A modern, practical markdown Software Requirements Specification (SRS) template aligned with IEEE 830 and ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148:2011/2017. It emphasizes verifiable requirements, traceability, quality attributes, and clear separation of “what” (requirements) from “how” (design)—leaving that to complementary artifacts such as Markdown Software Design Description (MSDD).
This SRS template builds on formal standards, with the non-functional requirement organization and language based on van Lamsweerde’s Requirements Engineering taxonomy of non-functional requirements, and incorporates modern software component requirements—continuous delivery, observability, and AI/ML.
Designed to be:
- Readable, developer‑friendly, and AI‑interpretable
- Comprehensive with intuitive structuring—focused on essential project needs, with clear section goals, sensible defaults, and extensibility points so sections can be filled, skipped, or removed
- Standards-aligned: IEEE 830, ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148
- Comprehensive structure with clear, testable requirement patterns
- Dedicated sections for Quality of Service, Compliance, and AI/ML
- Built-in guidance, tips, and checklists for each section
- Traceability-ready requirement ID schema and verification matrix
- Suitable for regulated and enterprise contexts
- Product managers and business analysts defining scope and outcomes
- Architects and engineers designing solutions from stable requirements
- QA and SRE teams planning verification and SLAs/SLOs
- Security, compliance, and data governance teams
- Copy the template file into your repository (e.g.,
docs/srs.md). - Fill metadata (version, author, organization, date).
- Complete Section 1 to establish context, glossary, references, and conventions.
- Draft Section 2 with product context and constraints before writing detailed requirements.
- Capture testable requirements in Section 3 with unique IDs and acceptance criteria.
- Define verification in Section 4 and maintain the traceability matrix.
- Keep revision history updated and align with your VCS releases.
- Introduction: Purpose, scope, glossary, references, and document conventions
- Product Overview: Context, functions, constraints, users, assumptions, allocation
- Requirements:
- External Interfaces (UI, hardware, software)
- Functional Requirements (externally observable behaviors)
- Quality of Service (performance, security, reliability, availability, observability)
- Compliance (regulatory/contractual obligations)
- Design & Implementation constraints (installation, build/delivery, distribution, maintainability, reusability, portability, cost, deadlines, POCs, change management)
- AI/ML (model specs, data management, guardrails, ethics, human-in-the-loop, lifecycle)
- Verification: Methods, environments, artifacts, and traceability
- Appendixes: Supporting, non-normative materials
- srs-template.md — Guided SRS with explanations and tips.
- srs-template-bare.md — Minimal SRS scaffold.
- req-template.md — Guided requirement template with prompts and tips for non-monolithic SRS.
- req-template-bare.md — Minimal requirement template for non-monolithic SRS.
- Fill
srs-template.md. - Export to PDF/HTML (e.g., pandoc) and share.
- Keep
srs-template.mdasdocs/srs.md. - Incrementally add/modify requirements.
- Export on releases for stakeholders.
- Treat
docs/srs.mdas the source of truth. - Keep templates available in-repo to standardize language and structure.
- Provide the guided SRS and requirement templates to an LLM as context.
- Maintain an SRS plus separate requirement files under
docs/requirements/. - Use
req-template.mdorreq-template-bare.mdfor each requirement (one file per REQ). - Link each requirement from the SRS (Section 3 index).
- Track verification links in SRS Section 4.
- Manage
docs/requirements/*.mdwithout a monolithic SRS. - Generate a simple index or roll-up SRS as needed.
In practice, the line between functional and non-functional requirements is rarely clear-cut. Many requirements naturally span both domains. For example, a safety injection signal in a nuclear power system is both functional—it defines when the signal must activate—and non-functional, as it enforces a safety constraint. The same applies to features like call screening or firewall management, which provide specific functionality while also ensuring privacy and security. Categories often overlap; an availability requirement, for instance, contributes to both system reliability and security.
Even with these overlaps, maintaining a taxonomy of requirements adds structure and clarity to the requirements engineering (RE) process. Categorization helps teams articulate not only what a system must do, but also how well and under what constraints it must operate. Functional requirements typically describe concrete system behaviors, while non-functional ones define qualities that cut across features—like usability, performance, or confidentiality. This distinction also supports systematic analysis: it makes it easier to spot missing requirements (e.g., is there any explainability requirement on X?), detect potential conflicts (e.g., between usability and security), and prioritize trade-offs during design and validation.
For developers, QA engineers, and architects, a requirements taxonomy acts as a mental model for navigating complexity. It provides a shared vocabulary for reasoning about behavior, quality, and constraints throughout the software lifecycle—guiding not just how systems are built, but how they are tested, evaluated, and evolved.
This template is dedicated to the public domain under the Creative Commons Zero v1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) license.
You can copy, modify, distribute, and use the work, even for commercial purposes, without asking for permission.
