Requirements
Functional Requirements¶
Create and manage sheets¶
- The system shall display an overview of the users sheets.
- Each user shall be able to manage their sheets (deletion, creation, naming).
User Accounts¶
- Users shall be able to register with a valid email address and password.
- Users shall be able to log in and out of the system with their credentials.
- Users can enable Multi-Factor-Authentification for their account.
- Sheets shall only be visible to the respective user.
Collaborative and realtime working¶
- Users can invite other users to collaborate and manage/edit a sheet together in realtime.
Technical Requirements¶
Frontend¶
| Technology | Purpose | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| React + Vite | SPA Framework | Standard for performant UIs; fast HMR (Hot Module Replacement). |
| AG Grid CE | Spreadsheet UI | High feature density (editing, filtering) with minimal custom work. Premade (saves effort). |
| Yjs | CRDT Engine | Enables real-time collaborative editing. |
| hocuspocus/provider | Provider | WebSocket connection for Yjs. |
Backend¶
| Technology | Purpose | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| Node.js + Fastify | API Server | High throughput for WebSockets, TypeScript-native, validated schemas. |
| hocuspocus/server | Sync Engine | Lightweight backend module for Yjs (single-instance). |
| PostgreSQL | Persistence | Stores user data and Yjs doc snapshots. |
| AWS Cognito | Auth Service | Part of AWS, handles authentication. |
Cloud (AWS)¶
| Service | Purpose | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| App Runner | Container Hosting | Core application, automates SSL and deployment directly from ECR. |
| RDS PostgreSQL | Managed DB | Core service, data storage; Free Tier (db.t3.micro). |
| S3 | SPA Hosting | Hosts static assets (frontend). |
| SSM Parameter Store | Config & Secrets | Free, simple management of DB credentials and API keys (instead of Secrets Manager). |
| ECR | Image Registry | Required for container deployments on App Runner. |
DevOps / IaC¶
| Technology | Purpose | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| AWS CDK (TS) | Infrastructure as Code | Entire infrastructure as code, reproducible and type-safe (TypeScript). |
| GitHub Actions | CI/CD | Automates build process and push to ECR/App Runner. |
| Docker | Containerization | Test containers locally (backend, database, etc). |