Contributing

Contributions are welcome, and they are greatly appreciated! Every little bit helps, and credit will always be given.

You can contribute in many ways:

Types of Contributions

Report Bugs

Report bugs at https://github.com/andrewbolster/bolster/issues.

If you are reporting a bug, please include:

Your operating system name and version.
Any details about your local setup that might be helpful in troubleshooting.
Detailed steps to reproduce the bug.

Fix Bugs

Look through the GitHub issues for bugs. Anything tagged with “bug” and “help wanted” is open to whoever wants to implement it.

Implement Features

Look through the GitHub issues for features. Anything tagged with “enhancement” and “help wanted” is open to whoever wants to implement it.

Write Documentation

Bolster could always use more documentation, whether as part of the official Bolster docs, in docstrings, or even on the web in blog posts, articles, and such.

Submit Feedback

The best way to send feedback is to file an issue at https://github.com/andrewbolster/bolster/issues.

If you are proposing a feature:

Explain in detail how it would work.
Keep the scope as narrow as possible, to make it easier to implement.
Remember that this is a volunteer-driven project, and that contributions are welcome :)

Get Started!

Ready to contribute? Here’s how to set up bolster for local development.

Fork the bolster repo on GitHub.

Clone your fork locally:

$ git clone git@github.com:andrewbolster/bolster.git

Install all dependencies (runtime + dev) using uv:
```
$ cd bolster
$ uv sync --all-extras
```
Create a branch for local development:
```
$ git checkout -b fix/<name>   # or feat/<name>
```
Now you can make your changes locally.
When you’re done making changes, check that your changes pass linting and tests:
```
$ uv run pre-commit run --all-files
$ uv run pytest tests/ -v
```

Commit your changes and push your branch to GitHub:

$ git add <changed-files>
$ git commit -m "Your detailed description of your changes."
$ git push -u origin fix/<name>

Open a pull request through the GitHub website and wait for CI to pass.

Pull Request Guidelines

Before you submit a pull request, check that it meets these guidelines:

The pull request should include tests (real-data integrity tests, not mocks).
If the pull request adds functionality, update the docs — add a docstring with an Example: section and update README.md and docs/data_sources.rst if it adds a new data source.
The pull request should work for Python 3.10+. Check the GitHub Actions CI results and make sure tests pass for all supported versions.
Run uv run pre-commit run --all-files and resolve any linting issues before requesting a review.

Tips

To run only the doctests from source code:

$ uv run pytest src/ --doctest-modules --no-cov

To see code coverage:

$ uv run pytest tests/ --cov=src/bolster --cov-report=term-missing

Deploying

A reminder for the maintainers on how to deploy.

Update CHANGELOG.md with the new version entry.

Bump the version using bump-my-version:

$ uv run bump-my-version bump patch  # or minor / major

Push the resulting commit and tag:
```
$ git push --follow-tags
```

GitHub Actions publish.yml will then tag, release, and deploy to PyPI if tests pass.