Contributing

🤝 Contributing to JoeyLLM

Thanks for your interest in helping build Australia’s first fair dinkum LLM! We welcome contributions of all shapes and sizes.

[NOTE] : THIS PAGE IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

Table of Contents

1. How to Report Bugs
2. Suggesting Enhancements
3. Your First Code Contribution
4. Code of Conduct
5. Need Help?

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How to Report Bugs

We want to squash bugs fast—which means clear, actionable reports. You have two places to raise issues:

1. GitHub Discussions

   • Go to the Bug Reports category
   • Click “New discussion”, choose Bug Report, and fill in:
     • Description: What happened?
     • Steps to reproduce: Exact commands or code snippets.
     • Expected behavior vs Actual behavior.
     • Environment: OS, Python & PyTorch versions, GPU (if relevant).

2. Discord support channel

   • Join our server at https://discord.gg/Jx25FrzV
   • Post in the -general-chat channel with:
     • A concise summary in the subject line.
     • Detailed steps or a minimal code sample.
     • Any error messages or stack traces.
     • Your system specs (OS, Python, CUDA/cuDNN versions).

💡 Tip: Always search both Discord and GitHub Discussions first—you might save yourself (and us) some duplication!

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Suggesting Enhancements

We love hearing your ideas for making JoeyLLM better! You can suggest new features or improvements in two ways:

1. GitHub Discussions

   • Navigate to the Ideas category.
   • Click “New discussion” and include:
     • Title: A short, clear summary (e.g. “Add support for Aussie slang translation”).
     • Use case: Who benefits and why?
     • Proposed approach: High-level idea or pseudocode.
     • Benefits & trade-offs: What gains and what might be impacted?

2. Discord channel

   • Join our server at https://discord.gg/Jx25FrzV.
   • Post in -general-chat with:
     • A concise headline for your idea.
     • Background: What problem are you solving?
     • Suggested solution: Steps or examples of how it might work.
     • Any references or mock-ups that clarify your vision.

🔍 Pro tip: Before posting, search existing discussions or issues to avoid duplicates, and upvote similar requests so the community knows what matters most.

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Your First Code Contribution

Ready to dive in? Follow these steps:

1. Set up your development environment

   • Check out the Docker page in this repo for detailed instructions on building and running the container:

     https://github.com/southern-cross-ai/JoeyLLM/wiki/Docker-Overview
     

   • Once the image is built and you’re inside the container, make sure to clone the official repository using any coding tool of your choice.

     https://github.com/southern-cross-ai/JoeyLLM.git

2. Create your own experimental branch

   git checkout -b experimental/your-branch-name
   

3. Explore and modify

Rummage through the project code folders and make your changes. Then Push and open a Pull Request.

git add .
git commit -m "Implement feature: short description"
git push origin experimental/your-branch-name

4. 🔀Pull-Request[PR]

Follow these steps to get your changes reviewed and merged into main:

# 1. 🚀 Push Your Branch
git push origin experimental/your-branch-name

# 2. 🌐 Navigate to Your Repo
#    Open your browser to:
#    https://github.com/southern-cross-ai/JoeyLLM

# 3. 🌿 Select Your Branch
#    Click the “Branch” dropdown (top-left) and choose:
experimental/your-branch-name

# 4. 📊 Start the PR
#    - If you see a “Compare & pull request” banner, click it!
#    - Otherwise:
#      a) Click the “Pull requests” tab
#      b) Click “New pull request”
#      c) Set base to `main` and compare to `experimental/your-branch-name`

# 5. ✍️ Write Your PR
#    Title: Brief summary, e.g. “✨ Adding a test”
#    Description:
#      🔍 Context: What problem are you solving?
#      🛠 Changes: What did you implement or fix?
#      🚩 Testing: How can reviewers verify it works?
#    (Optional) Assign reviewers, labels, or a milestone

# 6. ✅ Create the PR
#    Click “Create pull request” and celebrate! 🎉

# 7. 🔄 Follow Up
#    - Respond to review comments promptly
#    - Push new commits to `experimental/your-branch-name`—they’ll automatically attach to the PR

# Tip: Keep each PR focused and well-documented. Clear descriptions speed up reviews and merges! 🚀

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📜 Code of Conduct

We strive for an inclusive, respectful community. All contributors—regardless of experience level—must adhere to these guidelines:

• Be Respectful
  Treat everyone with courtesy and kindness. Assume good intent and focus on the issue, not the person.

• Be Inclusive
  Value diverse perspectives. Encourage participation from underrepresented groups and welcome questions from newcomers.

• Be Professional
  Keep discussions and reviews constructive. Use clear, neutral language and avoid sarcasm or personal attacks.

• Be Collaborative
  Offer help, share knowledge, and give credit where it’s due. When asking for changes, explain the reasoning and suggest improvements.

• Be Accountable
  Own your contributions. If you make a mistake, acknowledge it and work to fix it promptly.

• Reporting Issues
  If you witness or experience unacceptable behavior, please report it to the maintainers on Discord or raise up a discussion topic on Github.

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❓ Need Help?

If you run into issues or have questions, we’re here to support you:

• Discord
  Join our community at https://discord.gg/Jx25FrzV and ask in -general-chat.

• GitHub Discussions
  Start a new topic in the github discussion.Discussions.

When asking, include a clear description of your problem, steps to reproduce, and any error messages or logs.

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