System Requirements Document for mercy-html

1. Introduction

mercy-html is a single-page, self-contained HTML deliverable whose entire content is a 2D animation drawn with SVG: a pelican riding a bicycle. The product intent is a small, joyful piece of motion design — a whimsical illustrated plate that happens to move — presented to a general web viewer with no setup, no account, and no surrounding application. The audience is anyone who opens the page in a browser and watches the pelican pedal.

The requester explicitly stated that no tests are required and that no restrictions are to be applied to the implementation. Those two statements are binding constraints on this deliverable and are carried through the document as such.

This document is the System Requirements Document for the product described above.

2. System Overview

2a. Product Interpretation and Delivery Boundary

The product is one HTML page. It is delivered as a single HTML file that renders a 2D SVG animation of a pelican riding a bicycle. There is no application identity, no sign-in, no persistence, and no server-side behavior required by the accepted requirements. The page is anonymously reachable and auto-plays its animation on load.

The single accepted destination is Landing, a public entry surface owned by the application. It presents the animation and nothing else in terms of product capability. The creative direction supplies the visual frame — an exhibition-panel stage, a title, a caption, a palette legend, and a hover-to-pause affordance — but these are presentation and interaction details of the same single page, not additional destinations or product modules.

The initial scaffold lists a shared FastAPI backend, a MariaDB database, and a React frontend. None of these are required by the accepted product behavior: the deliverable is a single HTML file with an inline SVG animation. They are recorded in the Tech Stack as provisioned infrastructure that the current product does not depend on, and they add no product requirements, no domain entities, and no authentication. The current delivery boundary is therefore a static, self-contained HTML page; anything beyond that is future or out of scope.

Removed from scope

• None. No concepts were removed by the user; the refinement restates the original request.

2c. Page Content and Component Coverage

Landing

Information and state

• The page is a single centred "exhibition panel" stage on a cream paper ground.
• A compact all-caps label row reads "A SMALL MOTION STUDY".
• An oversized sentence-case title reads "Pelican, Pedalling" in Jost 700, flush-left, spanning the panel width, wrapping to two lines at 375px.
• The SVG stage is a wide, slightly rounded frame with a thin walnut rule, aspect ratio 16:9, capped at 1100px wide.
• Inside the stage: a hand-drawn pelican with a mustard beak pouch and cream body, riding a tomato-red bicycle with teal wheel rims and ink spokes, slightly left of centre, riding rightward across a flat horizon line; a large mustard sun disc sits behind at upper right, partially cropped by the frame edge; a short tomato-red "pedal" caption sits bottom-left in all-caps Jost.
• Beneath the stage: a two-column credits strip — left, a short note in serif; right, a palette legend of four small colour chips (tomato, mustard, teal, cream) each with an all-caps label.
• The animation auto-plays on load: the pelican pedals in a continuous slow loop (leg rotation ~2.4s per cycle), the bicycle wheels spin, the pelican's head bobs slightly, the beak pouch gently inflates and deflates in time with the pedal cycle, and a small dust-puff trail of three teal circles drifts behind the rear wheel.
• Entrance is a single 600ms fade-and-settle of the stage.

Primary actions

• Hovering the stage pauses the ride (a "freeze-frame" affordance is revealed on hover).
• Clicking the stage resumes the ride.

Supporting actions

• None beyond the pause/resume affordance.

Domain entities

• None. The page holds no persistent data and no application-owned state beyond the animation's play/pause state.

Component responsibilities

• Stage frame: renders the SVG viewport, the walnut rule, the rounded corner, and the caption block.
• SVG scene: draws the pelican, bicycle, horizon line, sun disc, and dust-puff trail as vector shapes; drives the pedal, wheel, head-bob, and pouch animations.
• Title block: renders the label row and the oversized title.
• Credits strip: renders the serif note and the palette legend chips.
• Pause affordance: reveals on hover, toggles play/pause on click.

