High-Level Design Document: {{project-name}}

Document Suite Status: [Project-Vision]] ](/asavschaeffer/wikikit/wiki/[Elevator-Pitch)~~ | [Requirements]] | [User-Flows-and-Mockups]] ](/asavschaeffer/wikikit/wiki/HIGH-LEVEL-DESIGN-|-[Low-Level-Design) | [API-Specifications]] | [Operational-Planning]] ](/asavschaeffer/wikikit/wiki/[[Glossary)

Cross-References & Dependencies

• Requirements: Core functional requirements that drive this architecture
• Non-Functional-Requirements: Performance, scalability, and reliability constraints
• User-Flows-and-Mockups: UI/UX patterns that inform frontend architecture decisions
• API-Specifications: Detailed endpoint definitions (will expand on the API design outlined here)
• Low-Level-Design: Implementation details for each component described here
• Business-Strategy: Business requirements that influence technical decisions

Executive Summary

⚠️ DECISION NEEDED: Project purpose and target users not specified in conversation history
📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION: Key value proposition and competitive differentiation

Design Goals & Principles

• ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED: Architectural principles not defined in conversation
• 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION: Performance vs. cost trade-off priorities
• 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION: Scalability approach (vertical vs. horizontal)

System Overview

📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION: Major system components and interaction patterns

• User interaction patterns: 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION
• Business logic placement: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED (frontend vs backend split)
• External service integrations: External-Services-Integration
• Data flow patterns: See Data-Flow-Architecture
• Architectural patterns: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION

Tech Stack Decision Matrix

Layer	Technology Choice	Justification
Frontend	⚠️ DECISION NEEDED	Framework selection criteria not discussed
Backend/API	🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION	Multiple options being evaluated
Database	📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION	SQL vs NoSQL evaluation needed
Authentication	⚠️ DECISION NEEDED	Auth strategy not defined
File Storage	🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION	Local vs cloud storage options
Caching	📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION	Caching requirements analysis needed
Hosting/Deploy	⚠️ DECISION NEEDED	Infrastructure preferences not specified
Monitoring	📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION	Monitoring requirements to be defined

Architecture Components

Frontend Architecture

• Framework & Structure: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - Framework selection pending
• Key Components: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - UI component breakdown needed
• Client-Side Logic: 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION - Processing distribution strategy
• Performance Considerations: Performance-Requirements#frontend-targets

Backend Architecture

• API Design: 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION - REST vs GraphQL evaluation
• Service Layer: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - Service decomposition strategy
• Data Access: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - ORM vs query builder choice
• Background Jobs: Background-Processing-Design

Data Architecture

• Database Schema: Database-Schema-Design
• Data Flow: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - Data movement patterns
• Caching Strategy: 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION - Multi-layer caching approach
• Data Validation: Data-Validation-Rules

External Integrations

• Third-Party APIs: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - Integration requirements analysis
• Webhooks: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - Webhook handling strategy
• File Processing: File-Processing-Workflows
• Email/Notifications: Communication-Systems

Security & Compliance

• Authentication Flow: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - Auth method selection pending
• Authorization: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - RBAC implementation details
• Data Protection: Data-Protection-Standards
• API Security: 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION - Rate limiting and validation strategies

Performance & Scalability

• Expected Load: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - Traffic projection analysis needed
• Scaling Strategy: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - Scaling approach not defined
• Bottlenecks: 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION - Performance constraint identification
• Caching Strategy: Caching-Architecture

System Architecture Diagram

📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION: System components not sufficiently defined for diagram creation

graph TB
    subgraph "User Interface"
      UI[⚠️ DECISION NEEDED: Interface Type]
    end

    subgraph "API Layer"
      API[🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION: API Architecture]
      AUTH[📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION: Auth Service]
    end

    subgraph "Business Logic"
      BL[⚠️ DECISION NEEDED: Service Structure]
      BG[📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION: Background Processing]
    end

    subgraph "Data Layer"
      DB[(🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION: Database Choice)]
      CACHE[(📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION: Cache Strategy)]
      FILES[⚠️ DECISION NEEDED: File Storage]
    end

    subgraph "External Services"
      EXT1[📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION: External API 1]
      EXT2[📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION: External API 2]
    end

Data Flow Scenarios

Primary User Journey

📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION: Main user interaction patterns not defined in conversation

1. User Input: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - Primary user actions not specified
2. Frontend Processing: 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION - UI processing requirements
3. API Request: [[API-Specifications#primary-endpoints]]
4. Backend Processing: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - Server-side logic definition
5. Data Operations: [[Database-Operations#primary-queries]]
6. Response: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - Response format and structure

Background Processing Flow

🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION: Background processing requirements not fully specified

1. Trigger: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - Background job triggers
2. Queue/Job: [[Background-Job-Architecture]]
3. Processing: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - Processing workflow design
4. Completion: [[Job-Completion-Handling]]

Deployment & Infrastructure

• Environment Strategy: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - Environment configuration not specified
• CI/CD Pipeline: 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION - Pipeline tool selection pending
• Infrastructure: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - Infrastructure requirements analysis
• Monitoring: [[Monitoring-and-Observability]]

Risk Assessment

• Technical Risks: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - Technology risk assessment pending
• Scalability Risks: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - Growth planning analysis needed
• Security Risks: [[Security-Risk-Assessment]]
• Operational Risks: 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION - Operational complexity evaluation
• Dependency Risks: [[External-Dependency-Analysis]]

Open Architectural Decisions

Track unresolved design decisions that require further analysis:

⚠️ DECISIONS NEEDED

• Technology stack selection across all layers
• Authentication and authorization strategy
• Database architecture (SQL vs NoSQL)
• Frontend framework and architecture pattern
• Deployment and hosting strategy

🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION

• API design approach (REST vs GraphQL)
• Caching strategy and implementation
• Background processing architecture
• Scaling approach and infrastructure pattern
• External service integration patterns

📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION

• Performance and scalability requirements
• Security and compliance requirements
• User interaction patterns and workflows
• Data model and relationship design
• Monitoring and observability requirements

Future Architectural Evolution

• Phase 2 Features: 📝 REQUIRES SPECIFICATION - Future feature roadmap not defined
• Technology Evolution: ⚠️ DECISION NEEDED - Technology upgrade strategy pending
• Scaling Roadmap: 🔄 UNDER CONSIDERATION - Growth architecture planning
• Technical Debt: [[Technical-Debt-Management]]

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