# Contributing to Fastpotify Fastpotify is a native Spotify client. Changes should improve the desktop app without adding a browser, fallback services, or another backend. ## Before opening an issue Search open and closed issues first. For a bug, use the bug form and include the requested log and exact steps to reproduce it. Reports without enough information to investigate may be closed. For a feature, explain the user problem. Discuss large changes in an issue before writing code. Existing code does not guarantee that a feature fits the project. Some boundaries come from Spotify or from upstream libraries: - Local playback requires Spotify Premium because librespot requires it. - Spotify Lossless is not available through librespot. Fastpotify will reconsider it if librespot gains lawful upstream support; proposals that depend on bypassing Spotify's DRM are out of scope. - Spotify tracks must come from Spotify. Substituting audio from YouTube, Piped, `yt-dlp`, or another catalogue is out of scope. - Fastpotify will not embed a browser engine, add telemetry, or introduce a Fastpotify-operated service. [What Spotify Lets a Client Do](docs/_reference/what-spotify-allows.md) lists what each of the three surfaces offers and the requests none of them can serve, with the reason for each; a request in its last section is answered from there and closed. Duplicate, out-of-scope, or incomplete issues may be closed with a short explanation. A bug can be closed once its fix is on `main` and the relevant checks pass, with the commit and release status stated. Reporter confirmation is welcome but is not required for closure. Reopen the issue if it persists after updating. ## Automated triage Copilot assesses new and reopened issues, new discussions, and new or edited comments on either. It reads the full conversation again and can update triage labels when new evidence changes the report. Bot activity and pull request comments are ignored. Reopening a closed issue remains a maintainer decision. A rocket reaction on the triggering report or comment means that assessment completed successfully, including its safety checks and GitHub actions. It does not promise a reply, acceptance, or a fix. Clear reports may only receive a label. Replies ask for missing information or give a useful answer or decision; the agent does not repeat questions already answered or post status chatter. An assessment must record an applied action or an explicit no-action result. Missing outputs and failed safety checks cannot receive a completion marker. The marker is cleared when reassessing the same item and restored only after success. Failures can be retried from Actions without removing reactions by hand. Rockets placed before this behaviour was introduced only indicated an attempt had started. An older rocket never prevents a new assessment. The workflow is controlled by the `COPILOT_ISSUE_ASSESSMENT_ENABLED` repository variable. Edit `.github/workflows/issue-assessment.md`, then regenerate its lockfile with `gh aw compile issue-assessment` (gh-aw v0.88.7). The companion `issue-assessment-complete.yml` marks successful runs. Its small subject artifact contains only the GitHub node ID and, for comments, the assessed edit timestamp. ## Design principles 1. **Native and fast.** Startup time, idle work, memory use, and binary size are product features. Keep the UI thread free of network and disk waits. 2. **Focused.** Prefer a complete, coherent workflow over a collection of settings, modes, and speculative features. 3. **Honest integrations.** Use Spotify's Web API and librespot for what they support. Do not scrape, impersonate capabilities, bypass technical protections, or silently replace one service with another. 4. **Cross-platform by default.** Linux, macOS, and Windows are supported products. Platform-specific code must be isolated and the other targets must keep compiling. 5. **Small dependency surface.** Reuse the standard library and existing crates where practical. A new dependency needs a concrete benefit worth its build time, binary size, maintenance, and security cost. 6. **Visible failure, private data.** Errors should be actionable, rate limits should be respected, and credentials must never appear in logs. Network behaviour belongs in the documentation. ## Pull requests Keep each pull request to one change. Explain why it belongs in Fastpotify, what changed, and how you tested it. Avoid unrelated formatting, refactors, generated prose, and large mechanical rewrites. `main` has a linear history. Outside pull requests are squash-merged into one focused commit with contributor credit; merge commits are not accepted. Maintainer work is committed directly on `main`, one topic per commit. Use fast-forward-only pulls and rebase unpublished local commits when needed. Do not rewrite published history without explicit maintainer approval. The same rules apply to hand-written and AI-assisted changes. The author must understand every line and answer review comments with specific reasoning. Code changes should include tests for behaviour that can regress. UI changes should include before/after screenshots or a short recording and should use demo mode where possible. User-visible behaviour, settings, files, or network access must be documented in the same pull request. Run the same checks CI runs before submitting: ```sh node --test .github/scripts/issue-assessment.test.cjs cargo fmt --all --check cargo clippy --locked --all-targets -- -D warnings cargo clippy --locked --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings cargo test --locked --all-targets cargo test --locked --all-targets --all-features cargo test --locked --all-features --doc RUSTDOCFLAGS='-D warnings' cargo doc --locked --all-features --no-deps (cd docs && bundle exec jekyll build) ``` Linux needs the development packages listed in the README; `nix develop` provides the complete development environment. MilkDrop builds libprojectM from source, so every platform also needs CMake, a C++ compiler, and libclang (on Windows, vcpkg with `glew:x64-windows-static` installed and `VCPKG_INSTALLATION_ROOT` pointing at it); `--no-default-features` leaves MilkDrop out and needs none of that. CI repeats the test suite on Linux, macOS, and Windows. Passing CI is required, but does not replace review for correctness, product fit, maintainability, or security. Credential-storage changes also need a native store round trip. With the desktop keyring unlocked, run `cargo test --locked --lib credentials::tests::native_store_round_trip -- --ignored --exact`. It uses temporary dummy grants and deletes them afterward. CI runs this check on macOS and Windows; Linux requires an available Secret Service provider. The ordinary test suite uses an isolated fake store and never reads a real Spotify grant. Demo mode also skips credential restoration. Flatpak state-persistence changes also need `packaging/flatpak/test-state.sh`. It requires Flatpak, Ruby, and an installed Platform runtime, and checks both manifests using disposable dummy state. Pass a runtime and branch to use an existing installation, for example `packaging/flatpak/test-state.sh org.kde.Platform 6.9`. Translation changes also need `.github/scripts/update-translations.sh --check`, using GNU gettext tools with Rust support. Run the script without `--check` when translatable source strings change, and review any fuzzy or missing entries in the updated PO files. Normal Cargo builds compile the catalogs without gettext tools. See [Translating Fastpotify](docs/_reference/translating.md) for the pilot scope and contributor workflow. When changing `Cargo.lock` or `flake.nix`, also verify `nix build .#default` on a Nix host or wait for the Nix CI job. A package-version-only lockfile change can change the vendor hash. Releases must wait for all required CI jobs on the version commit before the tag is pushed. By contributing, you agree that your contribution is licensed under the project's MIT License.