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Contributing

We welcome contributions to make cloudmesh-ai-vm more powerful and supportive of more clouds!

How to Contribute

Adding a New Provider

  1. Check libcloud: See if the provider is already supported by libcloud. If so, inherit from LibcloudManager.
  2. Implement Interface: If it's a custom provider, inherit from CloudBaseManager and implement all abstract methods.
  3. Add Config: Update the clouds.yaml example in the documentation to show required credentials.
  4. Register: Add your provider to the PROVIDERS map in src/main.py.
  5. Test: Create a new test file in tests/ using unittest.mock.

Development Workflow

  • Branching: All active development and feature integration happen in the dev2 branch. Please create your feature branches from dev2 rather than main.
  • Commits: Use descriptive commit messages.
  • PRs: Submit a Pull Request targeting the dev2 branch with a clear description of the changes and examples of how to use the new feature.

Code Formatting

To maintain a consistent style across the codebase, please format your code before committing.

Ruff

We use ruff for both linting and formatting. You can run it manually:

# Check for linting issues
ruff check .

# Automatically fix linting issues
ruff check --fix .

# Format the code
ruff format .

Pre-commit Hooks

The project includes a .pre-commit-config.yaml file. We recommend installing the pre-commit framework to automate formatting on every commit:

pip install pre-commit
pre-commit install
This will ensure that ruff is run automatically before each commit.

Coding Standards

  • Follow PEP 8 guidelines.
  • Use type hinting for all method signatures.
  • Ensure all new functionality is covered by unit tests.

Appendix: Step-by-Step Feature Workflow

To help new contributors get started, here is a detailed guide on the development cycle for this project.

1. Environment Setup

Always start from the latest state of the integration branch: 

git checkout dev2
git pull origin dev2

2. Branching

Create a descriptive feature branch to keep your work isolated: 

git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name

3. Implementation & Testing

Develop your feature following the coding standards. Ensure you add unit tests for any new logic: 

# Run your specific tests to verify
PYTHONPATH=. pytest tests/unit/test_your_feature.py

4. Formatting & Linting

Ensure your code is clean and formatted before submitting. We use ruff: 

# Automatically fix linting and format code
ruff check --fix .
ruff format .
Tip: Use pre-commit install to automate this step on every commit.

5. Committing and Pushing

git add .
git commit -m "feat: description of your change"
git push origin feature/your-feature-name

6. Creating the Pull Request

  1. Navigate to the GitHub repository.
  2. Click "Compare & pull request".
  3. Crucial: Set the base branch to dev2 (not main).
  4. Provide a clear description and a usage example of the new feature.
  5. Submit the PR for review.