# Contributing to Ghost
So you're interested in giving us a hand? That's awesome! We've put together some brief guidelines that should help
you get started quickly and easily.
There are lots and lots of ways to get involved, this document covers:
* [raising issues](#raising-issues)
* [bug reports](#bugs)
* [feature requests](#features)
* [change requests](#changes)
* [working on Ghost core](#core)
* [submitting pull requests](#pull-requests)
* [testing and quality assurance](#testing)
* [writing documentation](#documentation)
* [translation](#translation)
## Reporting An Issue
If you're about to raise an issue because think you've found a problem with Ghost, or you'd like to make a request
for a new feature in the codebase, or any other reason… please read this first.
The GitHub issue tracker is the preferred channel for [bug reports](#bugs),
[feature requests](#features), [change requests](#changes) and [submitting pull
requests](#pull-requests), but please respect the following restrictions:
* Please **search for existing issues**. Help us keep duplicate issues to a minimum by checking to see if someone
has already reported your problem or requested your idea.
* Please **do not** use the issue tracker for personal support requests (use
[the forum](http://ghost.org/forum) or IRC - #ghost on freenode).
* Please **do not** derail or troll issues. Keep the discussion on topic and respect the opinions of others.
### Bug Reports
A bug is a _demonstrable problem_ that is caused by the code in the repository.
Good bug reports are extremely helpful - thank you!
Guidelines for bug reports:
1. **Use the GitHub issue search** — check if the issue has already been
reported.
2. **Check if the issue has been fixed** — try to reproduce it using the
latest `master` or look for [closed issues in the current milestone](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/issues?labels=&milestone=3&page=1&state=closed).
3. **Isolate the problem** — ideally create a [reduced test
case](http://css-tricks.com/6263-reduced-test-cases/) and a live example.
4. **Include a screencast if relevant** - Is your issue about a design or front end feature or bug? The most
helpful thing in the world is if we can *see* what you're talking about.
Use [LICEcap](http://www.cockos.com/licecap/) to quickly and easily record a short screencast (24fps) and save it as an animated gif! Embed it directly into your GitHub issue. Kapow.
5. Use the Bug Report template below or [click this link](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/issues/new?title=Bug%3A&body=%23%23%23%20Issue%20Summary%0A%0A%23%23%23%20Steps%20to%20Reproduce%0A%0A1.%20This%20is%20the%20first%20step%0A%0AThis%20is%20a%20bug%20because...%0A%0A%23%23%23%20Technical%20details%0A%0A*%20Ghost%20Version%3A%20master%20-%20latest%20commit%3A%20%20INSERT%20COMMIT%20REF%0A*%20Client%20OS%3A%20%0A*%20Server%20OS%3A%20%0A*%20Node%20Version%3A%20%0A*%20Browser%3A%20%0A*%20Database%3A) to start creating a bug report with the template automatically.
A good bug report shouldn't leave others needing to chase you up for more information. Be sure to include the
details of your environment.
Here is a [real example](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/issues/413)
Template Example ([click to use](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/issues/new?title=Bug%3A&body=%23%23%23%20Issue%20Summary%0A%0A%23%23%23%20Steps%20to%20Reproduce%0A%0A1.%20This%20is%20the%20first%20step%0A%0AThis%20is%20a%20bug%20because...%0A%0A%23%23%23%20Technical%20details%0A%0A*%20Ghost%20Version%3A%20master%20-%20latest%20commit%3A%20%20INSERT%20COMMIT%20REF%0A*%20Client%20OS%3A%20%0A*%20Server%20OS%3A%20%0A*%20Node%20Version%3A%20%0A*%20Browser%3A%20%0A*%20Database%3A)):
```
Short and descriptive example bug report title
### Issue Summary
A summary of the issue and the browser/OS environment in which it occurs. If
suitable, include the steps required to reproduce the bug.
### Steps to Reproduce
1. This is the first step
2. This is the second step
3. Further steps, etc.
Any other information you want to share that is relevant to the issue being
reported. Especially, why do you consider this to be a bug? What do you expect to happen instead?
