treqs-ng 1.7

Lightweight Git-native tool for managing requirements in agile projects.

TReqs

Lightweight, Git-native requirements management for agile system development

TReqs-NG brings requirements management into your development workflow by storing requirements as text files alongside your code. No vendor lock-in, no expensive licenses, no context switching between tools.

What is TReqs?

TReqs (Textual Requirements) is a command-line tool that enables agile teams to manage system requirements directly in Git. It treats requirements as first-class citizens in your repository, allowing you to:

• Write requirements in plain text - Use Markdown files that live alongside your code
• Track changes with Git - Requirements are versioned, reviewed, and merged just like code
• Maintain traceability - Create and validate links between requirements, tests, and code
• Scale with your team - Multiple developers can work on requirements in parallel

Why TReqs?

Traditional requirements tools don't integrate well with modern agile workflows:

Challenge	TReqs Solution
Requirements tools are separate from development tools	Requirements live in Git, reviewed in merge requests
Requirements become outdated quickly	Teams update requirements alongside code changes
Poor version control and traceability	Full Git history and automated traceability checking
Expensive licenses and vendor lock-in	Open source, text-based, works with any editor
Doesn't scale for multiple teams	Git-based parallel development and peer review

Quick Start

Installation

Install TReqs via pip:

pip install treqs-ng

Or install from source (see Getting Started Guide for detailed instructions):

Basic Usage

1. List all requirements in your project:

   treqs list
   

2. Create a new requirement:

   treqs create --type requirement >> requirements.md
   

3. Check requirements validity:

   treqs check
   

Your First Requirement

Create a file requirements.md with:

## User Authentication

<treqs-element type="requirement" id="a3f2c8d14b5e4c9a8d7e1f2a3b4c5d6e">
The system shall authenticate users via username and password.
</treqs-element>

Run treqs list to see your requirement, and treqs check to validate it.

Key Features

Traceability Management

Link requirements to other requirements, tests, and code:

<treqs-element type="requirement" id="b8e9d2f36c7a4d1b9e8f2a3b4c5d6e7f">
User passwords shall be encrypted using bcrypt.
<treqs-link type="addresses" target="a3f2c8d14b5e4c9a8d7e1f2a3b4c5d6e"/>
</treqs-element>

TReqs validates that all links point to existing elements and follow your defined traceability rules.

Custom Validation Rules

Define your traceability model in ttim.yaml:

types:
  - name: requirement
    outlinks:
      - type: addresses
        target: stakeholderRequirement
      - type: hasParent
        target: requirement
    inlinks:
      - type: tests
        source: unittest

TReqs checks that your requirements conform to your model.

Git-Native Workflow

# Create feature branch
git checkout -b feature/new-auth

# Add requirement
echo "<treqs-element type='requirement' id='c9f1e3d47a8b4e2c9f1a3b4c5d6e7f8a'>..." >> requirements.md

# Commit and push
git add requirements.md
git commit -m "Add authentication requirement"
git push origin feature/new-auth

# Create merge request - requirements are reviewed alongside code

Flexible Element Types

TReqs supports any element types you define in your ttim.yaml configuration file. Common examples include stakeholder requirements, system requirements, tests, and documentation elements.

Documentation

• Getting Started Guide - Installation and setup
• Demo Tutorial - Step-by-step examples
• Traceability Strategy - Configure traceability rules
• Comparison with Other Tools - How TReqs compares to alternatives

Architecture

TReqs elements are embedded in text files using XML-like tags:

<treqs-element type="requirement" id="d1e2f3a48b9c4d5eaf1b2c3d4e5f6a7b">
Requirement text goes here.
<treqs-link type="addresses" target="e2f3a4b59c1d4e6fba2c3d4e5f6a7b8c"/>
</treqs-element>

• Works in any text file: Markdown, source code comments, test files
• Elements are identified by unique IDs
• Traceability links are validated against your model (ttim.yaml)

Comparison with Alternatives

Tool	TReqs	Doorstop	JIRA	Traditional RE Tools
Git Integration	Native	Partial	Via commits	None
Human-Readable Storage	Yes (Markdown)	No (YAML)	No	No
Traceability Links	Full support	Basic	Limited	Full
License Cost	Free (MIT)	Free (LGPL)	Paid	Expensive
Parallel Development	Yes	Yes	Limited	No
Custom Validation	Per-project	Limited	No	Per-instance

Full comparison table

Requirements

• Python 3.10 or higher
• Git (for version control integration)

Contributing

We welcome contributions! TReqs-NG is the consolidated version of TReqs, integrating features from various variants. See CONTRIBUTING.md for details on previous versions and contributors.

Versioning

TReqs follows Semantic Versioning:

License

TReqs is released under the MIT License.

Research Background

TReqs is based on research into requirements engineering for large-scale agile system development:

• Requirements Challenges in Large-Scale Agile
• T-Reqs: Key Idea and User Stories (arXiv)
• Research conducted at Chalmers University of Technology and University of Gothenburg

The tool has been validated in industrial settings and continues to evolve based on real-world usage.

Get started today: pip install treqs-ng