Contributing Guidelines

We're delighted by your interest in contributing to our project. To streamline your contribution process, we have provided a detailed, step-by-step guide below.

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For ease of managing your contributions, we recommend using GitHub Desktop, a GUI-based GitHub client.

Forking and Cloning the Repository

Follow these steps to fork the repository, clone it, create a new branch, and set up your local development environment:

1. Go to the GitHub page of the project by clicking here
2. Click on Fork in the top right corner. This will create a copy of the repository in your GitHub account
3. Open GitHub Desktop.
4. In the top menu of GitHub Desktop, navigate to File > Clone Repository....
5. In the GitHub.com category, you should see the repository that you cloned.,
6. To clone the repository, click on Clone.
7. Upon completion of the cloning process, navigate to Current Branch, then select New Branch. Here, input a descriptive name for your new branch.

WARNING

The main branch is a protected branch. As such, direct editing is not allowed. Always create a new branch for your changes.

8. Navigate to the airreps directory in your local environment.
9. Open the project in an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) of your choice. We recommend Visual Studio Code, a feature-rich, free IDE.

Setting Up the Development Environment

Choose from the two options below to set up your development environment:

Option 1 (Recommended)

To set up an optimal development environment:

1. Install Node.js. We recommend the Long-Term Support (LTS) version.
2. After installation, open the terminal within your IDE and execute the following command:

npm install

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You can also use your preferred terminal or command-line tool. Just navigate to the airreps directory and run the command there.

3. Start the documentation development server:

npm run docs:dev

4. The terminal will then display a local URL, such as http://localhost:5173. Visit this URL in your web browser to see the documentation. The page will automatically refresh as you modify the source files.

Option 2

This method lets you work directly with markdown files, although it might not accurately render specific Vitepress features.

1. Open Visual Studio Code or your preferred IDE.
2. Install the Markdown Preview GitHub Styling extension for Visual Studio Code. This can be found in the Extensions tab on the sidebar.
3. Open any markdown file from the docs directory.
4. To enable the Markdown Preview, open the command palette with Ctrl + Shift + P (Windows) or Ctrl + Cmd + P (Mac).
5. Search for Markdown Preview and select Markdown: Open Preview.

WARNING

Keep in mind that Vitepress offers additional features not available in standard markdown. Therefore, this method may not precisely reflect the final formatting when viewed on the actual documentation website.

Submitting Changes

Once you've made changes, follow the steps below to submit them for review:

1. If you chose Option 1 under Setting Up the Development Environment, ensure the pages will build correctly by running the following command:

npm run docs:build

DANGER

If the output displays Command failed or any other error message, there is an issue. The error message should provide insight into the problem. If you're unsure about the issue, you can contact our staff members in our Discord Server.

2. Open GitHub Desktop. The left-hand pane will show the number of changed files.
3. You can view the changes made to each file. Select one file at a time and fill out the Summary (required) field. If needed, provide additional details in the Description field. Click on Commit to the branch you created to commit your changes.
4. Now, click on Push changes to x (x being the name of the branch you created) to upload your changes to GitHub.

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If you've committed all the files, well done! Your next step will be to push your changes to GitHub and create a Pull Request.

Creating a Pull Request

Follow these steps to create a pull request to propose merging your changes into the main branch:

1. With all your changes committed and pushed to your remote branch, it's time to create a pull request.
2. Go to your forked repository on GitHub's website.
3. Click on New pull request. You'll be redirected to the original repository's page.
4. Ensure the base repository is base: main and the head repository is <your_username>/<your_branch_name>.
5. Review your changes and fill out the form, for reference; you can check out this exemplary pull request. Finally, click on Create pull request.
6. After you submit your pull request, CloudFlare will attempt to build your changes to detect any issues. If there are no issues, a repository contributor will review your changes and either merge them or request further changes.

After a successful merge, your GitHub profile will automatically be included in the Contributors section located at the bottom of our home page. Should you prefer your profile to be omitted from this section for any reason, please reach out to a member of our staff for assistance with profile removal.

Thank you for your commitment to improving our project!