Contributing to IronCore

Welcome to the IronCore contributor guide! Whether you're fixing a typo, reporting a bug, or building a new feature, your contributions are welcome at any time. This guide applies to all repositories under the ironcore-dev GitHub organization.

Prerequisites

Before your first contribution, please complete the following:

1. Create a GitHub account if you don't already have one.
2. Sign the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) — all commits must be signed off (git commit -s) to certify that you wrote the code or have the right to submit it. This is checked automatically on every pull request.
3. Read our Code of Conduct — we follow the Linux Foundation Code of Conduct and are committed to providing a welcoming and respectful community for everyone.

Find Something to Work On

Not sure where to start? Here are a few ways to find your first contribution:

• Browse good first issue labels — these are issues where maintainers have committed to providing extra guidance.
• Look for help wanted labels — these are issues open for community contribution.
• Improve documentation — clarify existing docs, fix typos, or add missing content. See the documentation conventions in the style guide.
• Report a bug — if you've found an issue, open a GitHub issue with steps to reproduce it.
• Propose a feature — open an issue to discuss your idea before starting implementation.

Tip: Before working on a larger change, open an issue first to discuss your approach with the maintainers. This avoids unnecessary work and helps align your contribution with the project's direction.

Making a Contribution

Fork and Clone

Fork the repository you want to contribute to and clone it locally:

git clone git@github.com:<your-username>/<repository>.git
cd <repository>

Create a Branch

Create a feature branch from main:

git checkout -b my-feature

If needed, rebase to the current main before submitting your pull request:

git fetch upstream main
git rebase upstream/main

Make Your Changes

• Follow the coding and documentation style guides for code, testing, and documentation standards.
• Keep commits small and focused — each commit should be correct independently.
• Write clear commit messages that explain why, not just what.
• Include tests for any new functionality or bug fix.
• Sign off every commit for DCO compliance:

git commit -s -m "Add support for feature X"

Submit a Pull Request

Push your branch and open a pull request against main:

git push origin my-feature

In your pull request description:

• Explain what the change does and why it's needed.
• Reference any related issues (e.g., Fixes #123).
• Tag a relevant maintainer if you need a specific reviewer — check the CODEOWNERS file in the repository.

Run Checks

Before submitting, run the project's checks locally to catch issues early. See Running tests in the coding style guide for details:

make test          # Unit and integration tests
make lint          # Linter checks
make verify        # Code generation and manifests are up to date

Code Review

All contributions go through code review before merging. Here's what to expect:

• A maintainer will review your PR and may request changes. This is normal — reviews improve code quality for everyone.
• Address feedback by pushing additional commits or amending existing ones.
• Mark resolved comments as resolved in GitHub and leave a comment when your changes are ready for another look.

Reviews are a collaborative process. Don't hesitate to ask questions or push back if you disagree with feedback — respectful discussion leads to better outcomes.

Reporting Issues

We use GitHub issues to track bugs and feature requests. When opening an issue:

• Check if a similar issue already exists.
• Provide enough context to understand and reproduce the problem.
• Use the issue templates provided in each repository when available.

Licensing

All contributions to IronCore projects are licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.

Need Help?

• Ask questions on any issue or pull request — maintainers are happy to help.
• Join our Slack workspace to chat with the community.

Thank you for contributing to IronCore!