Contributing

Contributing

Before you start

1. Read Architecture and Code-Structure.
2. Run wails dev and confirm the app boots.
3. For privacy-sensitive work, read Analytics-and-Privacy and docs/privacy.md.

Contribution recipes

Add a Wails API method

1. Implement func (a *App) YourMethod(...) in the right *_api.go (or app.go).
2. Put non-trivial logic in internal/<pkg>.
3. Instrument with a.track / outcome if user-facing.
4. Regenerate bindings (wails dev).
5. Export in frontend/src/api.js and call from UI.

Add a language / framework detector

1. Extend detectFramework / helpers in internal/detect/frameworks.go.
2. Add fixtures + cases in detect_test.go.
3. Keep skipDirs and maxScanDepth in mind for monorepo performance.
4. Optionally mirror script discovery in internal/scripts if manifests expose scripts.

Add a project panel / tab

1. Tab in ProjectView.jsx + trackPanel('name').
2. Component + SCSS partial + @use in styles.scss.
3. Follow existing btn/tabs/glass patterns — no parallel CSS framework.

Add an analytics event

1. Emit only from Go (or via analytics.js bridge for UI-only facts).
2. Bounded properties; run redaction tests.
3. Update privacy docs if user-visible collection description changes.

Touch process lifecycle

1. Prefer extending procman over ad-hoc exec in bindings.
2. Preserve process-group kill behaviour and event names.
3. Mark intentional stops through App helpers so crashes are not miscounted.

Git / tokens / release

1. Never persist tokens in JSON — use internal/secrets.
2. Wrap mutating git/docker calls with gitOp / dockerOp.

Platform-specific behaviour

1. Use build-tagged files (_darwin, _windows, _unix, _other).
2. Keep a compiling stub on other OSes.

Code style

• Match neighbouring files (comments explain non-obvious why).
• Do not drive-by refactor unrelated code.
• Go module path remains devdeck until an intentional rename migration.
• Do not commit generated frontend/wailsjs noise unless the repo already tracks it for your branch policy — prefer local generation via Wails.

Tests to run

go test ./...
cd frontend && npm run build

Add unit tests next to packages you change when behaviour is non-trivial (detect, redact, merge, semver).

PR checklist

• Feature works under wails dev on your OS
• No paths/secrets/prompts in analytics props
• API exported through api.js
• SCSS partial wired if UI added
• Privacy/README/release notes updated when user-facing behaviour changes
• CI-relevant: Linux WebKit tag and ldflags not broken by your change

Issue reports from the app

In-app Contribute flow (contribute_api.go) can attach redacted diagnostics. Prefer that path when reproducing desktop-only bugs.