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Contributing to codewhale

Thank you for your interest in contributing to codewhale! This document provides guidelines and instructions for contributing.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

  • Rust 1.88 or later (edition 2024)
  • Cargo package manager
  • Git

Setting Up Development Environment

  1. Fork and clone the repository:

    git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/CodeWhale.git
cd CodeWhale

  2. Build the project:

    cargo build

  3. Run tests:

    cargo test --workspace --all-features

  4. Run with development settings:

    cargo run --bin codewhale

Development Workflow

Code Style

  • Run cargo fmt before committing to ensure consistent formatting
  • Run cargo clippy and address all warnings
  • Follow Rust naming conventions (snake_case for functions/variables, CamelCase for types)
  • Add documentation comments for public APIs

Testing

  • Write tests for new functionality
  • Ensure all existing tests pass: cargo test --workspace --all-features
  • Colocate unit tests beside the code they cover (standard Rust #[cfg(test)] modules), and add integration tests under the owning crate's tests/ directory (for example crates/tui/tests/ or crates/state/tests/). The repository root tests/ directory is not used

Commit Messages

Use clear, descriptive commit messages following conventional commits:

  • feat: New feature
  • fix: Bug fix
  • docs: Documentation changes
  • refactor: Code refactoring
  • test: Adding or updating tests
  • chore: Maintenance tasks

Example: feat: add doctor subcommand for system diagnostics

When a commit harvests code from a community PR (see "How Your Contribution Lands" below), include a Harvested from PR #N by @author line in the commit body. An auto-close workflow watches for this pattern and closes the referenced PR with credit so the contributor gets a clear signal that their work shipped.

How Your Contribution Lands

We follow a deliberate "land what's useful, credit the contributor" model that occasionally surprises new contributors. Two paths:

Path 1 — Direct merge

If your PR is well-scoped, passes CI, doesn't touch the trust-boundary surface (auth / sandbox / publishing / branding), and doesn't conflict with main, a maintainer merges it directly. This is the most common outcome for small bug fixes and well-tested feature additions.

Path 2 — Harvest

If your PR is large, mixes scope, conflicts with main, or needs polish that's faster for the maintainer to apply than to round-trip with the contributor, the maintainer may harvest the useful commits or hunks into a new commit on main rather than merging the PR directly. This is not a rejection — it means your code landed.

When this happens:

  • The harvested commit's message includes Harvested from PR #N by @your-handle. This is the contract: that line is your credit and the signal that your contribution shipped.
  • If the maintainer copies or adapts your code, the harvested commit also keeps attribution with the original author identity when possible: either by preserving the commit author on a cherry-pick or by adding a Co-authored-by: Name <email> trailer from the original PR commit. This is what lets GitHub's contribution surfaces recognize more than prose credit.
  • The CHANGELOG.md entry for the next release credits you by handle.
  • The auto-close workflow closes your PR with a templated thank-you and a link to the commit on main.

To make a future contribution land via the faster Direct-Merge path instead of the Harvest path, the highest-leverage things you can do are:

  1. Keep PRs single-purpose. One bug fix per PR; one feature per PR. Don't mix a refactor with a feature.
  2. Rebase onto current main before opening the PR, and after CI feedback. Conflicts force the harvest path even when the change is small.
  3. Include tests with new behavior. The maintainer often harvests PRs without tests because adding the test is faster than asking the contributor for one.
  4. Avoid the trust-boundary surface without prior maintainer sign-off. That includes auth/credential flows, sandbox policy, publishing/release plumbing, and prompts/ content. PRs that touch these without prior discussion are unlikely to merge directly even when the change is well-implemented.

Agent-Assisted Improvements

CodeWhale is allowed to help improve CodeWhale, but the contribution still has to be shaped for human review. The recommended workflow is the recursive self-improvement prompt: run it from a fresh fork or branch, let the agent find exactly one small friction point, and stop after one patch. DeepSeek V4 Pro is the first-class path for this loop today, but the review shape matters more than the provider.

The useful output is not "ideas for improvement." The useful output is a specific reproduction, a minimal diff, focused checks, and a PR description that explains the trade-off. Do not use an agent to touch auth, credentials, sandbox policy, publishing/release plumbing, provider policy, telemetry, sponsorship, branding, or global prompts without prior maintainer sign-off.

Project Structure

codewhale is a Cargo workspace. The live runtime and the majority of TUI, engine, and tool code currently live in crates/tui/src/. Smaller workspace crates provide shared abstractions that are being extracted incrementally.

crates/
├── tui/           codewhale-tui binary (interactive TUI + runtime API)
├── cli/           codewhale binary (dispatcher facade)
├── app-server/    HTTP/SSE + JSON-RPC transport
├── core/          Agent loop / session / turn management
├── protocol/      Request/response framing
├── config/        Config loading, profiles, env precedence
├── state/         SQLite thread/session persistence
├── tools/         Typed tool specs and lifecycle
├── mcp/           MCP client + stdio server
├── hooks/         Lifecycle hooks (stdout/jsonl/webhook)
├── execpolicy/    Approval/sandbox policy engine
├── agent/         Model/provider registry
└── tui-core/      Event-driven TUI state machine scaffold

See docs/ARCHITECTURE.md for the live data flow across these crates, including the bottom-up build order.

Submitting Changes

  1. Create a feature branch from main:

    git checkout -b feat/your-feature

  2. Make your changes and commit them

  3. Ensure CI passes:

    cargo fmt --all -- --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets --all-features
cargo test --workspace --all-features

  4. Push your branch and create a Pull Request

  5. Describe your changes clearly in the PR description

Pull Request Guidelines

  • Keep PRs focused on a single change
  • Update documentation if needed
  • Add tests for new functionality
  • Ensure CI passes before requesting review

Shape of a Typical PR

A well-structured PR follows a consistent pattern. Recent exemplars include:

  • #386 — /init command: new crates/tui/src/commands/init.rs module, project-type detection, AGENTS.md generation, command registration in commands/mod.rs, localization strings.
  • #389 — Inline LSP diagnostics: LSP subsystem in crates/tui/src/lsp/, engine hooks in core/engine/lsp_hooks.rs, config toggle, test coverage.
  • #387 — Self-update: new crates/cli/src/update.rs module, CLI subcommand registration, HTTP download + SHA256 verification + atomic binary replacement.
  • #393 — /share session URL: new crates/tui/src/commands/share.rs, HTML rendering, gh gist create integration, command registration.
  • #343/#346 — (v0.8.5) Runtime thread/turn timeline and durable task manager refactors.

Typically each PR touches 1–3 new files, modifies 2–5 existing files for wiring (registries, dispatch matches, localization), and adds or updates tests. Changes are scoped to a single feature or fix — if you discover related work that needs doing, open a separate issue rather than expanding the PR scope.

Before submitting, run:

cargo fmt --check
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets --all-features 2>&1 | head -50
cargo check

Reporting Issues

When reporting issues, please include:

  • Operating system and version
  • Rust version (rustc --version)
  • codewhale version (codewhale --version)
  • Steps to reproduce the issue
  • Expected vs actual behavior
  • Relevant error messages or logs

Code of Conduct

Be respectful and inclusive. We welcome contributors of all backgrounds and experience levels.

License

By contributing to codewhale, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the MIT License.

Questions?

Feel free to open an issue for any questions about contributing.