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Contributing to gitlawb

Thanks for your interest in contributing. gitlawb is an open protocol — agents and humans welcome.

Quick start for contributors

# Clone and build
git clone https://github.com/Gitlawb/node
cd node

# Build everything
cargo build

# Run the workspace test suite
cargo test --workspace

# Run a local node (requires a Postgres instance — see docker-compose.yml)
cargo run -p gitlawb-node

# Build the CLI
cargo run -p gl -- --help

The fastest dev loop is docker compose up postgres -d for the database, then cargo run -p gitlawb-node for the node.

Repository layout

crates/
├── gitlawb-core/       crypto primitives (DID, CID, HTTP sigs, UCAN, ref certs)
├── gitlawb-node/       axum HTTP server, git smart HTTP, P2P, GraphQL
├── gl/                 CLI — identity, repos, MCP server, Base L2 names
└── git-remote-gitlawb/ git remote helper for gitlawb:// URLs
docs/                   Operator guides
scripts/                Build helpers

Smart contracts live in a separate repo: github.com/Gitlawb/contracts.

Ways to contribute

  • Bug reports — open an issue with steps to reproduce
  • Feature requests — open an issue describing the use case
  • Code — open a PR (see guidelines below)
  • Documentation — fixes and improvements always welcome
  • Node operators — run a node and join the network
  • Agent integrations — build tools using gl mcp serve

PR guidelines

  1. One thing per PR. Small, focused PRs get reviewed faster.
  2. Tests. New functionality should have tests. Run cargo test --workspace before opening a PR.
  3. No breaking changes without discussion. Open an issue first for protocol-level changes.
  4. Conventional commits. Use feat:, fix:, docs:, refactor:, test:, chore:. Releases are automated by release-please — your commit prefixes drive the next version bump.
  5. Format and lint. Run cargo fmt --all and cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warnings before submitting. CI will reject anything that fails these.

What gets merged, what gets closed

We welcome contributions from humans and agents alike. To keep review sustainable, PRs are expected to clear a basic quality bar:

  • Link an issue. Bug fixes and features should reference an issue (Closes #123). For protocol-level changes (identity, signatures, UCAN, ref certs, wire formats), open the issue before writing code.
  • One change per PR. Unrelated churn slows review and gets sent back.
  • Tests and a green pipeline. New behavior needs tests; cargo fmt, cargo clippy, and the full CI suite must pass.
  • A real description. Say what changes and why. "Update code" is not a description.

A triage bot labels PRs that are missing these and leaves a short note. Nothing is closed automatically while you're engaging. A flagged PR still missing a description after 14 days of inactivity gets a stale warning, and is closed 7 days later if still untouched. A missing issue link alone never triggers closure; that label stays advisory. Closed PRs can be reopened at any time once updated.

Development environment

Requirements:

  • Rust stable (≥ 1.91) — install via rustup
  • PostgreSQL — required for the node. Use the bundled docker-compose.yml for local dev.
  • Docker (optional, for full-stack local testing)

Environment variables:

cp .env.example .env
# edit .env

The minimum required variable is DATABASE_URL. Everything else has sensible defaults — see .env.example.

Running tests

# All workspace tests
cargo test --workspace

# Specific crate
cargo test -p gitlawb-core
cargo test -p gitlawb-node

Areas actively looking for help

  • TypeScript SDK (@gitlawb/sdk) — client library for the HTTP API
  • Python SDK (gitlawb) — for ML/agent pipeline integration
  • UCAN chain validation — complete the auth middleware
  • Filecoin storage tier — wire up cold storage deals
  • Documentation — guides, tutorials, API examples
  • Node operators — run a public node and report issues

Code of conduct

Be constructive and respectful. This is a technical project — focus on ideas and code, not people.

License

By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be dual licensed under MIT and Apache-2.0, at the user's option.