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🤝 Contributing to kwatch

Thank you for helping make Kubernetes easier to operate. You do not need to be a Kubernetes expert to contribute. Documentation, bug reports, tests, ideas, and small fixes are all useful.

🌱 Choose a way to help​

Before starting a large change, open an issue or discuss it in Discord. This helps us agree on the approach and avoids duplicated work.

🛠️ A normal code contribution​

  1. Find an issue or open one describing the problem.
  2. Fork the repository and create a focused branch.
  3. Make the smallest change that solves the problem.
  4. Add or update tests and documentation.
  5. Run the verification command locally.
  6. Open a pull request against main and explain what changed.

Read Cloning and building for local setup and the GitHub workflow for the Git commands.

✅ Before opening a pull request​

go build ./...
go vet ./...
go test ./...
golangci-lint run
make verify

Keep changes focused, use clear names, and add comments only when they explain a non-obvious decision. If a change affects configuration, alerts, persistence, or release behavior, update the matching docs too.

📝 Documentation changes​

Write for the person who is seeing the problem for the first time:

  • Start with the goal and the result.
  • Show a copy-pasteable example.
  • Explain Kubernetes terms the first time you use them.
  • Say whether a setting is on by default or opt-in.
  • Never include real credentials in examples.
  • Keep version pins inside the release-managed README blocks only.

📜 Community rules​

Please follow the Code of Conduct. Security issues should be reported privately using the process in SECURITY.md.