marki-docx/specs/MarkiDocxFunctionalRequirementsSpecification_v0.1.md

FRS

Functional Requirements Specification

Functional Requirements Specification: markidocx

1. Definition

This Functional Requirements Specification defines the externally observable behaviors and required functions of markidocx, a system for controlled Markdown ↔ DOCX round-trip editing.

The FRS specifies what markidocx must do from the perspective of users, external systems, and exposed interfaces. It defines required functions for:

• document build and export
• document import and reconstitution
• multi-file composition
• template and style management
• feature-level document processing
• validation and drift reporting
• local CLI usage
• REST-based service interaction
• MCP-based tool interaction
• end-to-end regression execution

This FRS is derived from the markidocx PRD and serves as the binding functional contract for implementation and acceptance.

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2. Context

markidocx is intended to support documentation workflows in which:

• structured content is maintained in Markdown
• editorial review is performed in Microsoft Word
• document generation must be repeatable and inspectable
• multiple stakeholders and systems interact with the same documentation assets

The system acts as a functional bridge between:

• canonical Markdown source documents
• Word-based review artifacts
• automated documentation pipelines
• external tools and agents

Functionally, the system must allow content to move between these contexts while preserving supported structure and surfacing any drift or ambiguity introduced during the process.

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3. Core Concepts

3.1 System Function

A system function is a user-visible or interface-visible capability the system provides, such as building a DOCX artifact, importing an edited document, or validating a template registration.

3.2 Externally Observable Behavior

Externally observable behavior includes all results visible through the CLI, REST interface, MCP interface, output artifacts, reports, and return statuses.

3.3 Requirement Statement

Each requirement in this document is written as a declarative, testable statement describing required system behavior.

3.4 Input–Output Relationship

markidocx receives manifests, Markdown sources, templates, styles, DOCX files, and configuration inputs and produces artifacts, reports, validation outcomes, and structured metadata.

3.5 Traceability

The requirements in this FRS are intended to trace back to the markidocx PRD and forward into implementation, interface contracts, and validation suites.

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4. Scope and Non-Scope

In Scope

This FRS covers:

• functional system behavior
• user-facing and interface-facing commands and operations
• supported document processing behavior
• interface-level interactions through CLI, REST, and MCP
• functional handling of templates, styles, manifests, and artifacts
• conditions under which functions succeed, warn, or fail

Out of Scope

This FRS does not define:

• internal architecture
• code organization
• algorithms or parser strategies
• storage implementation
• UI layout
• deployment topology
• performance or security design except where behaviorally relevant

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5. System Overview

markidocx shall provide a functional workflow in which a user or external system can:

1. define a document project using Markdown sources and a manifest
2. compose one or more Markdown files into a document model
3. export that document into DOCX using a selected template/style family
4. import an edited DOCX back into Markdown form
5. validate compatibility and structural integrity
6. detect and report drift between baseline and re-imported forms
7. manage template/style families
8. access the same capabilities locally, via service calls, or through MCP tools
9. run end-to-end tests using the latest stable markidocx documentation corpus

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6. Functional Requirements Structure

Requirements are grouped into the following domains:

• FR-100 Project and manifest management
• FR-200 Build and export
• FR-300 Import and round-trip processing
• FR-400 Multi-file document handling
• FR-500 Feature level support
• FR-600 Template and style management
• FR-700 Validation and drift analysis
• FR-800 CLI functions
• FR-900 REST service functions
• FR-1000 MCP functions
• FR-1100 Test and regression functions
• FR-1200 Error and warning behavior

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7. Functional Requirements

7.1 Project and Manifest Management

FR-101 Project Manifest Recognition

The system shall accept a project definition that identifies the document project, its source files, document type, feature level, and associated template/style selections.

FR-102 Manifest Validation

The system shall determine whether a provided project manifest is syntactically and functionally valid.

FR-103 Missing Resource Detection

The system shall report an error when a manifest references a source, asset, bibliography, template, or style that is not available.

FR-104 Project Inspection

The system shall provide a way to inspect the resolved project configuration, including source ordering, selected feature level, template selection, and derived document metadata.

FR-105 Project Capability Disclosure

The system shall expose the effective capabilities of a project as derived from the manifest and registered feature support.

FR-106 Unsupported Manifest Configuration Detection

The system shall reject or warn on manifest settings that are inconsistent with supported system behavior.

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7.2 Build and Export

FR-201 Build Invocation

The system shall allow a user or external client to request document build/export for a defined project.

FR-202 Markdown Composition

The system shall compose the project’s declared Markdown sources into a buildable document representation.

FR-203 DOCX Export

The system shall generate a DOCX artifact from a valid project when DOCX output is requested.

