Projects/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md

# Contributing to Research Platform 2.0

First off, thank you for considering contributing to the Research Platform! It's people like you that make the open-source and academic community such a great place to learn, inspire, and create.

## 1. Where do I go from here?

If you've noticed a bug or have a feature request, make sure to check our [Issues](../../issues) tab to see if someone else has already created a ticket. If not, go ahead and make one using our provided templates!

## 2. Fork & create a branch

If this is something you think you can fix, then fork the repository and create a branch with a descriptive name.

```bash
git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
```

## 3. Local Development

Please see the `README.md` for full details on starting the Docker containers and running the frontend and backend locally.

**Important Guidelines**:
- Ensure you have Java 17 and Node 22.
- Do NOT commit `.jar` files or `node_modules` into the repository.
- Ensure `mvn test` passes before submitting your code.

## 4. Submitting a Pull Request

Once you have completed your feature and committed your code (with clear, concise commit messages), push to your fork and submit a Pull Request.

Please fill out the Pull Request template entirely so the maintainers have all the context they need to review your code.

Thank you!