You can contribute to Semantic Kernel with issues and pull requests (PRs). Simply filing issues for problems you encounter is a great way to contribute. Contributing code is greatly appreciated.
We always welcome bug reports, API proposals and overall feedback. Here are a few tips on how you can make reporting your issue as effective as possible.
New issues can be reported in our list of issues.
Before filing a new issue, please search the list of issues to make sure it does not already exist.
If you do find an existing issue for what you wanted to report, please include your own feedback in the discussion. Do consider upvoting (👍 reaction) the original post, as this helps us prioritize popular issues in our backlog.
Good bug reports make it easier for maintainers to verify and root cause the underlying problem. The better a bug report, the faster the problem will be resolved. Ideally, a bug report should contain the following information:
- A high-level description of the problem.
- A minimal reproduction, i.e. the smallest size of code/configuration required to reproduce the wrong behavior.
- A description of the expected behavior, contrasted with the actual behavior observed.
- Information on the environment: OS/distribution, CPU architecture, SDK version, etc.
- Additional information, e.g. Is it a regression from previous versions? Are there any known workarounds?
Project maintainers will merge accepted code changes from contributors.
DO's:
- DO follow the standard .NET coding style and Python code style
- DO give priority to the current style of the project or file you're changing if it diverges from the general guidelines.
- DO include tests when adding new features. When fixing bugs, start with adding a test that highlights how the current behavior is broken.
- DO keep the discussions focused. When a new or related topic comes up it's often better to create new issue than to side track the discussion.
- DO clearly state on an issue that you are going to take on implementing it.
- DO blog and tweet (or whatever) about your contributions, frequently!
DON'Ts:
- DON'T surprise us with big pull requests. Instead, file an issue and start a discussion so we can agree on a direction before you invest a large amount of time.
- DON'T commit code that you didn't write. If you find code that you think is a good fit to add to Semantic Kernel, file an issue and start a discussion before proceeding.
- DON'T submit PRs that alter licensing related files or headers. If you believe there's a problem with them, file an issue and we'll be happy to discuss it.
- DON'T make new APIs without filing an issue and discussing with us first.
Contributions must maintain API signature and behavioral compatibility. Contributions that include breaking changes will be rejected. Please file an issue to discuss your idea or change if you believe that a breaking change is warranted.
We use and recommend the following workflow:
- Create an issue for your work.
- You can skip this step for trivial changes.
- Reuse an existing issue on the topic, if there is one.
- Get agreement from the team and the community that your proposed change is a good one.
- Clearly state that you are going to take on implementing it, if that's the case. You can request that the issue be assigned to you. Note: The issue filer and the implementer don't have to be the same person.
- Create a personal fork of the repository on GitHub (if you don't already have one).
- In your fork, create a branch off of main (
git checkout -b mybranch
).- Name the branch so that it clearly communicates your intentions, such as "issue-123" or "githubhandle-issue".
- Make and commit your changes to your branch.
- Add new tests corresponding to your change, if applicable.
- Build the repository with your changes.
- Make sure that the builds are clean.
- Make sure that the tests are all passing, including your new tests.
- Create a PR against the repository's main branch.
- State in the description what issue or improvement your change is addressing.
- Verify that all the Continuous Integration checks are passing.
- Wait for feedback or approval of your changes from the code maintainers.
- When area owners have signed off, and all checks are green, your PR will be merged.
The continuous integration (CI) system will automatically perform the required builds and run tests (including the ones you are expected to run) for PRs. Builds and test runs must be clean.
If the CI build fails for any reason, the PR issue will be updated with a link that can be used to determine the cause of the failure.