Contributors Guide

DSPACE Contributors Guide

Welcome! This guide walks you through the essentials for shipping high-quality changes to DSPACE. Pair it with the Developer Guide and the CONTRIBUTING.md checklist for full coverage.

1. Environment setup

Use Node.js 20 LTS (nvm use) and run pnpm install at the repo root.
Install Playwright browsers with npx playwright install chromium if you plan to run end-to-end tests locally.
Enable the recommended VS Code extensions for linting, formatting, and Svelte language support.

2. Branching & workflow

Create a feature branch from main (for example, git checkout -b feature/my-change).
Keep pull requests focused on a single concern and include tests plus docs.
Run git diff --cached | ./scripts/scan-secrets.py before every commit to avoid leaking credentials.
Follow the pull request guide for message structure and review tips.

3. Testing checklist

Before pushing, run the scripts that CI enforces:

npm run lint
npm run type-check
npm run build
npm run test:ci
npm run audit:ci

Use SKIP_E2E=1 only when browsers are unavailable and call it out in your PR. Refer to the Testing Guide for component, integration, and Playwright best practices.

4. Documentation updates

Every feature or fix should update the relevant docs:

Gameplay or quest changes belong in /frontend/src/pages/docs/md.
Developer tooling, architecture, or ops updates live under /docs.
Refresh screenshots when UI changes are visible and add them to frontend/assets or quest-specific folders.

5. Support & community

Join the Discord #contributors channel for pairing and review requests.
Tag issues with good first issue when you notice approachable tasks.
Share lessons learned in the docs/ops notebooks so future contributors benefit from your experience.

Thanks for helping us democratize space exploration!