veritas-kanban/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to Veritas Kanban

Thanks for your interest in contributing! This guide will help you get started.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 22 or later
• pnpm 9+ (package manager)

Development Setup

1. Fork the repository on GitHub

2. Clone your fork:

   git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/veritas-kanban.git
   cd veritas-kanban
   

3. Install dependencies:

   pnpm install
   

4. Set up environment variables:

   cp server/.env.example server/.env
   

   Edit server/.env with your local configuration (at minimum, set VERITAS_ADMIN_KEY).

5. Start the development server:

   pnpm dev
   

   The board auto-seeds with example tasks on first run. To re-seed manually: pnpm seed.

Project Structure

Veritas Kanban is a monorepo:

veritas-kanban/
├── server/     # Backend API (Express + TypeScript)
├── web/        # Frontend UI (React + Vite + TypeScript)
├── shared/     # Shared types & contracts
├── cli/        # `vk` CLI tool
├── mcp/        # MCP server for AI assistants
├── tasks/      # Task storage (Markdown files, gitignored)
│   ├── active/     # Current tasks (your data, not tracked)
│   ├── archive/    # Archived tasks (not tracked)
│   └── examples/   # Seed tasks for first-run
├── scripts/    # Build and utility scripts
└── docs/       # Documentation

Note: Your task data (tasks/active/, tasks/archive/) is .gitignored and never committed. Only tasks/examples/ (seed data) is tracked.

Development Workflow

Creating a Feature Branch

1. Create a feature branch from main:

   git checkout -b feat/my-feature
   

2. Make your changes — write code, add tests, update docs.

3. Run linting and tests before committing:

   pnpm lint
   pnpm test
   

4. Commit using conventional commits.

5. Push to your fork and open a pull request.

Branch Merge Protocol

Critical: When merging multiple feature branches, merge one at a time. Never batch-merge parallel branches.

Process:

1. Merge first branch to main
2. Build all packages: pnpm build
3. Run smoke tests (see Testing Requirements)
4. Only after smoke tests pass, merge the next branch
5. Repeat for each branch

Why: Parallel branches often introduce integration issues that are hidden when batch-merging. Sequential merges with testing between each merge catch these immediately.

One Agent Per File Rule

Critical: Only one agent (human or AI) should edit a file at a time. Never assign multiple agents to modify the same file concurrently.

Why: When multiple agents edit the same file independently, each change stomps on the others. Even if each change is correct in isolation, they create conflicts and break functionality when combined. This applies to both human and AI contributors.

Process:

1. Assign one agent to a file or task
2. That agent completes their work and confirms they're done
3. Only then can another agent touch that file
4. If a task requires changes across multiple files, one agent owns the full task

This is a hard constraint, not a guideline. It's the file-level equivalent of sequential branch merges.

Squad Chat Protocol (Mandatory)

Every agent (human or AI) must post to squad chat when starting work, hitting milestones, completing tasks, or finding issues. Squad chat is the glass box — real-time visibility into what's happening.

# Regular messages (agents post these):
./scripts/squad-post.sh --model claude-sonnet-4.5 AGENT_NAME "Your update" tag1 tag2

# System events (orchestrator posts these):
./scripts/squad-event.sh --model claude-sonnet-4.5 spawned AGENT_NAME "Task Title"
./scripts/squad-event.sh completed AGENT_NAME "Task Title" "2m35s"

# Or curl directly:
curl -s -X POST "http://localhost:3001/api/chat/squad" \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"agent":"AGENT_NAME","message":"Your update","tags":["tag1"],"model":"claude-sonnet-4.5"}'

The --model flag is optional but recommended — it shows which AI model is behind each agent in the UI. System events (spawned, completed, failed) render as divider lines in the squad chat panel.

See SQUAD-CHAT-PROTOCOL.md for full details.

Pre-Commit Review Protocol (Mandatory)

Before every commit, run these 4 reviews:

1. Code Review — Code quality, anti-patterns, architectural issues, file locking, path validation
2. Functionality Review — All endpoints work, CRUD operations, settings save/load
3. Performance Review — API response times, bundle size, React optimizations, memory leaks
4. Security Review — Auth/authz, injection vectors, secrets exposure, CORS/CSP, rate limiting

All four must pass (10/10) before committing. If ANY review says unsafe:

1. Fix the issue
2. Have the SAME reviewer who found it verify the fix
3. Get human approval
4. Then commit

Never commit when a review says "unsafe." Never push without human approval.

