Thank you for the interest in contributing to Specify's codebase! We welcome contributions of all kinds, including bug fixes, improvements, documentation, etc.
We value contributions from all members of the community, regardless of experience level. Whether you are a seasoned open source contributor or a newcomer to the world of software development, your help is greatly appreciated.
To get started with contributing to Specify 7, this guide will provide you with the information you need to understand the project, its goals, and how you can help.
We also encourage you to reach out to the Specify 7 team with any questions you may have. You can contact the team at support@specifysoftware.org.
The mission of the Specify Collections Consortium is to advance research and applied uses of the information associated with specimens and samples held in biological and earth science collections. With engagement and collaboration from its member institutions, the Consortium does this by engineering innovative, open-source software, and by offering training and services to members for the digitization, integration, and curation of collections data. By collaboratively creating and supporting robust platforms and tools, the Consortium advances the mobilization and engagement of collections data in broader research and computing initiatives for the benefit of its members, science, and society.
Our mission statement serves as a guiding principle for how our organization should operate. It defines what our organization stands for, what it values, and what its goals are. By developing in accordance with our mission statement, we ensure that our efforts are aligned with our core values and purpose. This helps us stay focused on our goals, and ensures that all of our efforts are working together to achieve our mission.
Preferred way to do Specify 7 development is though our development composition.
Documentation for getting development Docker composition working
All feature requests and bugs are tracked on GitHub. Each issue is sorted into a project. Each project represents a major Specify 7 component. A list of all projects
If you found a bug, feel free to open a GitHub issue. Similarly, if you are interested in fixing some issue or adding new feature, feel free to do so! If you want to work on a larger feature, it would be best if you get in touch with us first so that we can make sure the process is smooth and efficient.
Our entire workflow for reporting bugs, trianging them, prioritizing the fixes, testing them and releasing the fixes - https://github.com/specify/specify7/wiki/Issue-Workflow
You don't have to read every part of that document, but some of the sections in that document would be relevant
Example workflow:
- Go through GitHub Projects
- Find a ticket that you are interested in resolving
- Fix it in a local fork of Specify 7
- Open a pull request in Specify 7 repository. In the pull request, mention
the issue you are solving by putting
Fixes #1234in the description, where1234is a number of GitHub issue - We will review the changes and merge them into next release. You will receive credit in the release notes!
It's recomended to start with issues that are labled with good first issue as those require less knowledge of the codebase and are as not urgent. These would prepare you for taking on larger GitHub issues.
On the front-end, we are using TypeScript, React and Tailwind CSS.
Front-end root directory is in ./specifyweb/frontend/js_src
Each folder and sub-folder has a README.md file that describes the role of that directory and provides other meta information.
We have a video of a full front-end code overview from January 2023 available here.
Back-end uses Python and Django. It also works closely with a MySQL/MariaDB database both though Django ORM and though SQLAlchemy.
Back-end root directory is ./specifyweb/
We have a video of a full back-end overview from January 2023 available here
No special IDE configuration is required, but some optional plugins would improve developer experience - https://github.com/specify/specify7/tree/production/specifyweb/frontend/js_src#js_src
That document includes a short list. For a full list, see https://github.com/specifysystems/code-principles
In the browser, you can install React Devtools extension to make debugging React components easier.
We prefer functional programming paradigm. In our opinion, perfect code* consist of small and pure functions that have clear unit tests, and can be combined together to solve a complex task.
*no code is perfect, but you can still strive for it
On a static analysis side, we use strict TypeScript type checking and Prettier formatting to make code less buggy and more consistent.
Additionally, ESLint goes beyond that to provide close to a thousand of static analysis checks and quick fixes, all in a name of clear and bug-free code. Our ESLint configuration is located in @maxxxxxdlp/eslint-config-react
Specify 7 Test Panel is used for testing bug fixes and pre-release versions of Specify 7.
Once up and running, the test panel can be operated by non-technical users.
If set up properly, it automatically rebuilds all active deployments when someone pushes new changes on GitHub. It also automatically deploys bug fixes once those are marked as ready for testing.
The test panel is designed for usage by Quality Assurance people, but could also be used by external users for quick evaluation or developers when they need to quickly deploy an older version of Specify to compare behavior.
A great deal of user-facing documentation is available at our Discourse forum. Most of it is available to users from member institutions only, thus consider joining the Specify Software Consortium if you are interested in becoming a power user of Specify 7.
Besides the README.md files in most folders in this repository, there is also some developer facing documentation in our GitHub Wiki.
If you are stuck and need help, consider emailing our support at support@specifysoftware.org, opening a GitHub issue or posting a question on our Discourse forum as appropriate.
| Contact Option | Link |
|---|---|
| General Inquiry | support@specifysoftware.org |
| Bug Report | GitHub Issue |
| User Question | Discourse Forum |