CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to the OpenAPI Specification

Work in progress! Each section links to issues that are relevant to fill out the rest of this document.

We are currently working on defining and documenting our new processes. Information in this document is up-to-date. Older (and sometimes now inaccurate) documentation can be found in DEVELOPMENT.md, which will be removed when everything is updated and documented here.

Essential Policies

This section serves as a quick guide while we work on the full updated documentation.

If in doubt about a policy, please ask on our Slack before opening a PR.

No changes to published specifications

No changes, no matter how trivial, are ever made to the contents of published specifications. The only potential changes to those documents are updates to link URLs if and only if the targeted document is moved by a 3rd party. Other changes to link URLs are not allowed.

Changing the schemas

Schemas are only changed after the specification is changed. Changes are made to the YAML versions on the main branch. The JSON versions are generated when published to the spec site, at which time the WORK-IN-PROGRESS URI placeholders are replaced with the publication date.

Authoritative source of truth

The spec site is the source of truth.

This changed in 2024, as the markdown files on main do not include certain credits and citations.

Development and publication process

As of October 2024 (post-OAS 3.0.4 and 3.1.1), the OAS is developed in the src/oas.md file on minor release X.Y-dev branches that are derived from the baseline dev branch.

All work MUST be done on a fork, using a branch from the earliest relevant and active X.Y-dev branch, and then submitted as a PR to that X.Y-dev branch. For example, if a change in November 2024 apples to both 3.1 and 3.2, the PR would go to the v3.1-dev branch, which will be merged up to v3.2-dev before the next 3.2 release.

Releases are published to the spec site by creating an X.Y.Z-rel branch where src/oas.md is renamed to the appropriate versions/X.Y.Z.md file and them merged to main. The HTML versions of the OAS are automatically generated from the versions directory on main. This renaming on the X.Y.Z-rel branch preserves the commit history for the published file on main when using git log --follow (as is the case for all older published files).

For information on the branch and release strategy for OAS 3.0.4 and 3.1.1 and earlier, see the comments in issue #3677.

Branch diagram (3.1.2, 3.2.0, and later)

Initial steps:

• dev branches from main at the 3.1.1 release commit
• Each X.Y-dev branches from dev

Upon release:

• Each X.Y.Z-rel branches from the corresponding X.Y-dev
• After renaming src/oas.md, X.Y.Z-rel merges to main
• Publishing to the spec site is triggered by the merge to main

Initiating the next minor release after releasing X.Y.0:

• The same X.Y-dev commit that is the base of X.Y.0-rel is merged back to dev to keep src/oas.md on dev in sync with the last minor release
• This X.Y.0 commit on dev is the base of X.Y+1-dev

Other notes:

• Patch releases are not merged to dev

gitGraph TB:
  commit id:"merge 3.1.1.md to main" tag:"3.1.1"
  branch dev order:1
  commit id:"rename 3.1.1.md to src/oas.md"
  branch v3.1-dev order:2
  commit id:"update version in src/oas.md to 3.1.2"
  checkout dev
  branch v3.2-dev order:5
  commit id:"update version in src/oas.md to 3.2.0"
  commit id:"some 3.2.0 work"
  checkout v3.1-dev
  commit id:"a 3.1.x fix"
  branch v3.1.2-rel order:3
  commit id:"rename src/oas.md to versions/3.1.2.md"
  checkout main
  merge v3.1.2-rel tag:"3.1.2"
  checkout v3.2-dev
  commit id:"more 3.2.0 work"
  checkout v3.1-dev
  commit id:"update version in src/oas.md to 3.1.3"
  commit id:"another 3.1.x fix"
  checkout v3.2-dev
  commit id:"still more 3.2.0 work"
  merge v3.1-dev id:"merge 3.1.x fixes before releasing"
  checkout v3.1-dev
  branch v3.1.3-rel order:4
  commit id:"rename src/oas.md to versions/3.1.3.md"
  checkout v3.2-dev
  branch v3.2.0-rel order:6
  commit id:"rename src/oas.md to versions/3.2.0.md"
  checkout main
  merge v3.1.3-rel tag:"3.1.3"
  merge v3.2.0-rel tag:"3.2.0"
  checkout dev
  merge v3.2-dev id:"update dev with minor release"
  branch v3.3-dev order:7
  checkout v3.1-dev
  commit id:"update version in src/oas.md to 3.1.4"
  checkout v3.2-dev
  commit id:"update version in src/oas.md to 3.2.1"
  checkout v3.3-dev
  commit id:"update version in src/oas.md to 3.3.0"

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Schema development

Development of schemas currently occurs on main, but the process is being re-evaluated and is likely to change.

Active branches

The first PR for a change should be against the oldest release line to which it applies. Changes can then be forward-ported as appropriate.

The specification under development is src/oas.md, which only exists on development branches, not on main.

The current (20 October 2024) active specification releases are:

Version	Branch	Notes
3.1.2	v3.1-dev	active patch release line
3.2.0	v3.2-dev	minor release in development
4.0.0	OAI/sig-moonwalk	discussions only

Style Guide

Contributions to this repository should follow the style guide as described in this section.

Markdown

Markdown files in this project should follow the style enforced by the markdownlint tool, as configured by the .markdownlint.json file in the root of the project.

