BARKLY SYSTEM IDEAS LIBRARY

Functional Requirements — Draft 0.1

System: Barkly Labs System Ideas Library Document Type: Functional Requirements Status: Draft Version: 0.1

Purpose

The Barkly System Ideas Library SHALL provide a persistent, human-readable system for capturing, organizing, exploring, documenting, relating, and preserving ideas for future Barkly systems, projects, research, tools, infrastructure, and workflows.

The system SHALL allow ideas to exist independently of immediate implementation.

The system is intended to preserve institutional knowledge and provide a path from an initial idea toward experimentation, requirements, design, implementation, documentation, or archival.

Core idea:

Capture → Understand → Explore → Design → Decide → Build → Document → Learn

01 — Idea Intake

FR-001 — Create an Idea

The system SHALL allow an authorized contributor to create a new system idea.

A new idea SHALL receive a unique identifier.

Example:

idea-2026-0001

FR-002 — Minimum Idea Creation

The system SHALL allow an idea to be created with minimal information.

At minimum, an idea SHOULD require:

name

short description

creator

creation date

status

The system SHALL NOT require a complete technical specification when an idea is initially captured.

FR-003 — Capture Incomplete Ideas

The system SHALL allow contributors to record incomplete, uncertain, speculative, or exploratory ideas.

An idea MAY contain unresolved questions.

An idea MAY contain incomplete requirements.

An idea MAY contain no implementation plan.

FR-004 — Idea Metadata

Each idea SHOULD support:

idea ID

title

description

creator

contributors

creation date

last modified date

status

02 — Problem Definition

FR-005 — Problem Statement

The system SHOULD allow contributors to document the problem an idea is intended to address.

FR-006 — User Need

The system SHOULD allow contributors to describe who may benefit from the proposed system.

FR-007 — Purpose

Each idea SHOULD contain a human-readable purpose statement.

Example:

Help people document technical work without requiring them to manually maintain complex documentation.

FR-008 — Intended Outcome

The system SHOULD allow contributors to describe what successful implementation would accomplish.

03 — System Concept

FR-009 — Concept Description

Each idea SHOULD support a system concept describing what the proposed system would do.

FR-010 — Inputs

The system SHOULD allow contributors to document expected inputs.

Examples:

documents

source code

financial records

measurements

images

user input

experimental results

FR-011 — Processing

The system SHOULD allow contributors to describe how information would be processed.

FR-012 — Outputs

The system SHOULD allow contributors to document expected outputs.

Examples:

reports

datasets

documentation

dashboards

APIs

generated files

research results

FR-013 — Users

The system SHOULD allow contributors to identify intended users.

FR-014 — Boundaries

The system SHOULD allow contributors to document what the proposed system is not intended to do.

This SHOULD prevent scope from silently expanding during development.

04 — Idea Status

FR-015 — Lifecycle Status

Each idea SHALL have a lifecycle status.

The system SHALL support at minimum:

IDEA

EXPLORING

DESIGNED

PLANNED

ACTIVE

COMPLETED

PAUSED

ARCHIVED

FR-016 — Status Transitions

The system SHOULD record meaningful status transitions.

Example:

IDEA

2026-09-28

↓

EXPLORING

2026-10-04

↓

DESIGNED

2026-10-21

FR-017 — Ideas May Remain Ideas

The system SHALL allow an idea to remain in the IDEA state indefinitely.

Ideas SHALL NOT be required to become active projects.

FR-018 — Pause

An idea MAY be placed into PAUSED.

The system SHOULD allow a reason for the pause to be recorded.

FR-019 — Archive

An idea MAY be archived without being implemented.

Archived ideas SHOULD remain discoverable.

05 — Exploration

FR-020 — Exploration Notes

Contributors SHOULD be able to record research, observations, experiments, questions, and discoveries associated with an idea.

FR-021 — Open Questions

Each idea SHOULD support a list of unresolved questions.

Example:

OPEN QUESTIONS

Can this operate locally?

What data should be retained?

What should remain private?

What would human review look like?

