Contributing to GoVisual

May 4, 2025 ยท View on GitHub

Thank you for your interest in contributing to GoVisual! This document provides guidelines and instructions for contributing to the project.

Development Setup

Prerequisites

  • Go 1.20 or higher
  • Docker and Docker Compose (for running the examples with databases)
  • Git

Getting Started

  1. Fork the repository on GitHub
  2. Clone your fork locally 
    git clone https://github.com/yourusername/govisual.git
cd govisual
  3. Add the original repository as an upstream remote 
    git remote add upstream https://github.com/doganarif/govisual.git
  4. Install dependencies 
    go mod download

Running Tests

Run the tests with:

go test ./...

For tests involving storage backends, you can use the provided Docker Compose files:

# For PostgreSQL tests
cd cmd/examples/multistorage
GOVISUAL_STORAGE_TYPE=postgres \
GOVISUAL_PG_CONN="postgres://postgres:postgres@localhost:5432/govisual?sslmode=disable" \
go test ../../internal/store/...

# For Redis tests
GOVISUAL_STORAGE_TYPE=redis \
GOVISUAL_REDIS_CONN="redis://localhost:6379/0" \
go test ../../internal/store/...

Code Style Guidelines

GoVisual follows standard Go coding conventions:

  • Run go fmt before committing to ensure consistent formatting
  • Follow Effective Go guidelines
  • Use golint and go vet to check for common issues
  • Write meaningful comments, especially for exported functions and types
  • Keep functions small and focused on a single responsibility
  • Use meaningful variable and function names that describe their purpose

Contribution Workflow

  1. Create a new branch for your feature or bugfix

    git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name

  2. Make your changes, following the code style guidelines

  3. Add tests for your changes

  4. Run tests to make sure everything works

    go test ./...

  5. Commit your changes with a clear and descriptive commit message

    git commit -m "Add support for new feature X"

  6. Push to your fork

    git push origin feature/your-feature-name

  7. Create a Pull Request against the main repository

Pull Request Guidelines

  • Provide a clear description of the problem you're solving
  • Update documentation if necessary
  • Add or update tests as appropriate
  • Keep PRs focused on a single issue/feature to make them easier to review
  • Make sure CI tests pass

Adding Storage Backends

When adding a new storage backend:

  1. Implement the Store interface in internal/store/store.go
  2. Add relevant configuration options in options.go
  3. Update factory methods in internal/store/factory.go
  4. Add documentation in docs/storage-backends.md
  5. Create examples showing usage

Reporting Issues

When reporting issues, please include:

  • A clear description of the problem
  • Steps to reproduce
  • Expected vs. actual behavior
  • Version of GoVisual you're using
  • Go version and OS
  • Any relevant logs or error messages

License

By contributing to GoVisual, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the project's MIT license.