title	description
Contributing	Learn how you can contribute to the development, design, and documentation of docmd.

First off, thank you for considering contributing to docmd! It's people like you that make the open-source community an amazing place to learn, inspire, and create.

We welcome contributions of all kinds, from fixing typos to engineering entirely new plugins.

Ways to Contribute

::: card 🐛 Bug Reports Find something that isn't working right? Open an issue on GitHub. Please include your OS, Node version, and steps to reproduce. :::

::: card ✨ Feature Requests Have an idea to make docmd better? Open an issue and let's discuss it before you start writing code! :::

::: card 📝 Documentation This very website is built with docmd! You can contribute by fixing typos, improving recipes, or adding clearer examples. :::

::: card 💻 Code Contributions Want to get your hands dirty? We happily accept Pull Requests for core engine improvements, UI polish, and new features. :::

Development Setup

docmd is built as a Monorepo using pnpm. Developing it locally requires a specific workflow to ensure all the internal packages (core, UI, themes, plugins) talk to each other correctly.

::: steps

1. Prerequisites Ensure you have Node.js (v18+) and pnpm installed on your machine.

   npm install -g pnpm

2. Fork and Clone Fork the repository on GitHub, then clone your fork locally:

   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/docmd.git
   cd docmd

3. Install Dependencies Use pnpm to install all dependencies and link the monorepo workspaces together.

   pnpm install

4. Running the Dev Server We use this documentation site (located in the docs/ folder) as our primary testing ground. To start the development server and watch for changes in both the documentation and the core engine:

   # Windows (PowerShell)
   $env:DOCMD_DEV="true"; pnpm run dev
   
   # macOS / Linux
   DOCMD_DEV=true pnpm run dev

   Note: Setting DOCMD_DEV=true tells the watcher to monitor the internal templates, UI scripts, and engine logic, automatically rebuilding the site when you edit source files.

:::

Testing Your Changes

Before submitting a Pull Request, you must ensure your changes haven't broken the core engine. docmd includes a brutal integration testing suite that verifies HTML generation, path resolutions, and SPA configurations.

To run the test suite:

pnpm test

If the test passes and outputs ✨ ALL SYSTEMS GO, your code is safe to commit!

Pull Request Guidelines

1. Create a Branch: Always branch off of main for your work (e.g., feat/new-search-ui or fix/broken-link).
2. Write Clean Code: Follow the existing coding style. If you are creating a new file in the packages/ directory, ensure it includes the standard docmd copyright header at the top.
3. Commit Messages: We prefer Conventional Commits (e.g., feat: add new button container or fix: resolve sidebar scroll issue).
4. Open a PR: Push your branch to your fork and open a Pull Request against our main branch. Provide a clear summary of your changes and reference any related issues.

Copyright Header

All source files in packages/ must include the standard copyright header. If you create a new file, please copy the header from an existing file.

/*!
 * --------------------------------------------------------------------
 * docmd : the minimalist, zero-config documentation generator.
 *
 * @package     @docmd/core (and ecosystem)
 * @website     https://docmd.io
 * @repository  https://github.com/docmd-io/docmd
 * @license     MIT
 * @copyright   Copyright (c) 2025 docmd.io
 *
 * [docmd-source] - Please do not remove this header.
 * --------------------------------------------------------------------
 */

Code of Conduct

Please note that this project operates with a standard Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms, ensuring a welcoming and respectful environment for everyone.