These reviews are mandatory, not optional. They catch runtime issues that static analysis and builds miss.

Pre-Merge Checklist

Before merging any branch, verify:

• Type exports: All new types added to shared/ are exported in shared/src/types/index.ts
• Builds pass: pnpm build succeeds for all packages (shared, server, web)
• No hardcoded values: No hardcoded ports, URLs, or timeouts in application code
• CSP/CORS configs: Security policies work in both NODE_ENV=development AND NODE_ENV=production
• Frontend hooks: All HTTP calls use shared helpers (apiFetch) and all WebSocket/URL logic uses window.location.host (not hardcoded ports)
• Environment variables: All configurable values use env vars with sensible defaults

Environment Rules

Never change these without team agreement:

• PORT in .env: Default is 3000. Changing this breaks developer workflows and bookmarks.
• CORS_ORIGINS: Must include the production serving origin (e.g., http://localhost:3000 when Express serves the built frontend in production mode).
• CSP connect-src: Must allow WebSocket connections in all modes (dev, production, test). Don't hide WebSocket support behind isDev checks.
• Configurable values: Use environment variables with sensible defaults. No magic numbers in code.

Rule of thumb: If changing a value would break someone else's local setup, it belongs in an environment variable with documentation.

Testing Requirements

"Builds clean" is necessary but NOT sufficient.

Before declaring a branch ready to merge, verify runtime behavior:

1. Health check: curl http://localhost:3000/api/health returns 200
2. Auth flow: Log in via the UI, verify token handling works
3. Task CRUD: Create, update, move, and delete a task
4. WebSocket connection: Verify real-time updates work (open two browser tabs, change task in one, see update in the other)
5. No stray processes: Check for leftover Vite dev servers or conflicting processes before starting: lsof -i :3000

Static code reviews (AI or human) cannot catch runtime issues. You must test in a running browser.

Common Integration Failures

These have broken production. Check for them:

• Missing type exports: Types added to shared/ but not exported in barrel file
• Hardcoded ports/URLs: Frontend code assuming specific port instead of using window.location
• CORS origin mismatches: Dev-only origins in allowlist, production origin missing
• CSP dev-only exceptions: Security policies that only work in development mode
• Response envelope mismatches: API clients expecting raw JSON but server returns wrapped { data, error } responses
• Conflicting processes: Vite dev server running on production port

Commit Conventions

We follow Conventional Commits.

Format

<type>[optional scope]: <description>

[optional body]

[optional footer(s)]

Types

Type	Description
feat	A new feature
fix	A bug fix
docs	Documentation changes
style	Code style (formatting, semicolons, etc.)
refactor	Code change that doesn't fix a bug or add a feature
perf	Performance improvement
test	Adding or updating tests
build	Build system or dependency changes
ci	CI/CD configuration changes
chore	Other changes (no src or test modification)

Examples

feat(board): add drag-and-drop column reordering
fix(api): handle empty task list in export endpoint
docs: update README with deployment instructions

Pull Request Process

1. Fork the repo and create your branch from main.
2. Branch naming: Use descriptive names like feat/task-filters, fix/login-redirect, docs/api-reference.
3. Open a PR against main.
4. Fill out the PR template — describe changes, link related issues, include screenshots for UI changes.
5. Ensure CI passes — all checks must be green.
6. Request review — a maintainer will review and may request changes.
7. Address feedback — push additional commits as needed.
8. Merge — once approved, a maintainer will merge.

Code Style

• Language: TypeScript (strict mode)
• Linting: ESLint — pnpm lint
• Formatting: Prettier — pnpm format
• Editor: VS Code recommended with ESLint + Prettier extensions

Follow the existing conventions in .eslintrc.*, .prettierrc, and tsconfig.json.

Testing

• Run all tests:

  pnpm test
  

• End-to-end tests use Playwright:

  pnpm test:e2e
  

• Write tests for new features and bug fixes.

• Ensure existing tests pass before submitting.

Questions?

Open a GitHub Discussion or reach out to the maintainers.

Thanks for contributing! 🎉