> Source: https://www.gitdash.info/docs/contributing · GitDash v4.7.1

# Contributing

## Local Development Setup

1

#### Clone and install

```bash
git clone https://github.com/dinhdobathi1992/gitdash.git
cd gitdash
pnpm install
```

2

#### Configure environment

```bash
MODE=standalone
SESSION_SECRET=any_32_char_string_for_local_dev
# DATABASE_URL is optional for standalone mode
```

3

#### Start dev server

```bash
pnpm run dev
# → http://localhost:3000
```

4

#### Check your change

```bash
pnpm run lint
pnpm exec tsc --noEmit
pnpm run test          # vitest; database tests use an in-memory Postgres (PGlite)
pnpm run build
```

## Where things live

```text
src/app/                 pages (one folder per route)
src/app/api/             API routes: github/*, db/*, alerts, admin/*, auth/*, cron/*, webhooks/*
src/proxy.ts             sign-in and access checks for every request
src/lib/permissions.ts   route → feature registry used by the proxy
src/lib/                 GitHub client, caching, database, identity, AI
src/components/          UI
src/app/docs/            docs: one route per page; add pages in _parts/nav.ts + _parts/registry.tsx
tests/                   vitest suites
helm/gitdash/            Helm chart
```

## PR Guidelines

- Register every new API route in src/lib/permissions.ts — unregistered routes are denied — and give it the feature that should gate it
- Validate owner, repo and org parameters with src/lib/validation.ts before calling GitHub
- Wrap new GitHub reads in the shared cache, keyed per token
- Update this documentation and CHANGELOG.md with any user-visible change; public pages follow DESIGN.md and REVIEW.md
- Never log or return credentials; CI runs lint, type check, tests, build, CodeQL and a dependency audit