Contribute to Varve
Varve is community-shaped. Clear bug reports, thoughtful workflow ideas, cross-platform testing, documentation, and design feedback all help the project move forward.
External code contributions are temporarily paused. You can still help today through Issues and Discussions. Read the current contributor guide for the right channel and useful report details.
Ways to Help Today
Bug Reports
Give the maintainer a reliable reproduction
- Search existing Issues first
- Include steps, expected and actual result, and environment
- Add screenshots, logs, or a small source document when useful
- Use the bug template
Documentation & Examples
Make the product easier to understand and use
- Point out confusing or stale passages
- Share tutorials, examples, and workflow recipes
- Suggest screenshots or accessibility improvements
- Use an Issue or Discussion while code PRs are paused
Cross-Platform Testing
Expand confidence beyond the maintainer's machine
- Record OS, architecture, package type, and Varve version
- Test on Linux, macOS, and Windows where available
- Check keyboard access and screen-reader behavior
- Confirm fixes and report regressions with exact actions
Workflow & Design Feedback
Help prioritize the next useful design-tool improvement
- Describe the task you are trying to complete
- Share a sketch, mockup, or before/after comparison
- Discuss interaction, accessibility, and visual hierarchy
- Post proposals in Discussions
When Code Contributions Reopen
The future code workflow will begin with a scoped Discussion, then a focused branch and pull request against master. Changes will need the narrowest useful tests, honest release and platform claims, and documented validation. Canvas, pointer, drag, and rendering changes will require real Playwright coverage in addition to unit tests.
Start with pnpm verify:plan, run pnpm verify:affected, and record the commands in the pull request. The full gate is reserved for explicit high-impact changes and requires a stated reason. See the contribution guidelines and the development contributor guide for the complete workflow.
Getting Started Today
- Read the contribution guidelines and code of conduct
- Search existing Issues and Discussions before starting a new thread
- Choose Issues for reproducible bugs and Discussions for ideas, workflows, and architecture
- Include platform, version, exact steps, and evidence that helps someone reproduce the report
- For local development, follow the setup guide and AGENTS.md
Contribution Licensing
Varve is source-available under FSL-1.1-MIT. While external code contributions are paused, the repository's DCO and CLA documents are drafts and are not active. When code contributions reopen, the active sign-off and contribution terms will be published before outside code is accepted. Contributors will retain copyright to their work.
Future external code contributions will require a Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) sign-off. The active terms will be published before code pull requests reopen; see the contribution guidelines for the planned process.
Recognition
Contributors are recognized in the following ways:
- GitHub contributor list (automatic)
- Release notes acknowledgment (with permission)
- Contributors section on the About page