Contributing

*The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119

Thank you for your interest in contributing! We welcome contributions of all types: features, bug fixes, performance improvements, and documentation updates.

Reporting Issues

Before opening a new issue:

• Search existing issues to avoid duplicates
• Provide clear steps to reproduce (for bugs)
• Be descriptive and specific

External Contributors

If you are not a maintainer and you would like to contribute to the project, please follow these steps:

1. Find or create an issue

   • Comment on the GitHub issue you’d like to work on.
   • If no issue exists, create one and describe what you plan to do.
   • This avoids duplicate work and helps maintainers track contributions.

2. Fork the repository (if you have not already).

   • If you already have a fork, sync/rebase it so that it is up to date with the latest main branch of this project.

3. Create a new branch in your fork.

   • This keeps your changes isolated and allows you to keep pulling updates from main.
   • Branches SHOULD be short-lived and focused on a single feature or fix.
   • Write clean, testable code.
   • Add or update unit/integration tests if relevant.
   • Before opening your PR, you MUST merge/rebase changes from upstream main into your branch as needed.

4. Open a Pull Request (PR) from your branch to upstream main.

   In your PR description, include:

   • Related issue numbers (e.g., “Related to #42”)
   • You MUST NOT use auto-closing keywords (e.g., “Fixes #42”), since releases are coordinated separately.
   • A summary of your changes
   • Any caveats, limitations, or follow-ups
   • If the change is urgent, explain why
   • Maintainers ** will retarget your PR to a different branch, e.g. next-release/xyz**, for staging and CI.

5. Wait for review.

   • The project team will review your PR and may request adjustments to ensure it meets project guidelines.