Submitting a Pull Request¶

Pull requests (PRs) are the primary way to contribute code changes to FedRAG. We welcome contributions for bug fixes, documentation improvements, new features, and enhancements to existing functionality.

Developing your Contribution¶

Follow these steps to create a well-structured pull request:

Create a descriptive branch
```
git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
```
Tip

Choose a branch name that reflects your contribution (e.g., fix/memory-leak, docs/improve-tutorials, feature/add-transformer-support).
Make your changes following our Development Guidelines
Commit with clear messages
```
git commit -m "Add feature: description of changes"
```
Tip

Write commit messages that explain both what and why. Include issue numbers when applicable (e.g., "Fix #42: Resolve memory leak in vector store").

Push to your fork

git push origin feature/your-feature-name

Open a pull request against the main branch and fill in the provided PR message template.

Documentation Contributions¶

When making documentation changes:

# Preview documentation changes locally
mkdocs serve

This launches a development server at http://127.0.0.1:8000/, allowing you to preview changes in real-time as you edit. We encourage screenshots or animated GIFs for UI-related changes.

Code Review Process¶

Our review process ensures high-quality contributions:

At least one maintainer will review your PR
Address any feedback promptly and thoroughly
Once approved, a maintainer will merge your PR
Significant changes may require multiple reviewers
Be responsive to comments and questions

Development Guidelines¶

Coding Style¶

We maintain high code quality standards through consistent style and automated tools:

Follow PEP 8 conventions
Use Black for consistent formatting
Apply isort for organized imports
Run Ruff for comprehensive linting

Our pre-commit hooks automatically enforce these standards when you commit changes. You can also invoke these hooks manually via the following commands:

# Run formatter
make format

# Run linters
make lint

Documentation¶

Clear documentation is essential:

Document all public APIs using Google docstring format
Update relevant documentation when modifying features
Include practical examples to demonstrate functionality
Ensure code comments explain "why" rather than "what"

Testing¶

Comprehensive testing ensures reliability:

Write tests for all new features and bug fixes
Aim to maintain or improve overall test coverage
Use pytest for writing clear, effective tests
Verify all tests pass before submitting:

# Run the full test suite
make test

We appreciate your contributions to making FedRAG better!