# Contributing

When it comes to open source, there are different ways you can contribute, all
of which are valuable. Here's a few guidelines that should help you as you prepare
your contribution.

## Initial steps

Before you start working on a contribution, create an issue describing what you want to build. It's possible someone else is already working on something similar, or perhaps there is a reason that feature isn't implemented. The maintainers will point you in the right direction.

<!-- ## Submitting a Pull Request

- Fork the repo
- Clone your forked repository: `git clone git@github.com:{your_username}/zod.git`
- Enter the zod directory: `cd zod`
- Create a new branch off the `master` branch: `git checkout -b your-feature-name`
- Implement your contributions (see the Development section for more information)
- Push your branch to the repo: `git push origin your-feature-name`
- Go to https://github.com/colinhacks/zod/compare and select the branch you just pushed in the "compare:" dropdown
- Submit the PR. The maintainers will follow up ASAP. -->

## Development

The following steps will get you set up to contribute changes to this repo:

1. Fork this repo.

2. Clone your forked repo: `git clone git@github.com:{your_username}/zod.git`

3. Run `pnpm i` to install dependencies.

4. Start playing with the code! You can do some simple experimentation in [`play.ts`](play.ts) (see `pnpm play` below) or start implementing a feature right away.

### Building Docs Locally

#### Dev Server

To start a dev server, run:

```sh
pnpm run --filter=@zod/docs dev
```

#### Production Build

To build `@zod/docs` for production, you will need to set the `GITHUB_TOKEN` environment variable to a personal access token. [Create a granular personal access token](https://github.com/settings/personal-access-tokens/new) and accept the defaults (no extra permissions are necessary). Then:

```sh
export GITHUB_TOKEN=your_token_here # persists in shell session
pnpm run --filter=@zod/docs build
```

> The `GITHUB_TOKEN` environment variable is used to fetch stargazer counts of projects in Zod's ecosystem.

## Alternative: VSCode Dev Container setup

For an officially supported isolated dev environment that automatically installs dependencies for you:

1. `F1` in VSCode and start typing `Dev Containers: Clone Repository in Named Container Volume` to run the command.
2. For the repo, paste `git@github.com:{your_username}/zod.git` if you're using ssh.
3. Click `Create a new volume...` and name it `zod` and the folder name as `zod`.

Note: if you can't see `Dev Containers` in the `F1` menu, follow [this guide](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/devcontainers/tutorial) to install the needed extension.
In the OSS version of VSCode the extension may not be available.

### Commands

**`pnpm build`**

- deletes `lib` and re-compiles `src` to `lib`

**`pnpm test`**

- runs all Vitest tests and generates coverage badge

**`pnpm test:watch`**

- runs all Vitest tests and

**`pnpm test <file>`**

- runs all test files that match `<file>`

**`pnpm test --filter <ws> <file>`**

- runs all test files in `<ws>` that match `<file>` (e.g. `"enum"` will match `"enum.test.ts"`)

**`pnpm dev:play`**

- executes [`play.ts`](play.ts), watches for changes. useful for experimentation

### Tests

Zod uses Vitest for testing. After implementing your contribution, write tests for it. Just create a new file in the `tests` directory of any workspace, or add additional tests to an existing file if appropriate.

> Zod uses git hooks to execute tests before `git push`. Before submitting your PR, run `pnpm test` to make sure there are no (unintended) breaking changes.

### Documentation

The documentation site lives in `packages/docs` with content located at `packages/docs/content`. Be sure to document any API changes you implement.

## License

By contributing your code to the zod GitHub repository, you agree to
license your contribution under the MIT license.