States

• Loading: the page is a single static HTML file; the SVG renders immediately with no network fetch. No loading state is required.
• Empty: not applicable — the scene is always present.
• Success: the animation plays on load; hovering pauses; clicking resumes.
• Error: if the browser cannot render SVG, the page shows nothing meaningful; no error UI is required by the accepted requirements.
• Recovery: not applicable beyond the pause/resume toggle.
• Reduced motion: with prefers-reduced-motion, the scene renders as a static illustrated plate with no pedalling or wheel spin, and the pause control is hidden.

3. Functional Requirements

FR-1 — Single HTML page As a Viewer, I should receive a single HTML page so that I can open the deliverable with no setup.

• Provenance: explicit.
• Lifecycle: actor opens the file in a browser; observable result is the page rendering; no failure/recovery beyond the browser's own rendering.
• Acceptance: the deliverable is one HTML file; opening it in a browser shows the page.

FR-2 — SVG 2D animation of a pelican riding a bicycle As a Viewer, I should see a 2D animation drawn with SVG showing a pelican riding a bicycle so that I can watch the scene.

• Provenance: explicit.
• Lifecycle: actor opens the page; the SVG scene renders and auto-plays; observable result is the pelican pedalling, the wheels spinning, the head bobbing, the beak pouch inflating/deflating, and the dust-puff trail drifting; continuation is the continuous loop.
• Acceptance: the scene is drawn with SVG elements; the pelican is on a bicycle; the animation plays continuously.

FR-3 — No tests required As the requester, I should not be required to provide or pass tests for this deliverable.

• Provenance: explicit.
• Acceptance: no test suite is part of the deliverable.

FR-4 — No restrictions applied As the requester, I should be able to have the implementation proceed without imposed restrictions.

• Provenance: explicit.
• Acceptance: the implementation is not constrained by additional restrictions beyond the stated deliverable shape.

FR-5 — Hover to pause, click to resume As a Viewer, I should be able to pause the ride by hovering the stage and resume it by clicking so that I can hold a freeze-frame.

• Provenance: explicit (creative direction).
• Lifecycle: actor hovers the stage → animation pauses and the pause affordance is revealed; actor clicks → animation resumes.
• Acceptance: hovering pauses; clicking resumes; the affordance is revealed on hover.

FR-6 — Reduced-motion static plate As a Viewer with prefers-reduced-motion, I should see a static illustrated plate with no pedalling or wheel spin and no pause control so that the page respects my motion preference.

• Provenance: explicit (creative direction).
• Acceptance: under reduced motion, the scene is static and the pause control is hidden.

4. User Personas

Viewer

• Product context: A general web viewer who opens the single HTML page in a browser. There is no account, no sign-in, and no prior state.
• Primary goal: Watch the 2D SVG animation of a pelican riding a bicycle.
• Distinct accepted responsibilities: Opening the page and observing the animation; optionally hovering to pause and clicking to resume.
• Relevant inputs or decisions: Whether to hover (pause) or click (resume); the browser's motion preference.
• Interactions with other accepted participants: None — the Viewer is the sole active human actor.
• Observable success: The animation plays correctly in the browser with no setup; hovering pauses and clicking resumes; under reduced motion the scene is a static plate.

5. Core User Flows

Flow 1 — Open and watch the animation

1. The Viewer opens the single HTML file in a browser.
2. The page renders the cream ground, the label row "A SMALL MOTION STUDY", and the title "Pelican, Pedalling".
3. The SVG stage fades and settles in over 600ms.
4. The pelican pedals in a continuous slow loop (~2.4s per cycle), the wheels spin, the head bobs, the beak pouch inflates and deflates, and the dust-puff trail drifts behind the rear wheel.
5. The Viewer watches. Continuation is the continuous loop.

Flow 2 — Pause and resume the ride

1. The Viewer hovers the stage.
2. The animation pauses and the "pause the ride" affordance is revealed.
3. The Viewer clicks the stage.
4. The animation resumes.