FR-204 Template Application

The system shall apply the selected DOCX template family during DOCX generation.

FR-205 Style Selection

The system shall associate the selected style family with the generated output where relevant to the output mode.

FR-206 Asset Inclusion

The system shall include referenced images and other supported assets in the exported document where the asset is valid and resolvable.

FR-207 Metadata Propagation

The system shall propagate supported document metadata from project inputs into the generated document.

FR-208 Build Result Reporting

The system shall return a structured build result indicating success, warnings, or failure and identify generated artifacts.

FR-209 Deterministic Build Result Disclosure

The system shall provide build output metadata sufficient for later validation and comparison.

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7.3 Import and Round-Trip Processing

FR-301 DOCX Import Invocation

The system shall allow a user or external client to submit a DOCX document for import into Markdown-compatible project form.

FR-302 Project-Aware Import

The system shall import DOCX content in the context of a specified project configuration when such context is provided.

FR-303 Markdown Reconstitution

The system shall produce Markdown output from the imported DOCX for supported constructs.

FR-304 Structural Preservation

The system shall preserve supported document structure during import within the bounds of the selected feature level.

FR-305 Source Mapping Use

When project source mapping is available, the system shall use it to associate imported content with original source boundaries.

FR-306 Import Result Reporting

The system shall report the result of an import operation, including generated outputs, warnings, and identified ambiguities.

FR-307 Unsupported Construct Reporting

The system shall explicitly report Word constructs that cannot be safely mapped into supported Markdown representation.

FR-308 Re-import Equivalence Support

The system shall support round-trip workflows in which exported DOCX documents can be re-imported into semantically equivalent Markdown representations, subject to supported feature classes and accepted normalization.

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7.4 Multi-File Document Handling

FR-401 Multi-File Source Declaration

The system shall support projects consisting of multiple Markdown source files.

FR-402 Ordered Composition

The system shall preserve declared source ordering when composing a multi-file document.

FR-403 Whole-Document Export

The system shall support export of a multi-file project into a single reviewable document artifact.

FR-404 Source-Origin Awareness

The system shall maintain source-origin information sufficient to support round-trip handling of multi-file documents.

FR-405 Source Redistribution

The system shall support redistribution of imported content back into source-aligned outputs when source mapping information is available.

FR-406 Fallback Import Form

When source redistribution cannot be completed safely, the system shall provide a valid merged Markdown result and indicate the fallback condition.

FR-407 Section Boundary Integrity Reporting

The system shall report when imported edits cause ambiguity or breakage at tracked source or section boundaries.

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7.5 Feature Level Support

7.5.1 LEVEL1

FR-501 Heading Support

The system shall export and import heading structures and preserve supported heading hierarchy.

FR-502 List Support

The system shall export and import ordered and unordered lists and preserve list structure within supported cases.

FR-503 Table Support

The system shall export and import supported table structures.

FR-504 Footnote Support

The system shall export and import footnotes and preserve their association with referencing content.

FR-505 Image Support

The system shall export and import supported images and preserve image references and associated descriptive metadata where available.

FR-506 Link Support

The system shall export and import links and preserve supported link targets and visible text.

7.5.2 LEVEL3

FR-531 Cross-Reference Support

The system shall support export and import workflows for supported cross references between labeled content elements.

FR-532 Numbered Figure Support

The system shall support export of figures with captions and numbering and preserve figure identity sufficiently for supported round-trip usage.

FR-533 Automatic Diagram Support

The system shall support diagrams derived from source declarations as part of document build/export workflows.

FR-534 Diagram Intent Preservation

The system shall preserve the connection between diagram source intent and rendered output within the managed workflow.

FR-535 Bibliography Support

The system shall support bibliography-aware document generation from structured citation inputs.

FR-536 Citation Preservation

The system shall preserve supported citation semantics during round-trip processing or report when ambiguity prevents safe preservation.

FR-537 Feature-Level Compatibility Disclosure

The system shall disclose whether a project, template family, or processing path supports LEVEL1 only or LEVEL3.

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7.6 Template and Style Management

FR-601 Built-In Family Availability

The system shall provide three built-in document families named:

• article
• book
• website

FR-602 Family Metadata Disclosure

The system shall provide discoverable metadata for each available template/style family.

FR-603 Template Listing

The system shall provide a way to list available template families.

FR-604 Style Listing

The system shall provide a way to list available style families.

FR-605 Template Registration

The system shall allow registration of an additional document template.

FR-606 Style Registration

The system shall allow registration of an additional style definition.

FR-607 Paired Family Registration

The system shall allow registration of an additional template/style family association.

FR-608 Registration Validation

The system shall validate a proposed registration and report whether it is acceptable.

FR-609 Compatibility Declaration

The system shall associate each template/style family with declared capability metadata, including applicable document types and feature-level support.

