────────┘
Design Principles
1. API-First Design
- Backend exposes RESTful API
- Frontend consumes API (decoupled from backend)
- API documented with OpenAPI/Swagger (auto-generated)
- Versioning:
/api/v1/prefix for breaking changes
2. Stateless Services
- No in-memory session storage (use Redis)
- JWT tokens for authentication (stateless)
- API servers can be added/removed without data loss
- Horizontal scaling via load balancer
3. Real-Time Communication
- WebSocket for live updates (task changes, comments, presence)
- Redis pub/sub for broadcasting to multiple servers
- Fallback to polling if WebSocket unavailable (firewall, old browsers)
- Graceful degradation (app works without real-time)
4. Security-First
- All user input validated and sanitized
- Parameterized queries (no SQL injection)
- CSRF tokens on all mutations
- Rate limiting to prevent abuse
- Audit logging for sensitive actions (user deletion, permission changes)
- Regular security audits and dependency updates
5. Progressive Enhancement
- Core functionality works without JavaScript (forms submit)
- Enhanced UX with JavaScript enabled (real-time, no page refresh)
- Mobile-responsive (works on all screen sizes)
6. Test-Driven Development
- Write tests before implementation
- Unit tests for business logic (pytest)
- Integration tests for API endpoints
- E2E tests for critical user flows (Playwright)
- Automated tests run on every commit (CI/CD)
Component Architecture
Backend Components
API Layer (src/api/)
- FastAPI routers for endpoints
- Request validation with Pydantic models
- Response serialization
- Error handling middleware
Business Logic (src/services/)
- Task service (create, update, delete, query)
- User service (authentication, profile management)
- Team service (team management, permissions)
- Notification service (email, WebSocket)
Data Access (src/repositories/)
- PostgreSQL repositories (SQLAlchemy ORM)
- Redis repositories (caching, sessions, pub/sub)
- Repository pattern (abstraction over data store)
Authentication (src/auth/)
- JWT token generation and validation
- OAuth integration (Google, GitHub)
- Password hashing (bcrypt)
- Session management (Redis)
WebSocket (src/websocket/)
- WebSocket connection management
- Redis pub/sub for broadcasting
- Presence tracking (who's online)
- Real-time event distribution
Background Tasks (src/tasks/)
- Email sending (queued via Redis)
- File processing (virus scan, optimization)
- Cleanup jobs (expired sessions, old notifications)
Frontend Components
Pages (src/pages/)
- Login/Signup
- Dashboard (project list, activity feed)
- Project Board (Kanban view)
- Task Detail
- Settings (profile, team management)
Components (src/components/)
- TaskCard (reusable task display)
- CommentThread (comments and activity)
- MemberList (team member avatars)
- Notifications (real-time notification bell)
State Management (src/store/)
- Redux store for global state
- Slices: tasks, projects, users, notifications
- Async actions for API calls
- WebSocket event handlers update store
API Client (src/api/)
- Axios wrapper for REST API calls
- WebSocket client for real-time updates
- Error handling and retry logic
- Authentication token management
Data Architecture
PostgreSQL Schema
Core Tables:
users- User accounts, authenticationteams- Team workspacesteam_members- Many-to-many (users ↔ teams) with rolesprojects- Projects within teamstasks- Tasks within projectscomments- Comments on tasksattachments- File metadata (S3 storage)audit_log- Security-sensitive actions
Indexes:
tasks.project_id- Fast project task lookuptasks.assignee_id- Fast user task lookuptasks.status, tasks.priority- Fast filteringcomments.task_id- Fast comment lookup
JSONB Fields (Flexibility):
tasks.metadata- Custom fields (future extensibility)users.preferences- User settings
Redis Data Structures
Session Storage:
- Key:
session:{session_id} - Value: JSON (user_id, team_id, expiry)
- TTL: 7 days
WebSocket Pub/Sub:
- Channel:
team:{team_id}:updates - Message: JSON (event_type, task_id, changes)
Rate Limiting:
- Key:
ratelimit:{user_id}:{minute} - Value: Counter
- TTL: 60 seconds
Cache:
- Key:
cache:project:{project_id}:tasks - Value: JSON (task list)
- TTL: 5 minutes
Deployment Architecture
Production Environment
AWS Infrastructure:
- ECS Fargate: API servers (auto-scaling 2-10 instances)
- RDS PostgreSQL: Database (Multi-AZ for HA)
- ElastiCache Redis: Cache and pub/sub (cluster mode)
- S3: File storage (attachments)
- CloudFront: CDN for frontend assets
- Route 53: DNS management
- ALB: Load balancer (TLS termination)
CI/CD Pipeline:
- GitHub Actions for automated testing
- Docker build and push to ECR
- ECS rolling deployment (zero downtime)
- Automated rollback on health check failure
Monitoring:
- CloudWatch for metrics (CPU, memory, request count)
- Application logs to CloudWatch Logs
- Error tracking with Sentry
- Uptime monitoring with UptimeRobot
- Alerts via PagerDuty (P1: < 5 min response)
Backup Strategy:
- PostgreSQL: Automated daily backups (7-day retention)
- S3: Versioning enabled (file recovery)
- Redis: AOF persistence (crash recovery)
Security Architecture
Authentication Flow:
- User submits credentials
- Backend validates (bcrypt hash comparison)
- Generate JWT access token (15 min expiry)