### Technical details:
* Ghost Version: master (latest commit: 590ba48988b51b9c5e8d99afbb84c997436d7f21)
* Client OS: Mac OS X 10.8.4
* Server OS: CentOS 6.4
* Node Version: 0.10.16
* Browser: Chrome 29.0.1547.57
* Database: SQLite / MySQL / postgres
```
### Feature Requests
Feature requests are welcome. Before you submit one be sure to have:
1. Read the [Roadmap](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Roadmap) and
[Planned Features](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Planned-Features) listing, **use the GitHub search** and
check the feature hasn't already been requested.
2. Take a moment to think about whether your idea fits with the scope and aims of the project, or if it might
better fit being an app/plugin.
3. Remember, it's up to *you* to make a strong case to convince the project's leaders of the merits of this
feature. Please provide as much detail and context as possible, this means explaining the use case and why it is
likely to be common.
4. Clearly indicate whether this is a feature request for Ghost admin, or for themes or apps.
### Change Requests
Change requests cover both architectural and functional changes to how Ghost works. If you have an idea for a
new or different dependency, a refactor, or an improvement to a feature, etc - please be sure to:
1. **Use the GitHub search** and check someone else didn't get there first
2. Take a moment to think about the best way to make a case for, and explain what you're thinking. Are you sure
this shouldn't really be a [bug report](#bug-reports) or a [feature request](#feature-requests)? Is it really one
idea or is it many? What's the context? What problem are you solving? Why is what you are suggesting better than
what's already there? Does it fit with the Roadmap?
### Submitting Pull Requests
Pull requests are awesome. If you're looking to raise a PR for something which doesn't have an open issue, please think carefully about [raising an issue](#raising-issues) which your PR can close, especially if you're fixing a bug. This makes it more likely that there will be enough information available for your PR to be properly tested and merged. To make sure your PR is accepted as quickly as possible, you should be sure to have read
all the guidelines on:
* [code standards](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Code-standards)
* [commit messages](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Git-workflow#commit-messages)
* [cleaning-up history](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Git-workflow#wiki-clean-up-history)
* [not breaking the build](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Git-workflow#check-it-passes-the-tests)
##### Need Help?
If you're not completely clear on how to submit / update / *do* Pull Requests, please check out our in depth
[Git Workflow guide](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Git-Workflow) for Ghost.
### Testing and Quality Assurance
Never underestimate just how useful quality assurance is. If you're looking to get involved with the code base and
don't know where to start, checking out and testing a pull request is one of the most useful things you could do.
If you want to get involved with testing Ghost, there is a set of
[QA Documentation](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/QA-Documentation) on the wiki.
Essentially though, [check out the latest master](#core), take it for a spin, and if you find anything odd, please
follow the [bug report guidelines](#bug-reports) and let us know!
#### Checking out a Pull Request
These are some [excellent instructions](https://gist.github.com/piscisaureus/3342247) on configuring your GitHub
repository to allow you to checkout pull requests in the same way as branches:
.
### Documentation
Ghost's documentation can be found at [support.ghost.org](http://support.ghost.org).
The documentation is generated using jekyll, all of the docs are on the gh-pages branch on the GitHub repository.
You can clone the repo, checkout the gh-pages branch, and submit pull requests following
the [pull-request](#pull-requests) guidelines.
### Translation
Full documentation on contributing translations can be found at
## Working on Ghost Core
**Note:** It is recommended that you use the [Ghost-Vagrant](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost-Vagrant) setup for
developing Ghost.
