Contributing
Thanks for your interest in contributing to Express Rate Limit! This guide will show you how to set up your environment and contribute to this library.
Setup your environment
First, you need to install and be familiar the following:
git
Here is a great guide by GitHub on installing and getting started with Git.
node
andnpm
This guide will help you
install node
and npm
. The recommended method is using the n
version
manager if you are on MacOS or Linux. Make sure you are using the
active LTS version of
Node.
Fork the repository
Follow
these instructions
to
fork
and clone the repository
(express-rate-limit/express-rate-limit
).
Once you have forked and cloned the repository, you can pick out an issue you want to fix/implement!
Create a branch
Once you have cloned the repository to your computer (say, in
~/Code/express-rate-limit
) and picked the issue you want to tackle, create a
branch based off the main
branch:
> git switch main
> git switch --create branch-name
While naming your branch, make sure the name is short and self explanatory.
Once you have created a branch, you can start coding!
Writing code
The library is written in typescript
and supports node
versions 16, 18
and 20. The code is arranged as follows:
Documentation and testing
When adding a new feature or fixing a bug, please update the documentation and
changelog as well as add tests for the same. Also make sure the codebase passes
the linter and library tests by running npm test
. Note that running
npm run format
will automatically resolve most style/lint issues.
Note that the external tests require various datastores to be installed locally
and take more time to execute. Typically they are run only on GitHub Actions.
You may run these tests locally by running npm run test:ext
.
Making a commit
Once you have made changes to the code, you will want to commit (basically, Git’s version of save) the changes. To commit the changes you have made locally:
> git add this/folder that-file.js
> git commit --message 'commit-message'
While writing the commit-message
, try to follow the below guidelines:
- Prefix the message with
type:
, wheretype
is one of the following dependending on what the commit does:fix
: Introduces a bug fix.feat
: Adds a new feature.test
: Any change related to tests.perf
: Any performance related change.meta
: Any change related to the build process, workflows, issue templates, etc.refc
: Any refactoring work.docs
: Any documentation related changes.
- Keep the first line brief, and less than 60 characters.
- Try describing the change in detail in a new paragraph (double newline after the first line).
When you commit files, husky
and lint-staged
will automatically lint the
code and fix most issues. In case an error is not automatically fixable, they
will cancel the commit. Please fix the errors before committing the changes. If
you still wish to commit the changes, prefix the git commit
command with
HUSKY=0
, like so:
> HUSKY=0 git commit --message 'commit-message'
Pushing your changes
Once you have committed your changes, you will want to push your commits (basically, publish your changes to GitHub). To do so, run:
> git push origin branch-name
If there are changes made to the main
branch of the
express-rate-limit/express-rate-limit
repository, you may wish to merge those
changes into your branch. To do so, run:
> git fetch upstream main
> git merge upstream/main
This will automatically add the changes from main
branch of the
express-rate-limit/express-rate-limit
repository to the current branch. If you
encounter any merge conflicts, follow
this guide
to resolve them.
Opening a pull request
Once you have pushed your changes to your fork, follow these instructions to open a pull request.
Once you have submitted a pull request, the maintainers of the repository will review your pull requests. Whenever a maintainer reviews a pull request they may request changes. These may be small, such as fixing a typo, or may involve substantive changes. Such requests are intended to be helpful, but at times may come across as abrupt or unhelpful, especially if they do not include concrete suggestions on how to change them. Try not to be discouraged. If you feel that a review is unfair, say so or seek the input of another project contributor. Often such comments are the result of a reviewer having taken insufficient time to review and are not ill-intended. Such difficulties can often be resolved with a bit of patience. That said, reviewers should be expected to provide helpful feedback.
In order to land, a pull request needs to be reviewed and approved by at least one maintainer and pass CI. After that, if there are no objections from other contributors, the pull request can be merged.
Congratulations and thanks for your contribution!
This contributing guide was inspired by the Electron project’s contributing guide.