Thanks for being here. OpenSpin runs on small, part-time contributions from people who care about open, reproducible spin-qubit tooling. There's no minimum commitment and no gatekeeping — if you have an hour and some interest, there's something useful you can do.

This guide covers the practical "how." For what we're about — the projects, the manifesto, the people — see the org profile or openspin.github.io.

1. Say hi in Discussions. A one-line intro helps us point you at the right thing and avoid duplicated effort.
2. Find or claim an issue. The roadmap board is where cross-project work and bounties are gathered; you can also browse every open issue in the org. Comment "taking this" on the issue before you start so two people don't do the same work.
3. No issue for what you want to do? Open one. Describe the change or idea in a few sentences — it doesn't need to be formal.

Each simulator or tool lives in its own repo. Nothing is a monolith — pick the one that matches what you want to work on.

Active

• ReadSpyn — readout simulator: spin-qubit readout traces for developing and benchmarking readout methods.
• QDarts — charge stability diagram simulator for quantum dot arrays.
• SpinSkills — reusable, composable agent skills for spin-qubit workflows.
• ChargeTwin — fast world/surrogate simulator of charge-noise disorder and dynamics.
• SpinStoq — generator of stochastic spatiotemporal noise trajectories.
• SpinDeck — map of open-source hardware relevant to spin qubits.

Cooking

• SpinLib — structured library and database of spin-qubit papers.
• Tuning transformer — ML approach to automating quantum-dot tuning; still taking shape in Discussions.

Planning — the best moment to shape something

• SpinFEM — finite-element simulator of the Poisson equation from device geometry.

Everything else

• SpinAcademy — reviews, courses, and starter resources. New to the field? Start here, no pressure to contribute immediately.
• roadmap — cross-project issues, visions, and the bounty board.
• Wiki — docs, meeting notes, design docs.
• Discussions — questions, coordination, saying hi.

In rough order of how much we need them:

1. Cleaning & refactoring code (most valuable, lowest barrier) — improve readability, add docstrings, remove dead code, add tests, fix typing, tidy dependencies. You don't need deep domain knowledge to make a repo more usable for the next person. Most of the roadmap board is this.
2. Open-source simulators — extend or improve ReadSpyn (readout), QDarts (charge stability diagrams), ChargeTwin or SpinStoq (noise), or help start SpinFEM and the tuning transformer.
3. New skills — reusable analysis/automation pieces in SpinSkills.
4. Datasets & maps — contribute or clean data in SpinDeck and SpinLib.
5. Something we haven't thought of — propose an avenue. Describe what you want to try, find a collaborator, and go.

1. Fork the relevant repo and create a branch: git checkout -b clean/readspyn-docstrings.
2. Keep it small. One focused change per PR. Small PRs get reviewed and merged; large ones stall.
3. Match the repo. Follow the existing style and structure. If a repo has its own linter/formatter config, run it before committing.
4. Write a clear PR description. Link the issue (Closes #12), say what changed and why. Screenshots or before/after are great for anything visual.
5. Open the PR against main. A maintainer or another contributor will review. Expect friendly, low-ceremony feedback.

• Descriptive commit messages in the imperative ("Add docstrings to readout sampler").
• One logical change per commit where practical.
• Draft PRs are welcome if you want early feedback.

Life happens. If you claimed an issue and can't complete it, just leave a comment saying so and roughly where you got to. That frees it up for the next person — no hard feelings, this is how a part-time collective is supposed to work.

• Be kind and patient. Most of us are doing this on the side.
• Assume good faith. Ask questions freely; nobody is expected to know everything.
• Prefer small PRs over big ones.
• Leave breadcrumbs. Notes on issues and PRs are what let the next contributor pick up where you left off.

Open a thread in Discussions — no question is too basic.