Contributing

Contributions to Gilt are very welcome, but we ask that you read this document before submitting a PR.

note

This document applies to the Gilt repository.

Before you start

• Check existing work - Is there an existing PR? Are there issues discussing the feature/change you want to make? Please make sure you consider/address these discussions in your work.
• Backwards compatibility - Will your change break existing Giltfiles? It is much more likely that your change will merged if it backwards compatible. Is there an approach you can take that maintains this compatibility? If not, consider opening an issue first so that API changes can be discussed before you invest your time into a PR.

1. Setup

• Go - Gilt is written in Go. We always support the latest two major Go versions, so make sure your version is recent enough.
• Node.js - Node.js is used to host Gilt's documentation server and is required if you want to run this server locally.

2. Making changes

• Code style - Try to maintain the existing code style where possible. Go code should be formatted by gofumpt and linted using golangci-lint. Any Markdown or TypeScript files should be formatted and linted by Prettier. This style is enforced by our CI to ensure that we have a consistent style across the project. You can use the task fmt:check command to lint the code locally and the task fmt command to automatically fix any issues that are found.
• Documentation - Ensure that you add/update any relevant documentation. See the updating documentation section below.
• Tests - Ensure that you add/update any relevant tests and that all tests are passing before submitting the PR. See the writing tests section below.

Running your changes

To run Gilt with working changes, you can use go run main.go overlay.

Updating documentation

Gilt uses Docusaurus to host a documentation server. The code for this is located in the Gilt repository. This can be setup and run locally by using task docs:start (requires nodejs & yarn). All content is written in Markdown and is located in the docs/docs directory. All Markdown documents should have an 80 character line wrap limit (enforced by Prettier).

Writing tests

When making changes, consider whether new tests are required. These tests should ensure that the functionality you are adding will continue to work in the future. Existing tests may also need updating if you have changed Gilt's behavior.

You may also consider adding unit tests for any new functions you have added. The unit tests should follow the Go convention of being location in a file named *_test.go in the same package as the code being tested.

Integration tests are located in the tests directory and executed by Bats.

3. Committing your code

Try to write meaningful commit messages and avoid having too many commits on the PR. Most PRs should likely have a single commit (although for bigger PRs it may be reasonable to split it in a few). Git squash and rebase is your friend!

If you're not sure how to format your commit message, check out Conventional Commits. This style is enforced, and is a good way to make your commit messages more readable and consistent.

4. Submitting a PR

• Describe your changes - Ensure that you provide a comprehensive description of your changes.
• Issue/PR links - Link any previous work such as related issues or PRs. Please describe how your changes differ to/extend this work.
• Examples - Add any examples or screenshots that you think are useful to demonstrate the effect of your changes.
• Draft PRs - If your changes are incomplete, but you would like to discuss them, open the PR as a draft and add a comment to start a discussion. Using comments rather than the PR description allows the description to be updated later while preserving any discussions.

FAQ

I want to contribute, where do I start?

All kinds of contributions are welcome, whether its a typo fix or a shiny new feature. You can also contribute by upvoting/commenting on issues or helping to answer questions.

I'm stuck, where can I get help?

If you have questions, feel free open a Discussion on GitHub.