Can this integrate with Barkly Docs?

FR-022 — Assumptions

The system SHOULD allow contributors to record assumptions underlying the idea.

FR-023 — Constraints

The system SHOULD allow contributors to document known constraints.

Examples:

hardware

funding

time

accessibility

privacy

legal requirements

technical limitations

FR-024 — Research References

The system SHOULD allow contributors to associate references and source material with an idea.

06 — Requirements Development

FR-025 — Convert Idea Into Requirements

An idea SHOULD be capable of being expanded into a formal Functional Requirements document.

FR-026 — Requirements Association

Requirements SHALL be associated with the idea or resulting project.

FR-027 — Requirement Status

Requirements SHOULD support states such as:

PROPOSED

ACCEPTED

IMPLEMENTED

DEFERRED

REJECTED

FR-028 — Preserve Original Concept

Converting an idea into requirements SHALL NOT destroy the original idea record.

The original concept SHALL remain part of the system history.

07 — System Design

FR-029 — Architecture Notes

An idea SHOULD support architectural notes.

FR-030 — Components

Contributors SHOULD be able to identify potential system components.

FR-031 — Dependencies

The system SHOULD allow potential dependencies to be documented.

FR-032 — Interfaces

The system SHOULD allow proposed interfaces to be documented.

Examples:

web interface

API

CLI

file format

hardware interface

FR-033 — Architecture Evolution

Architectural concepts SHOULD be allowed to change as the idea develops.

Meaningful changes SHOULD be preserved in the idea history.

08 — Relationships

FR-034 — Link Ideas

The system SHALL allow ideas to reference other ideas.

FR-035 — Link Projects

Ideas SHOULD be linkable to Barkly projects.

FR-036 — Link Systems

Ideas SHOULD be linkable to existing Barkly systems.

Examples:

Barkly Docs

CYN-X

PAW-HC

Financial System

LAAS

FR-037 — Relationship Types

The system SHOULD support relationships such as:

RELATED TO

DEPENDS ON

EXTENDS

REPLACES

INSPIRED BY

GENERATED FROM

USED BY

PART OF

09 — Ecosystem Mapping

FR-038 — System Map

The system SHOULD be capable of representing relationships between Barkly systems and ideas.

Example:

BARKLY LABS

│

┌─────────────┼─────────────┐

│ │ │

BARKLY DOCS CYN-X PAW-HC

│ │ │

└─────────────┼─────────────┘

│

FUTURE SYSTEM

│

IDEA RECORD

FR-039 — Dependency Visibility

The system SHOULD make important dependencies between systems understandable to humans.

FR-040 — Ecosystem Context

An idea SHOULD be capable of explaining how it may contribute to the broader Barkly ecosystem.

10 — Experiments

FR-041 — Record Experiments

An idea SHOULD support associated experiments.

FR-042 — Experiment Definition

An experiment SHOULD support:

experiment ID

purpose

hypothesis

inputs

procedure

results

conclusion

date

contributors

FR-043 — Experiment Results

Experiment results SHOULD remain associated with the originating idea.

FR-044 — Failed Experiments

The system SHALL allow unsuccessful experiments to be documented.

Failure SHALL NOT require deletion of the experiment record.

11 — Decision Records

FR-045 — Record Decisions

The system SHOULD allow important decisions concerning an idea to be recorded.

FR-046 — Decision Metadata

A decision record SHOULD include:

decision

date

responsible person

reasoning

alternatives considered

resulting action

FR-047 — Human Decision Authority

The system SHALL preserve human responsibility for significant decisions concerning whether an idea becomes an active Barkly system.

Automation MAY provide recommendations or summaries.

Automation SHALL NOT silently make the final organizational decision.

12 — Contribution

FR-048 — Multiple Contributors

An idea SHOULD support multiple contributors.

FR-049 — Contributor Attribution

The system SHOULD preserve attribution for meaningful contributions.

FR-050 — Contribution Records

The system MAY record contributions such as:

research

writing

design

engineering

testing

documentation

review

13 — Version History

FR-051 — Idea History

The system SHOULD preserve meaningful revisions to an idea.

