PRD Template for File Upload

Example: "Users need to upload documents (PDFs, images, spreadsheets) as context for their projects. Our current upload implementation has a 10MB hard limit with no error message when exceeded — the upload simply fails silently. 23% of upload support tickets are from users trying to upload files above this limit. The upload has no progress indicator, causing users to click the upload button multiple times (creating duplicates) or navigate away before the upload completes. Average upload failure rate is 8%, primarily on files over 5MB."

Example: "Primary: Achieve 99.5%+ upload success rate for files up to 100MB (currently 92% for files up to 10MB). UX: Users must see upload progress at all times — no silent failures. Security: All uploaded files must be scanned for malware before being accessible to other users. Performance: Files under 5MB must upload in under 3 seconds on a standard broadband connection."

Example: "As a user, I want to drag and drop files onto the upload area so that I can add multiple files without clicking through a file picker dialog. Acceptance criteria: drag-and-drop zone is visually highlighted when files are dragged over it; multiple files can be dropped simultaneously; each file shows individual progress; unsupported file types are immediately rejected with a clear error message listing supported types."

Example: "FR-1: The system must support uploading via drag-and-drop, file picker dialog, and clipboard paste. FR-2: Supported file types: PDF, PNG, JPG, GIF, SVG, DOCX, XLSX, CSV, MP4 (up to 100MB), ZIP (up to 200MB). FR-3: Upload progress must be displayed as a percentage bar for each file. FR-4: Files over 10MB must use multipart/chunked upload to support resumability. FR-5: After upload, the system must generate a thumbnail preview for images and PDFs. FR-6: All uploaded files must pass a virus scan before being made accessible to other users."

Example: "NFR-1: Uploads must not block the main UI thread — the application must remain interactive during file upload. NFR-2: The system must support 50 concurrent uploads per user without degradation. NFR-3: Uploaded files must be stored in a durable object storage system (S3 or equivalent) with 99.999999999% durability. NFR-4: File access must be authenticated — direct S3 URLs must use signed URLs with a 1-hour expiry. NFR-5: Files must be encrypted at rest using AES-256."

Example: "Metric 1: Upload success rate. Baseline: 92%. Target: 99.5%. Metric 2: Upload-related support tickets. Baseline: 45/month. Target: under 5/month. Metric 3: Average upload speed for files under 5MB. Target: under 3 seconds. Metric 4: Retry rate (users who retry after a failure). Baseline: 31%. Target: under 5%. Metric 5: User satisfaction with upload experience (in-product survey). Target: 4.5/5."

Example: "Files will be uploaded directly to S3 using presigned URLs to avoid routing large files through our API server. The upload flow: (1) client requests a presigned upload URL from the API, (2) client uploads directly to S3, (3) client notifies the API of completion, (4) API triggers post-upload processing (virus scan via ClamAV, thumbnail generation for images). Files over 10MB use S3 multipart upload for resumability. Thumbnails are generated asynchronously via a background job and stored alongside the original file."

Example: "Risk: A user uploads a file containing malware that infects other users who download it. Likelihood: Medium. Impact: Critical. Mitigation: Scan all files with ClamAV before making them accessible. Quarantine infected files and notify the uploader. Risk: Storage costs grow unboundedly as users upload large files and never delete them. Likelihood: High. Impact: Medium. Mitigation: Implement storage quotas per workspace. Move files not accessed in 90 days to infrequent-access storage tier. Surface storage usage in the admin dashboard."