Contributing#

Contributions are welcome, and they are greatly appreciated! Every little bit helps, and credit will always be given.

You can contribute in many ways:

Types of Contributions#

Report Bugs#

Report bugs in the cellpy repository at GitHub.

If you are reporting a bug, please include:

Your operating system name and version.
Any details about your local setup that might be helpful in troubleshooting.
Detailed steps to reproduce the bug.

Fix Bugs#

Look through the GitHub issues for bugs. Anything tagged with “bug” and “help wanted” is open to whoever wants to implement it.

Implement Features#

Look through the GitHub issues for features. Anything tagged with “enhancement” and “help wanted” is open to whoever wants to implement it.

Write Documentation#

cellpy could always use more documentation, whether as part of the official cellpy docs, in docstrings, or even on the web in blog posts, articles, and such.

Submit Feedback#

The best way to send feedback is to file an issue in the cellpy repository at GitHub.

If you are proposing a feature:

Explain in detail how it would work.
Keep the scope as narrow as possible, to make it easier to implement.
Remember that this is a volunteer-driven project, and that contributions are welcome :)

Get Started#

Ready to contribute? Here’s how to set up cellpy for local development.

Fork the cellpy repo on GitHub.

Clone your fork locally:

git clone git@github.com:your_name_here/cellpy.git

Create the development environment with uv (recommended). This creates .venv and installs the project plus the dev dependency group from the locked uv.lock (cellpycore resolves from PyPI):
```
uv sync --no-sources
```
Dual-repo development (cellpy + a sibling cellpy-core checkout): after sync, install core editable so local core changes are picked up immediately:
```
uv pip install -e ../cellpy-core
```
Or run the helper script (expects ../cellpy-core relative to the cellpy root):
```
scripts/dev_sync.sh
```
Do not commit a [tool.uv.sources] path override in pyproject.toml — it breaks Dependabot uv.lock updates. Regenerate the lock from PyPI pins with UV_NO_SOURCES=1 uv lock before pushing lockfile changes.

Or create a plain virtual environment manually:
```
python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # or .venv\Scripts\activate on Windows
uv pip install -e .
```
Or use conda environments. See the conda documentation for more information. A suitable environment yaml configuration file can be found in the root of the repository (environment_dev.yml; to create the environment, run conda env create -f environment_dev.yml).
Run commands inside the environment with uv run, e.g.:
```
uv run pytest
```
Create a branch for local development:
```
git checkout -b name-of-your-bugfix-or-feature
```
Now you can make your changes locally.
When you’re done making changes, check that your changes pass the tests:
```
pytest
```
If there are any libraries missing (it could happen) just pip install them into your virtual environment (or conda install them into your conda environment).

Commit your changes and push your branch to GitHub:

git add .
git commit -m "Your detailed description of your changes."
git push origin name-of-your-bugfix-or-feature

Submit a pull request through the GitHub website (or your IDE if that option exists).

Building the package#

The build is defined entirely in pyproject.toml (hatchling backend). The version is derived from the latest git tag via uv-dynamic-versioning (tag new releases as vX.Y.Z).

Build the sdist and wheel locally:

uv build

To verify the build in a clean, isolated environment (catches packaging problems such as missing data files or a broken CLI entry point), run the Docker-based build test (requires Docker):

scripts/build_test.sh

This builds the wheel inside a fresh container, installs it, and smoke-tests import cellpy and the cellpy CLI.

Pull Request Guidelines#

Before you submit a pull request, check that it meets these guidelines:

The pull request should include tests.
Deprecation shims must use cellpy._deprecation.warn_once (warn once per call site) and register in DEPRECATIONS.md.
The pull request should not include any gluten.

Tips#

To self-hypnotize yourself to sleep well at night::

  echo "You feel sleepy"
  echo "You are a great person"

Contributing

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