**Pre-requisites:**
* Node 0.10.x
* for running functional tests: phantomjs 1.9.x and casperjs 1.1.x
([instructions](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Functional-testing-with-PhantomJS-and-CasperJS))
* for building docs: python and pygments
### Installation / Setup Instructions
1. Check you have the pre-requisites listed above!
1. Clone the git repo
1. cd into the project folder
1. Run `npm install -g grunt-cli` - to make it possible to run grunt commands
1. Run `npm install` - you need all the dependencies, so do not use the `--production` flag mentioned in user install guides
* If the install fails with errors to do with "node-gyp rebuild" or "SQLite3", follow the SQLite3 install
instructions below this list
* Usually if you're within vagrant, and have installed the guest plugins and updated that, this will not happen
1. Run `grunt init` from the root - updates bower dependencies, copies assets and compiles Handlebars templates
1. If you're going to run in production mode, you also need to run `grunt prod`
1. Run `npm start` from the root to start the server.
If something goes wrong, please see the
[troubleshooting tips](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#troubleshooting--faq) below.
### Developer Tips
Whilst developing, you can take advantage of the [Grunt toolkit](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Grunt-Toolkit) to automatically compile assets, such as handlebar templates, stylesheets and javascripts. Some useful commands include:
- `grunt dev` => Automatically compile assets in development environment
- `grunt prod` => Automatically compile assets for the production environment
- `grunt watch` => Automatically compile handlebars
Addresses for development:
- Front-end =>
- Admin =>
### Updating with the latest changes
Pulling down the latest changes from master will often require more than just a pull, you may also need to do one
or more of the following:
* `npm install` - fetch any new dependencies
* `git submodule update` - fetch the latest changes to Casper (the default theme)
* `grunt init` - will fetch bower dependencies and recompile handlebars templates for the admin
* delete content/data/*.db - delete the database and allow Ghost to recreate the fixtures
### Key Branches & Tags
- **[master](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost)** is the bleeding edge development branch. All work on the next
release is here. Do **NOT** use this branch for a production site.
- **[stable](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/tree/stable)** contains the latest release of Ghost. This branch may be used in production.
- **[gh-pages](http://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/tree/gh-pages)** contains [The Ghost Guide](http://docs.ghost.org) our developer documentation.
## Grunt Toolkit
Ghost uses Grunt heavily to automate useful tasks such as building assets, testing, live reloading/watching etc etc
[Grunt Toolkit docs](https://github.com/TryGhost/Ghost/wiki/Grunt-Toolkit) are a worthwhile read for any would-be
contributor.
## Troubleshooting / FAQ
### I get "ERROR: Failed to lookup view "index"
Sounds like you don't have our default theme - Casper, your content/themes/casper folder is probably empty.
When cloning from GitHub be sure to use SSH and to run `git submodule update --init`.
### Ghost doesn't do anything - I get a blank screen
Sounds like you probably didn't run the right grunt command for building assets. You may need to run `grunt init` and if using production mode, `grunt prod` as well.
### SQLite3 doesn't install properly during npm install
Ghost depends upon SQLite3, which requires a native binary. These are provided for most major platforms, but if you
are using a more obscure *nix flavor you may need to follow
the [node-sqlite3 binary instructions](https://github.com/developmentseed/node-sqlite3/wiki/Binaries).
## Contributor License Agreement
By contributing your code to Ghost you grant the Ghost Foundation a non-exclusive, irrevocable, worldwide,
royalty-free, sublicenseable, transferable license under all of Your relevant intellectual property rights
(including copyright, patent, and any other rights), to use, copy, prepare derivative works of, distribute and
publicly perform and display the Contributions on any licensing terms, including without limitation:
(a) open source licenses like the MIT license; and (b) binary, proprietary, or commercial licenses. Except for the
licenses granted herein, You reserve all right, title, and interest in and to the Contribution.
You confirm that you are able to grant us these rights. You represent that You are legally entitled to grant the
above license. If Your employer has rights to intellectual property that You create, You represent that You have
received permission to make the Contributions on behalf of that employer, or that Your employer has waived such
rights for the Contributions.
You represent that the Contributions are Your original works of authorship, and to Your knowledge, no other person
claims, or has the right to claim, any right in any invention or patent related to the Contributions. You also
represent that You are not legally obligated, whether by entering into an agreement or otherwise, in any way that
conflicts with the terms of this license.
The Ghost Foundation acknowledges that, except as explicitly described in this Agreement, any Contribution which
you provide is on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, MERCHANTABILITY, OR FITNESS
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.