Contributing to Agent Kernel

September 7, 2026 · View on GitHub

Thank you for your interest in contributing to Agent Kernel! We welcome contributions from the community and are excited to have you here.

Table of Contents

Code of Conduct

This project and everyone participating in it is governed by our Code of Conduct. By participating, you are expected to uphold this code. Please report unacceptable behavior to the project maintainers.

How to Contribute

There are many ways to contribute to Agent Kernel:

  • Agent Kernel core contributions: Bug fixes, new features, performance improvements
  • Agent Kernel integrations: New integrations to Agent Kernel (Eg: A messaging platform integration)
  • Documentation: Improve existing docs, add examples, write tutorials
  • Testing: Write tests, report bugs, verify fixes
  • Community support: Help others in discussions and issues

Developer Guide

See the Developer Guide for detailed setup instructions.

Pull Request Process

Before Submitting

  1. Ensure code quality:

    • Run formatting checks: make lint-check-all
    • Fix any issues: make lint-all
    • See the Developer Guide for details

  2. Run tests:

    cd ak-py
uv run pytest

  3. Update documentation if your changes affect:

    • Public APIs
    • Configuration options
    • User-facing behavior

  4. Write clear commit messages following conventional commit format:

    type: brief description

Optional longer description explaining the change

    An optional scope narrows the type: type(scope): brief description, for example fix(ws): reconnect gateway after broker restart or chore(auto): sync skills/docs.

    Commit Types:

    • feat: New feature
    • fix: Bug fix
    • docs: Documentation only changes
    • style: Code style/formatting changes
    • refactor: Code refactoring
    • test: Adding or updating tests
    • chore: Maintenance tasks
    • ci: CI configuration and workflow changes
    • build: Build system, packaging, and dependency changes
    • perf: Performance improvements

    Examples:

    feat: add support for streaming responses

fix: resolve session initialization bug

docs: update installation instructions

Submitting Your PR

If you have followed the guidelines in Developer Guide to fork the repository, refer below.

  1. Push to your fork:

    git push origin feature/your-feature-name

  2. Create a Pull Request on GitHub with:

    • Conventional title: Use the same type: description or type(scope): description format as commit messages, with one of the types listed above (for example feat: add telegram messaging integration). The PR Title Check workflow fails the PR otherwise. develop only accepts squash merges, so the title becomes the commit subject.
    • Description: Explain what, why, and how
    • Related issues: Reference using Fixes #123 or Related to #456
    • Screenshots: If UI changes are involved
    • Testing notes: How reviewers can test your changes

PR Guidelines

  • Keep PRs focused: One feature or fix per PR
  • Write clear descriptions: Help reviewers understand your changes
  • Add tests: Cover new functionality and edge cases
  • Update docs: Keep documentation in sync with code
  • Respond to feedback: Address review comments promptly
  • Keep history clean: Squash or rebase if needed before merging
  • Ensure CI passes: All automated checks must pass

Review Workflow

  • Copilot review: A GitHub Copilot code review is requested automatically when a PR is opened, reopened, or marked ready for review. You do not need to request it yourself.
  • Reviewed label: Maintainers add the Reviewed label once they have gone through a PR. Pushing new commits removes the label automatically so the PR shows up again in the review queue (is:pr is:open -label:Reviewed). Do not add or remove the label yourself.

Reporting Bugs

When reporting bugs, please include:

  1. Description: Clear and concise description of the bug
  2. Steps to reproduce: Detailed steps to reproduce the issue
  3. Expected behavior: What you expected to happen
  4. Actual behavior: What actually happened
  5. Environment:
    • Agent Kernel version
    • Python version
    • Operating system
    • Framework being used (Langraph, OpenAI Agents, etc.)
  6. Code sample: Minimal reproducible example if possible
  7. Logs/Screenshots: Any relevant error messages or screenshots

Suggesting Features

We love feature suggestions! When proposing a new feature:

  1. Check existing issues: See if it's already been suggested
  2. Describe the problem: What problem does this feature solve?
  3. Propose a solution: How do you envision this working?
  4. Consider alternatives: What other solutions have you considered?
  5. Additional context: Any other relevant information

Community

  • GitHub Issues: For bug reports and feature requests
  • Discussions: For questions and general discussions
  • Pull Requests: For code contributions

Development Resources

  • Developer Guide: Technical setup, tools, and development workflow
  • AGENTS.md: Guidance for AI coding agents contributing to this repo
  • README: Project overview and getting started
  • Documentation: Full documentation and examples

Questions?

If you have questions about contributing:

  • Open a discussion on GitHub
  • Review existing issues and PRs
  • Check the Developer Guide for technical details
  • Reach out to us via our Discord Server

Thank you for contributing to Agent Kernel! 🎉