Skip to content

CONTRIBUTING.md: deduplicate, clarify workflow, define fairness policy #520

@cameri

Description

@cameri

Revamp contributing workflow and documentation:

  • Move all development environment setup, testing, lint, and advanced dev instructions from README.md to CONTRIBUTING.md to avoid duplication.
  • Add a clear reference from README.md to CONTRIBUTING.md for all development/contribution setup and workflow steps.
  • Add a section to CONTRIBUTING.md with husky setup guidance: make clear that running npm install sets up husky and that pre-commit hooks must not be bypassed with --no-verify.
  • Clarify that empty changesets are acceptable for documentation, CI/CD, and test coverage improvements when the source code is untouched.
  • Add a section on issue assignment fairness policy:
    • Issues assigned to a contributor and not worked on for 7 days (no comments/commits) are considered abandoned unless the assignee is actively working on it or has requested an extension.
    • Assignments can be explicitly extended or transferred to another contributor if the original assignee is unresponsive.
    • Contributors who are no longer interested should request to be unassigned to keep the workflow fair.
    • Prefer assigning/resolving older issues before newer ones unless blocks occur or explicitly agreed otherwise.
    • All PRs must have an associated issue (search before submitting; avoid snowball PRs that mix unrelated fixes/features/changes).
    • Contributors who start work on a PR without an issue must be comfortable with the possibility that their work will not be merged, and starting work on a PR does not grant automatic assignment of an issue.

This change will help streamline onboarding, clarify expectations, and avoid development bottlenecks or confusion.

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

Labels

documentationImprovements or additions to documentationgood first issueGood for newcomers

Projects

No projects

Milestone

No milestone

Relationships

None yet

Development

No branches or pull requests

Issue actions