# Requirements Document
Generated: Tuesday, September 16, 2025

## Functional Requirements (Developer-Facing)

### FR-001: Project Initialization
- **Description:** The system shall provide a developer-ready Angular project that can be set up with minimal effort.
- **Acceptance Criteria:**
    - A developer shall be able to clone the project from a Git repository.
    - A developer shall be able to install all required dependencies using a single `npm install` command.
    - A developer shall be able to start the local development server using the `ng serve` command.
    - The boilerplate shall compile without errors and be viewable in a web browser.
- **Priority:** High

### FR-002: Modular Architecture
- **Description:** The system shall be structured with a scalable and maintainable modular architecture.
- **Acceptance Criteria:**
    - The project shall include a `CoreModule` for providing singleton services and one-time imports.
    - The project shall include a `SharedModule` for reusable components, directives, and pipes.
    - The architecture shall support the creation of lazy-loaded `FeatureModules` to encapsulate business domain logic.
- **Priority:** High

### FR-003: Clarity Design System Integration
- **Description:** The system shall be fully integrated with the VMware Clarity Design System for UI components and styling.
- **Acceptance Criteria:**
    - All necessary Clarity npm packages shall be included as dependencies.
    - Clarity's global stylesheets and assets shall be correctly configured and loaded.
    - The boilerplate shall use Clarity components for its core layout (header, sidebar, etc.).
    - Developers shall be able to use any Clarity component within their feature modules.
- **Priority:** High

### FR-004: Responsive Application Layout
- **Description:** The system shall provide a default, responsive application layout.
- **Acceptance Criteria:**
    - The boilerplate shall include a main application shell with a header, a collapsible sidebar for navigation, and a main content area.
    - The layout shall adapt correctly to various screen sizes, including desktop, tablet, and mobile.
- **Priority:** High

### FR-005: Routing and Navigation
- **Description:** The system shall include a pre-configured routing system for navigating between different views.
- **Acceptance Criteria:**
    - The project shall have a main `AppRoutingModule`.
    - The boilerplate shall provide an example of a lazy-loaded feature route.
    - Navigation links in the sidebar shall correctly navigate to their corresponding routes.
- **Priority:** Medium

## Non-Functional Requirements

### NFR-001: Performance (Developer Experience)
- **Description:** The boilerplate should be optimized for a fast and efficient development workflow.
- **Acceptance Criteria:**
    - The initial `ng serve` compilation time shall be reasonably fast.
    - Live-reloading times during development shall be minimal.
    - The production build (`ng build --prod`) shall be optimized, with tree-shaking and minification enabled.
- **Priority:** Medium

### NFR-002: Usability (Developer Experience)
- **Description:** The codebase should be intuitive and easy for an Angular developer to understand and extend.
- **Acceptance Criteria:**
    - The project structure shall be logical and follow established Angular best practices.
    - The code shall be clean, well-formatted, and include comments for complex or non-obvious sections.
    - A comprehensive `README.txt` file shall guide developers on setup, architecture, and usage.
- **Priority:** High

### NFR-003: Maintainability
- **Description:** The codebase should be structured to allow for easy updates, modifications, and extensions.
- **Acceptance Criteria:**
    - The modular architecture shall allow for independent development and testing of features.
    - Dependencies shall be clearly defined in `package.json` and easy to update.
    - The separation of concerns between modules should be strictly enforced.
- **Priority:** High

## Data Requirements (Client-Side)

### Entity Modeling:
- **Description:** The boilerplate will not have predefined data models but will require developers to define them using TypeScript.
- **Attributes:**
    - Data models shall be defined as **TypeScript interfaces or classes**.
    - These models will represent the structure of data consumed from and sent to a backend API.

## Interface Requirements

### UI/UX Requirements (Frontend Boilerplate):
- **Layout:** A clean, professional single-page application layout based on the Clarity Design System.
- **Header:** A top header bar, typically containing the application title/logo and user-related actions (e.g., profile, logout).
- **Sidebar:** A collapsible vertical navigation sidebar containing links to different feature areas of the application.
- **Content Area:** A main content area where the components for the currently active route are displayed.
- **Styling:** Adherence to the styles and design tokens provided by the Clarity Design System.

### API Requirements (Backend Interaction):
- **Backend Agnostic:** The boilerplate is a frontend application and makes no assumptions about the backend technology stack.
- **Communication Protocol:** The boilerplate shall use Angular's `HttpClient` module to communicate with a backend over HTTP/HTTPS.
- **API Endpoint Configuration:** The base URL for the backend API shall be configurable via the `environments` files (e.g., `environment.ts`, `environment.prod.ts`).
- **Data Format:** The boilerplate is designed to work with APIs that transact data in **JSON** format.
- **Error Handling:** The architecture shall support a centralized way to handle API errors, typically through an `HttpInterceptor` provided in the `CoreModule`.