Contributing

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Overview

Atlas is open source and maintained as a public-interest civic technology project. The contribution path is intentionally lightweight while the repo becomes easier to run, read, audit, and improve from the outside. Before choosing a contribution path, read Open source for the project model, Trust and provenance for the product boundary, and Self-hosting if your change affects deployment, configuration, or operations.

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Repository

Atlas lives at github.com/RebuildingAmerica/atlas.

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Getting started

1. Clone the repository
   git clone https://github.com/RebuildingAmerica/atlas.git
   cd atlas
   
2. Run the bootstrap script
   pnpm bootstrap
   
   This sets up your local environment, creates config files, and installs dependencies.
3. Start the development server
   pnpm dev
   

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Project structure

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How to contribute

• Improve docs — Clarify setup, self-hosting, trust, API, MCP, Scout, or public/private boundaries.
• Report setup gaps — Include the exact command, environment, expected result, and actual result.
• Fix small bugs — Keep the change narrow and explain what user-facing trust or usability outcome it protects.
• Improve data quality workflows — Preserve source URLs, excerpts, review state, and correction paths.
• Suggest features carefully — Start from the public civic discovery experience, not internal architecture or generic enterprise workflow.

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Code conventions

Atlas follows conventional commits, uses pnpm for package management, and enforces code quality through hooks. See the repository docs/ directory for detailed development standards. Every change should tie back to what an Atlas user can see, trust, understand, or do. That applies to docs, API behavior, Scout, app UI, self-hosting, and internal cleanup.

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