# Contributing to PR Cat

Thank you for your interest in contributing to PR Cat! We appreciate your time and effort in helping improve this open source engineering analytics tool.

## 🎯 Project Philosophy

PR Cat is designed to be a **self-hosted, transparent alternative** to proprietary engineering analytics tools. Our focus is on:

- **Transparency**: All algorithms and calculations are open for inspection
- **Self-hosting**: Your data stays on your infrastructure
- **Engineering health**: Metrics that encourage collaboration, not surveillance
- **Simplicity**: Tools that actually help teams, not corporate dashboards

## 🚀 How to Contribute

### 1. **Issues and Discussions**

- **Bug Reports**: Found a bug? Please open an issue with detailed reproduction steps
- **Feature Requests**: Have an idea? Start a discussion to gauge community interest
- **Questions**: Use GitHub Discussions for questions about usage, deployment, or architecture

### 2. **Pull Requests**

We welcome pull requests for:

- **Bug fixes**: Clear, focused fixes with test coverage
- **Documentation improvements**: Better docs help everyone
- **Performance optimizations**: Faster is better
- **Small feature additions**: That align with the project philosophy

#### Before submitting a PR:

1. **Open an issue first** for any significant changes
2. **Fork the repository** and create a feature branch
3. **Write tests** for new functionality
4. **Update documentation** as needed
5. **Follow the existing code style** and conventions

#### PR Guidelines:

- Keep PRs focused and atomic (one feature/fix per PR)
- Write clear commit messages
- Include tests for new functionality
- Update relevant documentation
- Be prepared to iterate based on feedback

## 🔧 Development Setup

```bash
# Clone your fork
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/pr_cat.git
cd pr_cat

# Install dependencies
pnpm install

# Set up environment variables
cp .env.example .env.local
# Edit .env.local with your configuration

# Run development server
pnpm dev
```

## 📋 Code Standards

- **TypeScript**: All new code should be properly typed
- **ESLint**: Follow the existing linting rules
- **Prettier**: Code formatting is handled automatically
- **Tests**: Write tests for new functionality
- **Documentation**: Update docs for user-facing changes

## 🎛️ Decision Making

**Important**: [@vorcigernix](https://github.com/vorcigernix) is the sole maintainer and has final authority over all pull request decisions in this repository. This includes:

- What features are accepted
- Code quality standards
- Architecture decisions
- Release timing
- Project direction

This approach ensures:
- **Consistent vision**: The project maintains its focus and philosophy
- **Quality control**: All changes align with the project's goals
- **Timely decisions**: No committee paralysis

## 🍴 Forking is Encouraged!

**Your needs might be different from ours, and that's perfectly fine!**

If your feature request or approach doesn't align with the main project's direction, we **strongly encourage you to fork the repository**. This is the beauty of open source:

- **Fork freely**: Create your own version with your specific needs
- **Modify anything**: Change the UI, add features, integrate with different tools
- **Share your fork**: Others might have similar needs
- **No hard feelings**: Forks are a feature, not a bug

### Popular reasons to fork:
- Different UI/UX preferences
- Integration with proprietary tools
- Industry-specific metrics
- Different deployment strategies
- Alternative tech stack preferences

## 🤝 Community Guidelines

- **Be respectful**: Treat all contributors with kindness and respect
- **Be constructive**: Provide helpful feedback and suggestions
- **Be patient**: Reviews and responses may take time
- **Be understanding**: Not every idea will be accepted, and that's okay

## 📝 License

By contributing to PR Cat, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the same [MIT License](LICENSE) that covers the project.

## 🆘 Getting Help

- **Documentation**: Check the [docs](docs/) directory
- **Discussions**: Use GitHub Discussions for questions
- **Issues**: Search existing issues before creating new ones

## 🙏 Recognition

All contributors are valued and will be recognized in our release notes and contributor lists. Your efforts help make PR Cat better for everyone!

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**Remember**: The goal is to build the best self-hosted engineering analytics tool possible. Sometimes that means saying no to good ideas that don't fit the vision. When that happens, forking is not just acceptable—it's encouraged! 🚀