FR-052 — Change Records

A change record SHOULD contain:

date

contributor

change

previous value where appropriate

new value where appropriate

FR-053 — Original Preservation

The system SHALL NOT silently overwrite the historical development of an idea.

14 — Documentation

FR-054 — Human-Readable Documentation

Every idea SHALL have a human-readable representation.

FR-055 — Machine-Readable Representation

Ideas SHOULD be representable in structured formats.

Supported formats MAY include:

JSON

YAML

Markdown

FR-056 — Automatic Documentation

The system MAY generate documentation from structured idea records.

FR-057 — Generated Content Identification

Automatically generated content SHOULD be distinguishable from human-authored decisions and statements.

15 — Barkly Docs Integration

FR-058 — Documentation Handoff

An idea SHOULD be capable of becoming a Barkly Docs project.

FR-059 — Automatic Project Documentation

When an idea becomes an implementation, relevant system metadata SHOULD be available to Barkly Docs.

FR-060 — Documentation Continuity

The system SHOULD allow the relationship between:

IDEA

↓

REQUIREMENTS

↓

PROJECT

↓

CODE

↓

DOCUMENTATION

to remain discoverable.

16 — CYN-X Integration

FR-061 — AI Assistance

CYN-X MAY assist contributors with idea organization and exploration.

FR-062 — Suggested Relationships

CYN-X MAY suggest potentially related:

ideas

projects

systems

documentation

requirements

FR-063 — Documentation Assistance

CYN-X MAY assist with generating drafts of:

problem statements

requirements

architecture descriptions

documentation

open questions

FR-064 — Human Verification of AI Output

AI-generated information SHALL remain distinguishable from human-approved information where the distinction is relevant.

17 — Search and Discovery

FR-065 — Search

The system SHALL allow contributors to search the idea library.

Search SHOULD support:

title

description

FR-066 — Filtering

The system SHOULD allow filtering by:

status

FR-067 — Related Ideas

The system SHOULD surface potentially related ideas.

FR-068 — Idea Categories

The system SHOULD support categories such as:

SOFTWARE

HARDWARE

RESEARCH

DOCUMENTATION

INFRASTRUCTURE

COMMUNITY

ACCESSIBILITY

FINANCIAL

LABORATORY

EXPERIMENTAL

OTHER

Categories SHOULD be extensible.

18 — Public and Private Information

FR-069 — Visibility

Ideas SHOULD support visibility states.

For example:

PRIVATE

INTERNAL

PUBLIC

FR-070 — Public Ideas

Ideas marked public MAY be displayed through Barkly's public website.

FR-071 — Private Ideas

Private ideas SHALL NOT be published through public interfaces.

FR-072 — Sensitive Information

The system SHALL provide a mechanism for preventing sensitive information from being included in public idea records.

19 — Public Idea Presentation

FR-073 — Public Idea Index

The system MAY provide a public index of Barkly ideas.

FR-074 — Public Idea Page

A public idea MAY display:

name

purpose

problem

status

description

related systems

development history

contributors

documentation

FR-075 — Public Roadmap

The system MAY provide a public representation of ideas currently being explored or planned.

20 — Accessibility

FR-076 — Human-First Interface

The interface SHALL prioritize human comprehension over unnecessary technical complexity.

FR-077 — Keyboard Access

The interface SHOULD support keyboard navigation.

FR-078 — Screen Readers

The interface SHOULD support screen-reader technologies.

FR-079 — Responsive Design

The interface SHOULD remain usable across desktop, tablet, and mobile displays.

FR-080 — Plain Language

Ideas SHOULD be explainable without requiring specialized technical knowledge.

21 — Data Integrity

FR-081 — Unique Identifiers

Each idea SHALL have a unique identifier.

FR-082 — Required Metadata

The system SHALL validate required metadata before an idea is considered valid.

FR-083 — Relationship Integrity

References to other ideas, systems, and projects SHOULD resolve to valid records.

