Contributing Guide

We warmly welcome your contributions! This guide will help you understand how to effectively contribute to the Chaterm project.

Ways to Contribute

• 🐛 Report Bugs - Help us identify and fix issues
• 💬 Discuss Code - Participate in technical discussions
• 🔧 Submit Fixes - Fix bugs and improve existing features
• ✨ Propose Features - Suggest new features
• 📖 Improve Documentation - Enhance documentation and guides
• 🧪 Add Tests - Improve test coverage

We use GitHub to host code, track issues and feature requests, and accept Pull Requests.

Contributor Workflow

1. Fork this repository to your personal account
2. Create your development branch from the main branch
3. Develop in your forked repository
4. Submit a Pull Request to the main branch of the original repository when done
5. Mention the fixed Issue in the PR description (if applicable)
6. After approval from at least one maintainer, the PR will be merged

Local Development Environment Setup

1. Clone the repository:

# Fork the repository on GitHub, then clone your fork
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/Chaterm.git
cd Chaterm

2. Install necessary development tools:

   • Install Node.js (recommended to use the latest LTS version)

3. Install Electron:

   npm i electron -D

4. Install project dependencies:

   node scripts/patch-package-lock.js
   npm install

5. Start the development server:

npm run dev

Project Structure

Chaterm/
├── src/
│   ├── main/          # Electron main process
│   ├── preload/       # Preload scripts
│   └── renderer/      # Vue.js frontend
├── scripts/           # Build and development scripts
├── resources/         # Application resources (icons, etc.)
├── tests/            # Test files
└── docs/             # Documentation

Code Quality Standards

Code Style

• ESLint: JavaScript/TypeScript code checking
• Prettier: Code formatting
• TypeScript: Strong typing recommended

Quality Checks

# Format code
npm run format

# Check for code issues
npm run lint

# Type checking
npm run typecheck

# Run tests
npm test

# Build verification
npm run build

PR Guidelines

What Makes a Good PR

✅ Clear Purpose

• Single, focused change
• Clear title and description
• Reference related issues

✅ High-Quality Code

• Follow project coding standards
• Include appropriate tests
• Well-commented code
• No breaking changes (unless intentional)

✅ Documentation

• Update relevant documentation
• Include usage examples
• Document new features

✅ Testing

• Write unit tests for new features
• Write integration tests for complex features
• Manual testing verification

PR Template

When creating a PR, please include:

## Description

Brief description of changes

## Type of Change

- [ ] Bug fix
- [ ] New feature
- [ ] Breaking change
- [ ] Documentation update

## Testing

- [ ] Local tests pass
- [ ] Manual testing completed
- [ ] Screenshots (for UI changes)

## Checklist

- [ ] Code follows style guide
- [ ] Self-review completed
- [ ] Documentation updated
- [ ] No breaking changes

Commit Messages

Use conventional commit format:

feat: add new feature
fix: fix bug in component
docs: update README
refactor: improve code structure
test: add unit tests

Getting Help

• 📝 Documentation: Check existing documentation first
• 💬 Discussions: Use GitHub Discussions to ask questions
• 🐛 Issues: Report bugs through issues with detailed information
• 💡 Ideas: Propose feature suggestions through issues

Questions?

If you have any questions about contributing, please create an issue using the "question" label.

License

By contributing to Chaterm, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the same terms as the project.