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](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc2119).

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.

Maintainers

• All work MUST start from the latest main.
• If you are working on a specific issue, you MUST create a branch from main named issue/<number> (for example: issue/1234).
• When your work is complete, notify the team so it can be reviewed and staged for the next release.

Every contribution—big or small—helps move this project forward.

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