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Contributing Guide

Development Setup

  1. Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/shakfu/multigen.git
cd multigen
  1. Install development dependencies:
uv sync --group dev --group extra
  1. Verify installation:
make test

This runs 1353 tests and should complete in ~21 seconds.

Development Workflow

  1. Create a feature branch
  2. Make your changes
  3. Run tests: make test
  4. Type check: make typecheck
  5. Lint and format: make lint / make format
  6. Update documentation (CHANGELOG.md, CLAUDE.md, docs/)
  7. Create a pull request

Code Quality Standards

Zero Tolerance for Test Failures

  • ALL tests must pass, no exceptions
  • Never weaken tests without significant certainty
  • Find and fix root causes, don't ignore failures

Type Safety

  • Strict mypy type checking (disallow_untyped_defs)
  • Use Python 3.9+ type annotations (PEP 585)

Code Style

  • Follow PEP 8
  • Use ruff for linting
  • 120 character line length
  • Google-style docstrings

Adding a New Backend

  1. Create backend directory:
mkdir -p src/multigen/backends/newlang

  1. Implement core classes (backend.py, converter.py, factory.py, builder.py)

  2. Create runtime library in runtime/ subdirectory

  3. Write tests in tests/test_backend_newlang_*.py

  4. Run all 7 benchmarks: make benchmark

  5. Update documentation

See existing backends (C, C++, Rust, Go, Haskell, OCaml, LLVM) for implementation examples.

Pull Request Guidelines

PR Title: Use conventional commits format:

feat: Add NewLang backend
fix: Resolve type inference bug in Rust backend
docs: Update verification guide

Requirements:

  • All tests pass
  • Type checking passes
  • CHANGELOG.md updated
  • Documentation updated for user-facing changes

Community

License

MultiGen is MIT licensed. All contributions must be compatible with MIT license.