The following additional rules should be followed but currently are not enforced by tooling:

1. The first mention of a normative reference or an OAS-defined Object in a (sub)*section is a link, additional mentions are not
2. OAS-defined Foo Bar Objects are written in this style, and are not monospaced
3. "example" instead of "sample" - this spec is not about statistics
4. Use "OpenAPI Object" instead of "root"
5. Fixed fields are monospaced
6. Field values are monospaced in JSON notation: true, false, null, "header" (with double-quotes around string values), ...
7. A combination of fixed field name with example value uses JS notation: in: "header", combining rules 5 and 6
8. An exception to 5-7 is colloquial use, for example "values of type array or object" - "type" is not monospaced, so the monospaced values aren't enclosed in double quotes.
9. Use Oxford commas, avoid Shatner commas.
10. Use <span id="thing"></span> for link anchors. The <a name="thing"></a> format has been deprecated.

Use of "keyword", "field", "property", and "attribute"

• JSON Schema keywords -> "keyword"
• OpenAPI fixed fields -> "field"
• property of a "plain" JSON object that is not an OpenAPI-defined Foo Object -> "property"
• "attribute" is only used in the XML context and means "XML attribute"

Release Process and Scope

• Issue #3528: 3.x.y patch release approach
• Issue #3529: 3.x minor release approach
• Issue #3715: Define and document our schema publishing process
• Issue #3785: Style guide / release checklist for the specification

Branching and Versioning

• Issue #3677: Define and document branch strategy for the spec, both development and publishing

Proposals for Specification Changes

As an organisation, we're open to changes, and these can be proposed by anyone. The specification is very widely adopted, and there is an appropriately high bar for wide appeal and due scrutiny as a result. We do not accept changes lightly (but we will consider any that we can).

Small changes are welcome as pull requests.

Bigger changes require a more formal process.

1. Start a discussion of type "Enhancements". The discussion entry must include some use cases, your proposed solution and the alternatives you have considered. If there is engagement and support for the proposal over time, then it can be considered as a candidate to move to the next stage.

2. It really helps to see the proposed change in action. Start using it as a x-* extension if that's appropriate, or try to bring other evidence of your proposed solution being adopted.

3. If you are adding support for something from another specification (such as OAuth), please point to implementations of that specification so that we can understand how, and to what degree, it is being used.

4. If the suggested change has good support, you will be asked to create a formal proposal. Use the template in the proposals directory, copy it to a new file, and complete it. Once you the document is ready, open a pull request on the main branch.

5. The proposal will be more closely reviewed and commented on or amended until it is either rejected or accepted. At that point, the proposal is merged into the main branch and a pull request is opened to add the feature to the appropriate dev version of the specification.

Questions are welcome on the process at any time. Use the discussions feature or find us in Slack.

Working in GitHub

• Issue #3847: Document milestone usage in DEVELOPMENT.md
• Issue #3848: Define and add new process labels and document general label usage in DEVELOPMENT.md

Roles and Permissions

• Issue #3582: TOB info needs to be updated
• Issue #3523: Define triage role criteria and process
• Issue #3524: Define the maintainer role criteria and process

Projects

The OpenAPI Initiative uses GitHub Projects to manage work outside of the specification development process. There are currently two active projects:

• Contributor Guidance
• Automation & Infrastructure

Discussions

We are beginning (as of mid-2024) to use GitHub discussions for open-ended topics such as major enhancements.

• Issue #3518: Define criteria for filing/closing issues vs discussions

Issues

As of mid-2024, we prefer to use issues for topics that have a clear associated action. However, many existing issues are more open-ended, as they predate GitHub's discussions features.

• Issue #3518: Define criteria for filing/closing issues vs discussions

Automated closure of issues Process

In an effort to keep the list of issues up to date and easier to navigate through, issues get closed automatically when they become inactive.

This process makes use of the following labels:

• Needs author feedback: the issue has been replied to by the triage team and is awaiting a follow up from the issue's author. This label needs to be added manually by people doing triage/experts whenever they reply. It's removed automatically by the workflow.
• No recent activity: the issue hasn't received a reply from its author within the last 10 days since Needs author feedback was added and will be closed within 28 days if the author doesn't follow up. This label is added/removed automatically by the workflow.
• Needs attention: The issue's author has replied since the Needs author feedback label was set and the triage team will reply as soon as possible. This label needs to be removed manually by people doing triage/experts whenever they reply. It's added automatically by the workflow.

Automated TDC agenda issues Process

An issue is opened every week, 7 days in advance, for the Technical Developer Community (TDC), it provides the information to connect the meeting, and serves as a placeholder to build the agenda for the meeting. Anyone is welcome to attend the meeting, or to add items to the agenda as long as they plan on attending to present the item. These issues are also automatically pinned for visibility and labeled with "Housekeeping".

Ten (10) days after the meeting date is passed (date in the title of the issue), it gets closed and unpinned automatically.

Pull Requests

• Issue #3581: Who and how many people need to sign-off on a PR, exactly?
• Issue #3802: Define a policy using draft PRs when waiting on specific approvals

Updating the Registries

• Issue #3598: Minimum criteria for Namespace Registry
• Issue #3899: Expert review criteria for registries (How exactly does x-twitter work?)