FR-084 — No Silent Data Loss

The system SHALL NOT silently discard idea records, history, decisions, experiments, or associated documentation.

22 — Automation

FR-085 — Automated Classification

The system MAY suggest categories and tags.

FR-086 — Automated Summaries

The system MAY generate summaries of large idea records.

FR-087 — Automated Relationship Discovery

The system MAY identify potentially related records.

FR-088 — Automated Lifecycle Assistance

The system MAY identify ideas that appear ready for:

requirements development

experimentation

project planning

documentation

The system SHALL NOT automatically activate an idea solely because an automated system recommends doing so.

23 — Integration Architecture

FR-089 — API

The system SHOULD be capable of exposing structured idea records through an API.

FR-090 — Structured Export

The system SHOULD support exporting idea records in machine-readable formats.

FR-091 — Import

The system MAY support importing ideas from structured sources.

FR-092 — External Tool Integration

The architecture SHOULD leave room for integration with:

Git repositories

Barkly Docs

CYN-X

project-management systems

research tools

public website infrastructure

24 — Institutional Memory

FR-093 — Preserve Knowledge

The system SHALL preserve ideas that contribute to Barkly's institutional history.

FR-094 — Revisit Historical Ideas

Contributors SHOULD be able to rediscover previously archived or paused ideas.

FR-095 — Idea Evolution

The system SHOULD make it possible to understand how an idea changed over time.

Example:

IDEA

↓

QUESTION

↓

RESEARCH

↓

EXPERIMENT

↓

DESIGN

↓

SYSTEM

25 — Future Extensions

These features are not required for Draft 0.1, but the architecture SHOULD leave room for:

semantic search

AI-assisted brainstorming

automatic idea clustering

dependency graphs

system relationship graphs

automatic requirements generation

automatic architecture diagrams

project generation

contributor matching

public discussion

community proposals

public voting

experiment dashboards

research notebooks

automatic changelogs

automatic Barkly Docs generation

automatic project scaffolding

public API

JSON Schema

multi-organization support

26 — Core System Pipeline

The conceptual pipeline SHALL support:

IDEA

│

▼

CAPTURE

│

▼

DESCRIBE

│

▼

EXPLORE

│

┌────────┴────────┐

▼ ▼

RESEARCH EXPERIMENT

│ │

└────────┬────────┘

▼

DESIGN

│

▼

REQUIREMENTS

│

▼

DECIDE

│

┌────────┴────────┐

│ │

PAUSE BUILD

│ │

▼ ▼

ARCHIVE PROJECT

│

▼

BARKLY DOCS

│

▼

ACTIVE SYSTEM

│

▼

LEARN

│

└──────► NEXT IDEA

27 — Core Data Model

A conceptual idea record SHOULD resemble:

{

"id": "idea-2026-0001",

"name": "Research Evidence System",

"status": "IDEA",

"visibility": "INTERNAL",

"creator": "contributor-id",

"created": "2026-09-28",

"updated": "2026-09-28",

"category": "RESEARCH",

"tags": [

"evidence",

"documentation",

"research"

"problem": "...",

"purpose": "...",

"description": "...",

"inputs": [],

"processing": [],

"outputs": [],

"users": [],

"constraints": [],

"open_questions": [],

"assumptions": [],

"experiments": [],

"requirements": [],

"decisions": [],

"relationships": [],

"contributors": [],

"history": []

}

28 — Barkly Principle

The System Ideas Library SHALL follow the following principle:

Ideas are allowed to exist before they are ready to become systems.

The system SHALL optimize for preserving human creativity and institutional memory, rather than forcing every idea into immediate execution.

Automation SHALL reduce the burden of organizing and documenting ideas.

Human contributors SHALL retain responsibility for deciding what ideas become projects, experiments, or systems.

Core Philosophy

CAPTURE THE IDEA.

DON'T LOSE THE QUESTION.

EXPLORE IT.

DOCUMENT WHAT YOU LEARN.

BUILD IT WHEN IT'S READY.

KEEP THE HISTORY.

LET THE NEXT IDEA BEGIN.