Contributing Guide
==================

Thank you so much for taking the time to contribute to htop!

Be Kind
-------

We strive for htop to be a welcoming and safe project for all contributors.
Refer to our [code of conduct](CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) for details.

Issue Tracker
-------------

Bug reports should be posted in the [Github issue
tracker](https://github.com/htop-dev/htop/issues).
Bug reports are extremely important since it's impossible for us to test
htop in every possible system, distribution and scenario. Your feedback
is what keeps the tool stable and always improving - thank you!

Please label Github issues that are feature requests with a `feature request`
label. If you can't do this yourself, don't worry, the friendly folk from the
core team update labels as part of their regular reviews.

Style Guide
-----------

To make working with the code easier a set of guidelines have evolved in
the past that new contributions should try to follow. While they are not set
in stone and always up for changes should the need arise they still provide
a first orientation to go by when contributing to this repository.

The details of the coding style as well as what to take care about with your
contributions can be found in our [style guide](docs/styleguide.md).

Pull Requests
-------------

Code contributions are most welcome! Just [fork the
repo](https://github.com/htop-dev/htop) and send a [pull
request](https://github.com/htop-dev/htop/pulls). Help is especially
appreciated for support of platforms other than Linux. If proposing new
features, please be mindful that htop is a system tool that needs to keep a
small footprint and perform well on systems under stress -- so unfortunately
we can't accept every new feature proposed, as we need to keep the tool slim
and maintainable. Great ideas backed by a PR are always carefully considered
for inclusion though! Also, PRs containing bug fixes and portability tweaks
are always included, please send those in!

Use of AI
---------

You are welcome to use whatever tools work best for you, which includes use
of AI tools to assist with developing htop. AI tools have proven invaluable
as learning aids for new contributors, helped to identify problematic code,
and have been used to fill cross-platform knowledge gaps.

With great power comes great responsibility. Please ensure you review and
understand any changes made by tools you use before opening pull requests.
Be aware that AI tools may generate content which is an exact copy of code
from another project - only propose code for inclusion in htop that meets
the copyright and licensing requirements of the project.

To assist the maintainers please always acknowledge any use of AI tools as
part of your work. Use of `Co-authored-by:` clauses is highly recommended.
