openhuman/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to OpenHuman

Thank you for your interest in contributing. This document explains how to get set up, follow our workflow, and submit changes.

Table of Contents

• Code of Conduct
• Getting Started
• Development Setup
• Git Workflow
• Making Changes
• Submitting Changes
• Project Conventions

Code of Conduct

This project adheres to the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct. By participating, you are expected to uphold this code.

Getting Started

• Read the README and ARCHITECTURE for context.
• Check open issues and discussions for ideas and to avoid duplicate work.
• For security issues, see SECURITY.md — do not report vulnerabilities in public issues.

Development Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js (LTS) and Yarn
• Rust (for Tauri and the Rust backend)
• Platform-specific tools for the desktop targets you care about

Clone and Install

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/openhuman.git
cd openhuman
git submodule update --init --recursive   # pulls openhuman-skills
yarn install

Use your own fork in place of YOUR_USERNAME when cloning.

The openhuman-skills submodule contains the built skill bundles used by the runtime. After cloning you must initialise it (the command above does this). If you forget, the runtime will fall back to fetching skills from the remote registry, which is slower and requires network access.

Updating Skills

When the openhuman-skills submodule is updated upstream, run:

git submodule update --remote openhuman-skills
cd openhuman-skills && yarn install && yarn build
cd ..
git add openhuman-skills
git commit -m "chore: update openhuman-skills submodule"

Run the App

• Web only: yarn dev (Vite dev server, typically port 1420)
• Desktop (Tauri): yarn tauri dev or yarn dev:app for enhanced debugging

See the main README and project docs for more commands (e.g., yarn skills:build, yarn skills:watch).

Environment

Copy or create a .env from the documented template and set VITE_BACKEND_URL, VITE_TELEGRAM_*, and other VITE_* variables as needed. Do not commit secrets.

Git Workflow

• Fork the openhuman repository and work in your fork.
• Base branch: All pull requests must target the develop branch (not main).
• No direct pushes to the organization repo; all changes come in via pull requests from forks.

Branch Naming

Use short, descriptive branches, e.g.:

• fix/telegram-reconnect
• feat/settings-dark-mode
• docs/contributing-update

Making Changes

1. Create a branch from develop: git checkout develop && git pull origin develop && git checkout -b fix/your-change
2. Make your changes. Keep commits focused and messages clear (e.g., “Fix socket reconnect on network drop”).
3. Follow our project conventions and run checks before pushing.

Running Checks

• TypeScript: yarn compile (or tsc --noEmit)
• Lint: yarn lint (ESLint); fix auto-fixable issues with yarn lint:fix
• Format: yarn format:check; format with yarn format (Prettier)
• Tests: yarn test (unit), yarn test:rust (Rust), yarn test:e2e (E2E when applicable)

Pre-commit/pre-push hooks (Husky) run formatting and linting; fix any failures before submitting.

Submitting Changes

1. Push your branch to your fork: git push origin fix/your-change
2. Open a pull request against develop in the openhuman repository.
3. Fill in the PR template (if present): describe what changed, why, and how to test.
4. Link any related issues (e.g., “Fixes #123”).
5. Address review feedback and keep the PR up to date with develop (rebase or merge as the project prefers).

Maintainers will review and may request changes. Once approved, your PR will be merged into develop.

Project Conventions

• State: Use Redux (and Redux Persist where needed). Avoid localStorage/sessionStorage for app or feature state; remove existing usage when touching related code.
• Imports: Use static import/import type at the top of the file. No dynamic import() for app code; use try/catch around Tauri API calls in non-Tauri environments instead.
• Code style: ESLint and Prettier are authoritative. Use type-only imports where appropriate and consolidate imports from the same module.
• Telegram IDs: Use the big-integer library; do not rely on native JavaScript numbers for Telegram IDs.
• Tauri: Commands are in Rust under app/src-tauri; frontend uses invoke() from @tauri-apps/api/core. Handle missing window.__TAURI__ where the app can run outside Tauri. Install JS deps from the repo root (yarn install) so the app workspace is linked; most scripts are also available as yarn <script> from the root.
• Socket events: Behavior exists in both the TypeScript frontend and the Rust backend. Any new socket event or protocol change must be implemented in both places.
• Skills: Follow the V8 runtime and skill manifest rules; respect platform compatibility and the documented bridge/API surface.

For more detail on architecture, patterns, and platform notes, see the project’s internal documentation (e.g., CLAUDE.md or equivalent contributor docs).

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Thank you for contributing to OpenHuman.