FR-610 Family Resolution

The system shall resolve a family reference in a project to the corresponding registered template/style resources.

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7.7 Validation and Drift Analysis

FR-701 Validation Invocation

The system shall allow validation of a project without performing a full build or import.

FR-702 Validation Scope

The system shall validate manifest integrity, referenced resources, selected feature level, and template/style compatibility.

FR-703 Build Preconditions Reporting

The system shall report whether a project is functionally ready for build.

FR-704 Drift Comparison

The system shall allow comparison of baseline and imported Markdown representations.

FR-705 Drift Classification

The system shall classify detected differences into at least the following functional categories:

• cosmetic
• normalized
• structural
• unsupported or ambiguous
• fatal

FR-706 Structural Drift Detection

The system shall identify structural changes affecting supported document semantics.

FR-707 Cross-Reference Integrity Check

The system shall detect and report broken or unresolved supported cross references.

FR-708 Figure Integrity Check

The system shall detect and report supported figure numbering or identity inconsistencies.

FR-709 Bibliography Integrity Check

The system shall detect and report unresolved bibliography or citation issues in supported workflows.

FR-710 Validation Result Output

The system shall produce validation and drift results in a machine-consumable form and a human-consumable form.

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7.8 CLI Functions

FR-801 Local CLI Availability

The system shall provide a local command-line interface for core markidocx functions.

FR-802 CLI Build Command

The CLI shall provide a command to build/export a project.

FR-803 CLI Import Command

The CLI shall provide a command to import DOCX content into project-compatible Markdown outputs.

FR-804 CLI Validate Command

The CLI shall provide a command to validate a project.

FR-805 CLI Diff Command

The CLI shall provide a command to compare round-trip outputs or equivalent document states.

FR-806 CLI Inspect Command

The CLI shall provide a command to inspect resolved project information.

FR-807 CLI Template Listing Command

The CLI shall provide a command to list template families.

FR-808 CLI Style Listing Command

The CLI shall provide a command to list styles or style families.

FR-809 CLI Registration Commands

The CLI shall provide commands to register templates, styles, or families.

FR-810 CLI Test Command

The CLI shall provide a command to execute the defined test suite or end-to-end validation workflow.

FR-811 CLI Exit Status Behavior

The CLI shall return success, warning, or failure outcomes through distinguishable exit behavior and output.

FR-812 CLI Structured Output

The CLI shall support a structured output mode for machine consumption.

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7.9 REST Service Functions

FR-901 REST Service Availability

The system shall provide a REST-accessible service exposing core markidocx functions.

FR-902 REST Project Validation

The service shall allow clients to submit a project for validation and receive a structured result.

FR-903 REST Build

The service shall allow clients to request document build/export and retrieve resulting artifacts and reports.

FR-904 REST Import

The service shall allow clients to submit DOCX content for import and receive generated Markdown-compatible outputs and reports.

FR-905 REST Drift Comparison

The service shall allow clients to request drift analysis between supplied or project-associated document states.

FR-906 REST Template Listing

The service shall provide an endpoint for listing available template families.

FR-907 REST Style Listing

The service shall provide an endpoint for listing available styles or style families.

FR-908 REST Registration

The service shall allow submission of additional template/style registrations and return validation results.

FR-909 REST Capability Inspection

The service shall provide a way to retrieve supported capability and feature-level information.

FR-910 REST Health Disclosure

The service shall provide a machine-readable health/status response.

FR-911 REST Version Disclosure

The service shall provide a machine-readable version response.

FR-912 REST Structured Responses

The service shall return structured responses that identify status, outputs, warnings, and errors.

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7.10 MCP Functions

FR-1001 MCP Availability

The system shall provide an MCP-compatible interface exposing markidocx capabilities to agentic clients.

FR-1002 MCP Template Discovery

The MCP interface shall expose a tool or equivalent operation to list available template families.

FR-1003 MCP Style Discovery

The MCP interface shall expose a tool or equivalent operation to list available style families.

FR-1004 MCP Project Validation

The MCP interface shall expose a tool or equivalent operation to validate a project.

FR-1005 MCP Project Inspection

The MCP interface shall expose a tool or equivalent operation to inspect a project.

FR-1006 MCP Build

The MCP interface shall expose a tool or equivalent operation to build/export a project.

FR-1007 MCP Import

The MCP interface shall expose a tool or equivalent operation to import DOCX content.

FR-1008 MCP Drift Comparison

The MCP interface shall expose a tool or equivalent operation to compare round-trip states.

FR-1009 MCP Test Execution

The MCP interface shall expose a tool or equivalent operation to run end-to-end tests.

FR-1010 MCP Version Disclosure

The MCP interface shall expose a tool or equivalent operation to disclose system version information.