Flow 3 — Reduced-motion viewing

1. The Viewer with prefers-reduced-motion opens the page.
2. The scene renders as a static illustrated plate with no pedalling or wheel spin.
3. The pause control is hidden.
4. The Viewer views the static plate.

6. Visuals Colors and Theme

The creative direction is authoritative for this section.

• Muse and headline: Charles & Ray Eames — "Warm modernism on wheels — an Eamesian pelican ride".
• Mode: light.
• Palette:
  • Background: #F3EBDD (cream paper ground)
  • Surface: #FBF6EC (lighter surface card)
  • Text: #2B2620 (walnut-black ink)
  • Primary: #C14A2E (tomato red)
  • Accent: #E3A82B (mustard)
  • Muted: #7A8C86 (muted teal-sage)
  • Proportion: 60% cream/paper, 20% ink, 12% tomato, 5% mustard, 3% teal. Flat fills only; no gradients on text.
• Typography:
  • Headings: Jost, 600–700 weight, tight tracking (-0.02em), sentence case for the headline, all-caps with wide tracking for small labels.
  • Body: Source Serif 4.
  • Scale: 1.25 modular; display clamp(44px, 8vw, 112px); h2 clamp(28px, 4vw, 44px); body 18px/1.6; small label 12px all-caps +0.12em tracking.
• Shape language: Organic-modern geometry — rounded rectangles with 16–24px radii, circular "wheel" motifs, soft capsule buttons, a few hand-drawn irregular arcs; panels are modular like Eames exhibition boards with crisp edges and one rounded corner, thin walnut rules separating zones. Nothing sharp-cornered and nothing blobby.

• Layout: A single centred exhibition-panel stage on the cream ground. The SVG animation sits in a wide, slightly rounded frame with a thin ink rule and a small caption block beneath it. Above the stage, a compact all-caps label row and a short one-line title. Below, a two-column credits strip — left, a short serif note; right, a palette legend of small colour chips. Everything hangs on a visible 12-column grid; generous margins (min 24px on mobile, 96px on desktop). At 375px the stage goes full-bleed edge-to-edge with 16px side padding; at 768px it gains a 24px frame; at 1280px it is capped at 1100px wide and centred.
• Imagery: The hero image is the SVG itself — a hand-drawn pelican with a mustard beak pouch, cream body, tomato-red bicycle frame with teal wheel rims and ink spokes, riding across a simple horizon line with a small sun disc. Supporting imagery is limited to small vector pictograms (a wheel, a fish, a pedal) used as section markers. No photography, no stock people, no gradients.

7. Signature Design Concept

The public entry is a full-width exhibition panel that dominates the first screen: a cream ground with a thin walnut rule framing a single wide SVG stage (16:9, capped at 1100px wide). Inside the stage, the pelican-on-bicycle sits slightly left of centre, riding rightward across a flat horizon line; a large mustard sun disc sits behind at upper right, partially cropped by the frame edge; a short tomato-red "pedal" caption sits bottom-left in all-caps Jost. Above the panel, a small label row reads "A SMALL MOTION STUDY" and the title "Pelican, Pedalling" in oversized Jost (clamp 44–112px) spans the panel width. No centred headline + button stack, no gradient blob, no SaaS chrome — it reads as a printed plate that happens to move.

Signature moves:

• An oversized sentence-case title "Pelican, Pedalling" in Jost 700 set flush-left, spanning the full panel width and wrapping to two lines at 375px, with a small all-caps label above it.
• The SVG stage framed as a mid-century exhibition plate: thin walnut rule, one rounded corner, a tiny caption block bottom-left, and a "pause the ride" affordance revealed on hover.
• A palette legend strip beneath the stage — four small colour chips (tomato, mustard, teal, cream) each with an all-caps label — acting as both decoration and a functional key to the scene.
• The pelican's beak pouch is a mustard shape that gently inflates and deflates in time with the pedal cycle, giving the character a breathing rhythm rather than a mechanical loop.
• A small drifting dust-puff trail of three teal circles that lags behind the rear wheel, reinforcing speed without a motion-blur effect.