- Generate refresh token (7 day expiry, stored in Redis)
- Return both tokens to client
- Client stores in httpOnly cookies (XSS protection)
- API requests include access token
- Token refresh on expiry
Authorization Model:
- Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)
- Roles: Admin (full access), Member (create/edit own tasks), Viewer (read-only)
- Team-level permissions (user can be Admin in one team, Member in another)
- Resource-level checks (can only edit tasks in teams you belong to)
Data Protection:
- TLS 1.3 for all traffic (no HTTP)
- Database encryption at rest (RDS encryption)
- S3 encryption at rest (AES-256)
- Password hashing (bcrypt, cost factor 12)
- JWT signing (HS256, secret rotation every 90 days)
- PII data: Encrypted in database (name, email)
Audit Logging:
- Log all security-sensitive actions
- Format: JSON (timestamp, user_id, action, resource, IP)
- Storage: CloudWatch Logs (immutable, 1-year retention)
- Monitored for suspicious patterns
Error Handling
API Error Responses:
{
"error": {
"code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
"message": "Task title is required",
"details": {
"field": "title",
"constraint": "required"
}
}
}
Error Codes:
VALIDATION_ERROR- Invalid input (400)UNAUTHORIZED- Authentication required (401)FORBIDDEN- Permission denied (403)NOT_FOUND- Resource doesn't exist (404)RATE_LIMITED- Too many requests (429)INTERNAL_ERROR- Server error (500)
Error Handling Strategy:
- Validation errors: Return helpful messages
- Server errors: Log details, return generic message
- Rate limit errors: Include retry-after header
- Network errors: Retry with exponential backoff (client)
Performance Optimization
Caching Strategy:
- Page-level: CloudFront for static assets (1 day TTL)
- API-level: Redis for frequently accessed data (5 min TTL)
- Database: Query result caching (invalidate on write)
Database Optimization:
- Connection pooling (max 20 connections per API server)
- Read replicas for reporting queries (future)
- Indexed columns for common queries
- EXPLAIN ANALYZE for slow queries
API Optimization:
- Pagination for list endpoints (max 100 items per page)
- Field selection (client specifies which fields to return)
- Bulk operations (create/update multiple tasks in one request)
- Async processing for slow operations (file processing)
Observability
Logging:
- Application logs: Structured JSON to CloudWatch
- Access logs: ALB logs to S3
- Database logs: Slow queries to CloudWatch
- Log levels: ERROR, WARN, INFO, DEBUG
Metrics:
- Request count, latency (P50, P95, P99)
- Error rate, status codes
- Database connection pool usage
- Redis hit/miss ratio
- WebSocket connection count
Tracing (Future):
- Distributed tracing with AWS X-Ray
- Trace API requests through services
- Identify performance bottlenecks
VALIDATION CHECKLIST
Use this checklist to validate features against this PROJECT.md:
GOALS Validation
- Feature serves at least one primary goal
- Feature doesn't conflict with other goals
- Feature priority aligns with goal priority
- Success metrics defined and aligned
SCOPE Validation
- Feature is explicitly in In Scope section
- Feature doesn't touch Out of Scope items
- Dependencies are all in scope
- Scope boundaries respected (e.g., "real-time" definition)
CONSTRAINTS Validation
- Tech stack compliance (Python 3.11, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Redis, React)
- Performance requirements met (< 200ms API, < 2s page load)
- Security requirements met (OWASP, encryption, audit logging)
- Budget within limits (< $5.5k/month)
- Timeline respected (MVP by March 31, 2025)
- Code quality standards met (80% coverage, type hints, linting)
ARCHITECTURE Validation
- Follows three-tier architecture
- Adheres to design principles (API-first, stateless, security-first)
- Uses defined components (API, services, repositories)
- Database schema aligned
- Deployment strategy compatible (Docker, ECS)
- Error handling pattern followed
- Observability implemented (logs, metrics)
End of Example PROJECT.md
Key Takeaways from This Example
1. Specificity Over Ambiguity
- ✓ Explicit metrics for goals ("100 active teams")
- ✓ Clear scope boundaries ("Real-time means X, not Y")
- ✓ Specific constraints ("< 200ms", "Python 3.11+")
- ✗ Avoid vague goals ("good performance", "secure")
2. Actionable and Measurable
- ✓ Goals have metrics and success criteria
- ✓ Constraints have numbers (80% coverage, < 200ms)
- ✓ Architecture has clear patterns to follow
- ✗ Avoid "best effort" or "as much as possible"
3. Living Document
- Updated date at top (2024-11-16)
- Version tracking for sections (v2.0, v3.0 scope)
- Rationale documented ("Why changed from SQLite to PostgreSQL")
- Evolution expected and documented
4. Validation-Friendly
- Checklist at end for quick validation
- Clear In/Out of scope sections
- Scope boundaries explicitly defined
- Easy to verify alignment
5. Context for Decisions
- Explains "why" not just "what"
- Trade-offs documented (e.g., WebSocket vs polling)
- Alternatives considered and rejected
- Helps future maintainers understand reasoning
See Also:
alignment-scenarios.md- How to validate against this structuremisalignment-examples.md- What happens with poor structure../docs/alignment-checklist.md- Systematic validation process