FR-1011 MCP Resource Exposure

The MCP interface shall expose relevant machine-consumable resources for manifests, capabilities, template metadata, style metadata, and current documentation corpus metadata.

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7.11 Test and Regression Functions

FR-1101 Stable Documentation Corpus

The system shall maintain the latest stable markidocx documentation as a managed documentation project.

FR-1102 Documentation-Based E2E Testing

The system shall support execution of end-to-end validation using the latest stable markidocx documentation as the test corpus.

FR-1103 Round-Trip Regression Execution

The system shall support a test flow in which the documentation corpus is built, exported, imported, and compared.

FR-1104 Template Coverage in E2E Testing

The system shall support end-to-end testing against the built-in article, book, and website families where applicable.

FR-1105 Feature-Level Coverage in E2E Testing

The system shall support execution of tests covering LEVEL1 and LEVEL3 behavior as represented in the stable documentation corpus.

FR-1106 Test Result Reporting

The system shall provide a report identifying whether regression and end-to-end validation passed, warned, or failed.

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7.12 Error and Warning Behavior

FR-1201 Explicit Failure Reporting

The system shall explicitly report functional failures rather than silently omitting failed operations.

FR-1202 Explicit Warning Reporting

The system shall explicitly report warnings when an operation completes with ambiguity, normalization, unsupported constructs, or partial degradation.

FR-1203 Unsupported Construct Visibility

The system shall surface unsupported or ambiguous constructs in import, export, validation, or diff results.

FR-1204 Partial Result Disclosure

When an operation produces partial results, the system shall indicate the partial nature of those results.

FR-1205 Non-Silent Degradation

The system shall not silently discard known document constructs that fall outside supported round-trip behavior.

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8. Functional Use Cases

UC-01 Single-File Round-Trip

A user provides a single Markdown project, builds DOCX, edits the DOCX, imports it back, and receives an updated Markdown result plus drift report.

UC-02 Multi-File Review Workflow

A user provides a multi-file project, exports one DOCX for review, imports the reviewed DOCX, and receives redistributed or merged Markdown outputs with section mapping status.

UC-03 Template Switching

A user builds the same content using article, book, and website families and receives corresponding output artifacts without changing the source content.

UC-04 Validation Before Build

A user validates a project and receives confirmation of readiness or a list of blocking issues.

UC-05 External Automation

An external system submits a project to the REST service for build, import, or comparison and receives structured results.

UC-06 Agentic Interaction

An MCP client discovers available templates, validates a project, triggers a build, and retrieves validation outcomes.

UC-07 Product Self-Test

A release process runs end-to-end tests against the latest stable markidocx documentation and records regression status.

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9. Functional Constraints

FC-01 Supported Semantic Envelope

The system shall only claim preservation for constructs within the declared supported feature levels and managed workflow boundaries.

FC-02 Project-Scoped Operation

Build, import, validation, and drift functions shall operate in relation to an explicit project context or explicitly supplied artifact set.

FC-03 Family-Scoped Capability

Template/style application shall be constrained by the declared capabilities of the selected family.

FC-04 Fallback Disclosure

Whenever the system falls back from source-aligned redistribution to merged or degraded output, it shall disclose that fallback.

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10. Acceptance-Oriented Functional Summary

markidocx shall be considered functionally conformant to this FRS when it can, at minimum:

1. accept and validate a project manifest
2. compose single-file and multi-file Markdown documents
3. export DOCX using built-in document families
4. import edited DOCX back into Markdown-compatible outputs
5. support all declared LEVEL1 functions
6. support declared LEVEL3 functions for managed cases
7. detect and classify round-trip drift
8. expose core functions through CLI
9. expose core functions through REST
10. expose core functions through MCP
11. register additional templates and styles
12. run end-to-end tests using the latest stable markidocx documentation corpus

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11. Related Artifacts

This FRS is expected to relate to:

• PRD: markidocx
• Non-Functional Requirements document
• API/interface contracts
• schema definitions for manifests and registrations
• test specifications
• acceptance criteria catalog
• system design specification
• architecture decision records

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12. Appendix: Suggested Requirement Trace Anchors

A minimal traceability map should connect:

• PRD product goals → FRS requirement groups
• FRS requirement IDs → interface contracts
• FRS requirement IDs → acceptance tests
• FRS requirement IDs → regression scenarios

Example trace anchors:

• PRD Round-Trip Editing → FR-201 to FR-308
• PRD Multi-File Composition → FR-401 to FR-407
• PRD Built-In Families → FR-601 to FR-610
• PRD CLI/REST/MCP accessibility → FR-801 to FR-1011
• PRD E2E documentation corpus → FR-1101 to FR-1106

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