Contributing — Dev Quickstart

Thanks for helping improve STAN! This project follows a services‑first, test‑first philosophy. Here’s how to get started locally.

Setup

Prereqs:

• Node ≥ 20
• Git

Clone and install:

git clone https://github.com/karmaniverous/stan.git
cd stan
npm i
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Common tasks

Run the full test and validation suite:

npm run lint
npm run typecheck
npm run test
npm run build
npm run docs
npm run knip
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Dev fallback (bootstrap scripts)

If stan run is temporarily broken while developing STAN itself, use the bootstrap scripts as a stopgap to exercise the pipeline and generate the usual artifacts (outputs and archive) without relying on the CLI:

• Primary orchestrator (runs multiple tasks concurrently and then archives):

  npm run bootstrap
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  This will:

  • run typecheck, lint, test, build, and docs concurrently,
  • write deterministic outputs to .stan/output/*.txt,
  • and create .stan/output/archive.tar.

• You can also run individual bootstrap tasks:

  npm run bootstrap:typecheck
  npm run bootstrap:lint
  npm run bootstrap:test
  npm run bootstrap:build
  npm run bootstrap:docs
  npm run bootstrap:archive
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Note: these bootstrap scripts are for STAN development only (fallback tooling). Consumers of STAN should use the CLI directly, e.g. stan run.

Coding standards

• Single‑Responsibility modules; prefer small, testable units.
• Plain unified diffs for patches.
• Keep .stan/system/stan.todo.md updated with each change set and include a commit message (fenced) in chat replies.

Submitting changes

1. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-change
2. Ensure all CI tasks (lint, typecheck, test, build, docs) pass locally.
3. Open a Pull Request with a clear description and links to any related issues.
4. Expect a review focusing on tests, documentation updates, and module design. Adherence to the project's design principles is key.

Questions?

Open a GitHub issue with details or propose a design sketch in the PR description.