CONTRIBUTIONS.md

CONTRIBUTING.md

👋 Welcome

Thank you for considering contributing to Charon! This document outlines the workflow, coding standards, and release process for maintaining consistency and ensuring high-quality changes.

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Project Structure

This is a macOS desktop application built with the Wails framework. The project uses:

• Go for the backend
• React + Vite (Node.js) for the frontend
• A Makefile for building and bundling the app (including platform-specific ffmpeg)
• GitHub Actions for CI/CD and automatic releases

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How to Contribute

Branching Strategy

We use a 3-branch model:

• main: Stable, production-ready code
• devel: Integration branch for testing feature branches
• feat/<name>: Feature or fix branches

Steps to Contribute

1. Fork the repo and create a new branch from devel:

   git checkout -b feat/my-feature devel

2. Implement your feature or fix

3. Test your changes locally

4. Push your branch and open a PR to devel

5. After review and merge into devel, it will be tested and staged for release

This will also include the correct ffmpeg binary for your architecture.

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Release Process (Maintainers Only)

When the app is ready for release:

1. Checkout to main and merge devel:

   git checkout main
   git merge devel

2. Run the release bump script:

   ./bump.py patch  # or `minor`, `major`

   This will:

   • Bump the version in VERSION
   • Update the top of CHANGELOG.md
   • Open the changelog for editing
   • Commit and push the version + tag

3. After pushing, GitHub Actions will automatically:

   • Build the app for both x86_64 and arm64
   • Attach zipped .app bundles
   • Create a GitHub Release using the latest tag and changelog

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Tests

Currently, tests are manual. Please validate features locally before opening a PR.

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📄 License

Charon is licensed under MIT.