> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.bitsafe.finance/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.bitsafe.finance/product-suite/decentralization-manager/contributing-guide.md).

# Contributing Guide

Contributions to the Decentralization Manager are welcome. This guide covers setting up a development environment, the coding standards, commit conventions, and the pull request process. Please also review the project's Code of Conduct, and report any vulnerabilities via the Security Policy.

## Development setup

The backend is built with the Rust toolchain and the frontend is a React application embedded into the Rust binary at build time. Build with cargo build (add --release for a release build), and for the frontend run npm install and npm run dev for a hot-reloading development server, or npm run build for a production build.

```
# Build the backend (add --release for an optimized build)
cargo build

# Frontend (run from the frontend/ directory)
npm install
npm run dev    # hot-reloading dev server
npm run build  # production build
```

## Coding standards

Format Rust code with cargo fmt and lint with cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings, which treats warnings as errors. Run cargo test for unit tests before opening a pull request.

```
# Format code
cargo fmt

# Lint (warnings treated as errors)
cargo clippy --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings

# Run unit tests
cargo test
```

## Testing

The integration test boots a local Canton network, spawns three manager instances, configures peers, and runs an end-to-end governance workflow covering onboarding, DAR distribution, governance contract deployment, the plugin scenarios, and the kick workflow. Run it with ./integration-tests/run.sh, adding --verbose when diagnosing a stuck or failing run. The same suite can run against a real Canton devnet cluster with ./integration-tests/run.sh --target devnet.

```
# Run the integration test suite (quiet mode by default)
./integration-tests/run.sh

# Verbose mode when diagnosing a stuck or failing run
./integration-tests/run.sh --verbose

# Run against a real Canton devnet cluster
./integration-tests/run.sh --target devnet
```

## Commit conventions and pull requests

Follow the repository's commit message conventions and open a pull request for review. Ensure formatting, linting, and tests pass before requesting review, and keep changes focused so they are straightforward to review and merge.