Skip to content

Contributing

Thanks for helping make Unity Helpers better! This project uses a few automated checks and formatters to keep the codebase consistent and easy to review.

The easiest way to contribute is using the included dev container, which has all CI/CD tools pre-installed:

  1. Open in VS Code with the Dev Containers extension
  2. Click "Reopen in Container" when prompted
  3. Run npm run verify:tools to confirm all tools are available

GitHub Credentials in the Container

The container resolves github.com credentials from a cached token. The Dev Containers credential helper is out of the path entirely: that helper raises a dialog on the host desktop on every invocation, and git push, git fetch and every API call invoke it.

With a token cached, nothing prompts. With an empty cache, git used to fall back to the editor's own askpass dialog, another window on the host desktop from a different mechanism. The container points GIT_ASKPASS at scripts/git-askpass-refuse.sh instead, so that path now ends in an error naming the commands below rather than in a dialog. (The editor's own Git UI is unaffected: the Git extension sets GIT_ASKPASS explicitly for the processes it launches.)

Supply the token once per container, either way:

Bash
1
2
npm run github:token:bootstrap   # asks the Dev Containers helper once; answer the dialog
npm run github:token:store       # paste a personal access token on stdin; no dialog at all

git push, git fetch and scripts/github-token.sh then read the same 0600 cache. A missing credential is reported with the command that fixes it, never prompted for.

Pre-installed CI/CD Tools (Container Only)

The dev container includes these additional tools that are not required on your host machine. Git hooks gracefully skip them if not present; CI will catch any issues:

  • actionlint: GitHub Actions workflow linter
  • shellcheck: Shell script linter
  • yamllint: YAML linter
  • lychee: Fast link checker

Required Tools (All Environments)

These tools are required and installed via npm/dotnet:

  • markdownlint: Markdown linter (via npm)
  • prettier: Markdown/JSON/YAML formatter (via npm)
  • cspell: Spell checker (via npm)
  • CSharpier: C# formatter (via .NET tools)

Formatting and Linting

  • C# formatting: CSharpier (via dotnet tools)
  • Markdown/JSON/YAML formatting: Prettier
  • Markdown linting: markdownlint
  • Link checks: lychee and custom script
  • YAML linting: yamllint
  • Workflow linting: actionlint

LLM Scratch Artifacts

  • Files or folders starting with _llm_ are git-ignored and automatically removed from the Unity package during imports.
  • Keep temporary AI outputs outside the package root (or rename them) to avoid unexpected deletions by the asset cleaner.

Dependabot PRs

Dependabot PRs are auto-formatted by CI. The bot pushes commits (same‑repo PRs) or opens a formatting PR (forked PRs) so they pass formatting gates.

Opt‑In Formatting for Contributor PRs

If you want the bot to apply formatting to your PR:

  • Comment on your PR with /format (aliases: /autofix, /lint-fix).
  • If your branch is in this repo, the bot pushes a commit with fixes.
  • If your PR is from a fork, the bot opens a formatting PR targeting the base branch.
  • The commenter must be the PR author or a maintainer/collaborator.
  • Or run manually from the Actions tab: select "Opt‑in Formatting", click "Run workflow", and enter the PR number.

What gets auto‑fixed:

  • C# via CSharpier
  • Markdown/JSON/YAML via Prettier
  • Markdown lint via markdownlint with --fix

What does not auto‑fix:

  • Broken links (lychee)
  • YAML issues that require manual edits

Run Checks Locally

  • Install tools once:
  • npm ci (or npm i --no-audit --no-fund)
  • dotnet tool restore
  • npm run hooks:install: installs git hooks. The install script also configures push.autoSetupRemote=true and push.default=simple locally, so git push on a new branch sets tracking automatically.
  • Verify all tools: npm run verify:tools
  • Format C#: dotnet tool run csharpier format
  • Check docs/JSON/YAML: npm run validate:content
  • Run the complete contract suite: npm run validate:tests. Hook regressions share the bounded worker pool with the fast checks; any check that mutates the repository runs exclusively first. npm run validate:tests:fast keeps its smaller scope, and npm run validate:tests:hook-regressions remains available for hook changes. To select a hook check in the full runner, use node scripts/run-contract-tests.js --include-hook-regressions --only agent-preflight.
  • Enforce EOL/encoding: npm run eol:check
  • Lint GitHub Actions: actionlint
  • Verify Markdown/code links: npm run lint:doc-links (cross-platform wrapper that locates PowerShell automatically)
  • The wrapper lives at scripts/run-doc-link-lint.js so you can also run node ./scripts/run-doc-link-lint.js --verbose if you are not using npm scripts.
  • The underlying PowerShell script validates intra-repo Markdown links and any docs/... references inside source files or scripts. The lint-doc-links GitHub Actions workflow runs it on every PR, so run it locally before pushing large doc updates.

Style and Naming

Please follow the conventions outlined in .editorconfig and the repository guidelines (PascalCase types, camelCase fields, explicit types, braces required, no regions).

Releases and Versioning

This project follows Semantic Versioning. Key points:

  • Git tags use the format 3.1.5 (no v prefix)
  • package.json contains the authoritative version number
  • SVG banner displays the version with a v prefix (e.g., v3.1.5) for visual consistency, synced automatically via pre-commit hook

When installing via Git URL, reference versions without the v prefix:

Text Only
1
https://github.com/wallstop/unity-helpers.git#3.1.5

Maintainers prepare releases from the default branch with the Release Prepare workflow. Choose a major, minor, or patch bump, review the generated release PR, and squash-merge it with the default release: X.Y.Z title. After merge, the release automation tags that commit, validates and packs the npm package, creates the .unitypackage without opening Unity, publishes npm, and publishes the GitHub Release assets.