pack/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to Railpack

Project Status

This is an early-stage project that is expected to undergo frequent changes. While we welcome contributions, please note that the API and functionality may change significantly as we evolve.

Pull Requests

We welcome pull requests that push the project forward in meaningful ways. Please ensure your PRs:

• Address a specific problem or add a well-defined feature
• Include tests for new functionality
• Follow the existing code style

Note: We prefer focused, well-thought-out contributions over "drive-by" PRs that make superficial changes.

Setup

We use Mise for managing language dependencies and tasks for building and testing Railpack.

To set up your local environment, follow these steps:

mise run setup

Testing

Core Tests

• All example plans are snapshot tested in core_test.go
• Tests with a test.json file will be built and run automatically
• The test output must contain the expectedOutput specified in the test file

Snapshot Tests

Railpack uses go-snaps for snapshot testing. This helps prevent regressions to generated build plans.

If you see a test failure because of a snapshot change, please confirm that the change is intentional, and then update the snapshot by running:

mise run test-update-snapshots

Integration Tests

Example directories with a test.json file will be automatically built and run in CI. You can run them locally with:

mise run test-integration

The test.json file contains an array of build configurations and expected outputs. See this file for the schema.

Useful Commands

• mise check - Run linting and type checking
• mise test - Run unit tests
• mise test-integration - Run integration tests
• mise run test-update-snapshots - Update snapshot tests