8. Interaction Model & Motion Direction

Interaction Model: Animated Motion Tempo: restrained Hero Dimensionality: flat

Landing Hero Motion Brief

• Focal subject: the hand-drawn SVG pelican riding the tomato-red bicycle across the horizon line, with the mustard sun disc behind at upper right.
• Input → transformation → outcome thesis: on load, the stage fades and settles in over 600ms; the pelican then pedals in a continuous slow loop (~2.4s per cycle), the wheels spin, the head bobs, the beak pouch inflates and deflates in time with the pedal cycle, and the dust-puff trail drifts behind the rear wheel. Hovering pauses the ride and reveals the freeze-frame affordance; clicking resumes.
• Motion vocabulary: film-like and gentle — continuous slow loop, no bouncy or springy easing; the ride should feel like film, not a toy.
• Composed first frame: cream ground, walnut rule, the pelican slightly left of centre riding rightward, the mustard sun disc partially cropped at upper right, the tomato-red "pedal" caption bottom-left.
• Reduced-motion state: with prefers-reduced-motion, the scene renders as a static illustrated plate with no pedalling or wheel spin, and the pause control is hidden.

9. Non-Functional Requirements

• Single-file delivery (explicit): the deliverable is a single HTML file.
• SVG rendering (explicit): the animation is drawn with SVG.
• No tests (explicit): no test suite is part of the deliverable.
• No restrictions (explicit): the implementation proceeds without imposed restrictions.
• Readable text and controls (explicit, creative direction): headlines, labels, and controls stay entirely inside the viewport and their container at 375px, 768px, and 1280px, wrapping or scaling to fit; no other element covers any part of them. Imagery and decoration may be cropped, bled, or overlapped as the direction asks, as long as they cover no readable text or control.
• Reduced motion (explicit, creative direction): under prefers-reduced-motion, a usable static arrangement is provided and the pause control is hidden.
• No gradients on text (explicit, creative direction): flat fills only.

10. Tech Stack

• Deliverable: a single HTML file with inline SVG and inline CSS/JS for the animation and pause/resume behavior. No build step is required by the accepted requirements.
• Fonts: Jost (headings) and Source Serif 4 (body), per the creative direction.
• Provisioned scaffold infrastructure (present in the initial scaffold; not required by the accepted product behavior):
  • backend: shared FastAPI process for application APIs and domain modules.
  • database: MariaDB for application-owned persistent data.
  • frontend: React application UI.
• The current product does not depend on the backend, database, or React frontend; they add no product requirements, domain entities, or authentication. If a future requirement needs server-side behavior, it should extend the shared backend rather than add a new service.

11. Assumptions and Constraints

• Assumption (required_inference): the Viewer opens the single HTML file directly in a browser; no hosting or deployment is specified.
• Assumption (required_inference): the animation auto-plays on load.
• Constraint (explicit): the deliverable is a single HTML file.
• Constraint (explicit): the animation is drawn with SVG.
• Constraint (explicit): no tests are required.
• Constraint (explicit): no restrictions are to be applied to the implementation.
• Constraint (explicit, creative direction): the generic indigo/blue-on-white SaaS template is forbidden for this project.
• Constraint (explicit, creative direction): no photography, no stock people, no gradients; no bouncy or springy easing.

12. Glossary

• SVG: Scalable Vector Graphics — the XML-based vector image format used to draw the animation.
• 2D animation: a two-dimensional moving illustration, here the pelican pedalling the bicycle.
• Exhibition panel: the mid-century-style framed stage that holds the SVG scene.
• Freeze-frame affordance: the hover-revealed control that pauses the ride.
• Reduced motion: the prefers-reduced-motion browser preference, under which the scene renders as a static plate.
• Palette legend: the strip of four colour chips (tomato, mustard, teal, cream) beneath the stage.