Hi! We could use your help. Let us help you help us. Or something.
If you are looking for a place to begin, please send PRs for bugfixes instead of new features, and/or look for issues labeled PR PLEASE.
Help with documentation and the wiki is always appreciated.
Please be courteous and constructive when commenting on issues, commits, and pull requests.
When reporting a bug, please provide steps to reproduce. If possible, show code.
Please show all code in JavaScript. We don't all read <insert-language-that-compiles-to-JavaScript-here>. If you do not, you will be asked to.
Because Mocha works with many third-party libraries and tools, ensure the bug you are reporting is actually within Mocha.
If you report a bug, and it is inactive for a significant amount of time, it may be closed. Please respond promptly to requests for more information.
Before sending a large PR, it's recommended to create an issue to propose the change. Nobody wants to write a book of code and throw it away.
Because Mocha should be kept as maintainable as possible, its codebase must be kept slim. Historically, most PRs for new features are not merged. New features inevitably increase the size of the codebase, and thus reduce maintainability. Only features deemed essential are likely to be merged--this is at the discretion of the maintainer(s). If your PR for a feature is not merged, this doesn‘t necessarily mean your PR was a bad idea, wouldn’t be used, or otherwise sucks. It just means only essential PRs for new features are likely to be merged.
Due to the above, before creating a PR for a new feature, create an issue to propose the feature.
Please respect existing coding conventions, whatever those may be.
If your PR has been waiting in limbo for some time, it's very helpful to rebase against master, which will make it easier to merge.
Please add tests for new code.
Always run npm test before sending a PR. If you break the tests, your PR will not be accepted until they are fixed.
Please squash your commits when sending a pull request. If you are unfamiliar with this process, see this guide. If you have already pushed your changesets and are squashing thereafter, this may necessitate the use of a “force push”. Please read the docs before you attempt this.
Please follow the commit message conventions outlined here.
Be kind, be diligent, look before you leap into a PR, and follow common community conventions.
- The Mocha Team