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Thank you for considering contributing to Linkspector! We welcome contributions from the community to help improve and grow this tool. This guide will help you understand how to contribute effectively.

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Getting Started

Before you start contributing, please make sure you have:
  • Familiarized yourself with the project’s goals and objectives
  • Read and understood the project’s Apache 2.0 License
  • Set up a GitHub account if you don’t already have one
  • Reviewed our Code of Conduct

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Code of Conduct

We are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all contributors. Please review and adhere to our Code of Conduct to ensure a respectful and inclusive environment.
All contributors must follow our Code of Conduct. Violations will not be tolerated.

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Our Standards

  • Be kind and courteous. There’s no need to be mean or rude
  • Respect that people have differences of opinion and that every design or implementation choice carries a trade-off
  • Avoid using overtly sexual aliases or nicknames that might detract from a welcoming environment
  • Keep unstructured critique to a minimum. If you have solid ideas, make a fork and experiment
  • Private harassment is also unacceptable. If you feel harassed, please contact the maintainers immediately
  • No spamming, trolling, flaming, baiting or other attention-stealing behavior
Our Code of Conduct is adapted from the Rust Code of Conduct.

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How to Contribute

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Reporting Issues

If you encounter a bug, have a feature request, or have questions about the project, please open an issue on the GitHub Issues page. When reporting issues, be sure to provide:
  • A clear and descriptive title
  • Steps to reproduce the issue
  • Expected behavior vs. actual behavior
  • Any relevant error messages or screenshots
  • Your environment details (OS, Node.js version, etc.)
Before creating a new issue, please search existing issues to avoid duplicates.

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Submitting Pull Requests

We welcome contributions in the form of pull requests (PRs). Follow these steps to submit a PR:
1

Fork the repository

Fork the Linkspector repository to your own GitHub account.
2

Create a feature branch

Create a new branch from the main branch for your changes:
git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
3

Make your changes

Make your changes and commit them with clear and concise messages. See Commit Messages for guidelines.
4

Run tests

Before submitting, make sure all tests pass:
npm test
5

Push to your fork

Push your branch to your forked repository:
git push origin feature/your-feature-name
6

Create a pull request

Create a pull request from your branch to the main branch of the UmbrellaDocs/linkspector repository.
Our maintainers will review your PR as soon as possible and provide feedback if needed. Once your PR is approved, it will be merged into the project.

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Commit Messages

Follow these guidelines for commit messages:
  • Use clear and concise messages that explain the purpose of the commit
  • Start the message with a verb in the present tense (e.g., “Add feature,” “Fix bug,” “Update documentation”)
  • Reference related issues or pull requests by including their numbers (e.g., “Fixes #123,” “Closes #456”)

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Examples

Good commit messages: 
Add support for ReStructured Text files
Fix broken link detection for redirected URLs
Update README with Docker installation instructions
Bad commit messages: 
fixed stuff
updates
asdfasdf

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Testing

Before submitting a pull request, make sure to run the test suite to ensure that your changes do not introduce any regressions: 
npm test
For continuous testing during development: 
npm run test:watch
All pull requests must pass the existing test suite. If you’re adding new functionality, please include appropriate tests.

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License

By contributing to this project, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the project’s Apache 2.0 License.

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Questions?

If you have any questions about contributing, feel free to: We appreciate your contributions and look forward to working with you!

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