Contributing

Thank you for your interest in contributing to Voyager Verifier! This guide will help you get started.

Code of Conduct
How to Contribute
Opening an Issue
Submitting a Pull Request
Development Setup
Coding Standards
Documentation
Community

Code of Conduct

By participating in this project, you agree to maintain a respectful and inclusive environment. Be considerate, professional, and constructive in all interactions.

How to Contribute

There are many ways to contribute to Voyager Verifier:

Report bugs - Found a bug? Let us know by opening an issue
Suggest features - Have an idea? Open an issue to discuss it
Fix issues - Browse open issues and submit a fix
Improve documentation - Help make our docs better
Write tests - Increase code coverage and reliability

Opening an Issue

Before opening a pull request, please open an issue first. This allows us to:

Discuss the proposed changes
Ensure the approach aligns with project goals
Avoid duplicate work
Provide feedback early in the process

Bug Reports

When reporting a bug, please include:

Clear title - Summarize the issue concisely
Description - Detailed explanation of the problem
Steps to reproduce - Specific steps to trigger the bug
Expected behavior - What should happen
Actual behavior - What actually happens
Environment - OS, Rust version, dependency versions
Error messages - Full error output or stack traces
Screenshots - If applicable

Feature Requests

When suggesting a feature, please include:

Use case - Why is this feature needed?
Proposed solution - How should it work?
Alternatives - Other approaches you’ve considered
Implementation details - Technical considerations if applicable

Submitting a Pull Request

Workflow

Open an issue first to discuss the changes
Fork the repository and create a branch from main
Make your changes following our coding standards
Write or update tests to cover your changes
Update documentation as needed
Ensure tests pass with cargo test
Run linting with cargo lint
Format code with cargo fmt
Commit your changes with clear, descriptive messages
Push to your fork and submit a pull request

Pull Request Guidelines

Reference the issue - Link to the issue your PR addresses
Clear description - Explain what changes you made and why
Small, focused PRs - Keep changes atomic and easy to review
One feature per PR - Don’t bundle unrelated changes
Tests included - All new code should have tests
Documentation updated - Keep docs in sync with code changes
CI must pass - All checks must be green before merge

Commit Messages

Write clear, descriptive commit messages:

Short summary (50 chars or less)

More detailed explanation if needed. Wrap at 72 characters.
Explain the problem this commit solves and why this approach
was chosen.

Fixes #123

Development Setup

Prerequisites

Rust 1.70 or later
Cargo
Git

Getting Started

Clone your fork:

git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/voyager-verifier.git
cd voyager-verifier

Add upstream remote:

git remote add upstream https://github.com/NethermindEth/voyager-verifier.git

Install dependencies:
```
cargo build
```
Run tests:
```
cargo test
```
Run the project:
```
cargo run
```

Keeping Your Fork Updated

git fetch upstream
git checkout main
git merge upstream/main

Coding Standards

Rust Style

Follow standard Rust conventions and idioms
Use cargo fmt to format code
Address all cargo lint warnings
Write idiomatic Rust code

Code Quality

Write tests - Aim for high test coverage
Handle errors properly - Use Result and proper error types
Document public APIs - Add doc comments to public items
Avoid unwrap/expect - Handle errors gracefully
Keep functions focused - Single responsibility principle
Use meaningful names - Clear, descriptive variable and function names

Testing

Write unit tests for individual functions
Add integration tests for workflows
Test edge cases and error conditions
Ensure all tests pass before submitting

Documentation

See Documentation Guidelines for detailed information on:

Writing and updating documentation
Building documentation locally
Documentation structure and style

Community

Quick Links

Getting Help

Check existing documentation
Search closed issues for similar problems
Open a new issue if you need help

Review Process

Maintainers will review your PR as soon as possible
Be responsive to feedback and questions
Changes may be requested before merging
Once approved, a maintainer will merge your PR

License

By contributing to Voyager Verifier, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the same license as the project.

Voyager Verifier Documentation