# Contributing to Beacon Thank you for your interest in contributing. Beacon is a focused project and we want contributions to be high quality and sustainable. Please read this guide before opening a PR. --- ## Before you start **Open or comment on an issue before starting work.** This avoids duplicate effort and lets maintainers flag if something is already in progress or out of scope. For small bug fixes a brief comment is fine; for larger features please discuss the approach first. **One thing per PR.** Each pull request should cover one logical change — a bug fix, a new endpoint, a refactor, a new test. PRs that touch many unrelated parts of the codebase are hard to review and hard to revert if something goes wrong. **No fully AI-generated contributions.** We welcome developers who use AI tools to assist their work, but PRs should reflect the author's own understanding and judgement. PRs that appear to be unreviewed AI output may be closed without further comment. --- ## Branches - `main` — stable releases only, protected. Never target this directly. - `dev` — active development. All PRs target `dev`. ## Workflow 1. Fork or create a branch from `dev` 2. Make your changes 3. Run the checklist below 4. Open a pull request against `dev` with a clear description of what changed and why, referencing any related issues --- ## Checklist before opening a PR ``` go build ./... # must compile gofmt -l . # must be empty (no unformatted files) go vet ./... # no warnings go test ./... # all tests pass swag init # if you changed any handler or api type (see below) ``` --- ## Code style - Run `gofmt -w .` before committing — CI will fail on unformatted files - Run `go vet ./...` — no warnings - Follow the existing patterns in each package before introducing new ones - Keep functions small and single-purpose - Prefer explicit error handling over panic --- ## Tests - **Add tests for any new pure functions.** Pure functions (no DB, no network, no side effects) should have unit tests. See `internal/hub/hub_test.go`, `internal/api/nodes_test.go`, and `internal/keystore/keystore_test.go` for examples of the style we use. - Integration tests (requiring a real DB) are not yet required but are welcome. They will be gated before release. - Run `go test ./...` before opening a PR. All tests must pass. - If you are fixing a bug, add a test that would have caught it. --- ## Database changes All schema changes must include a proper migration path: - Add a new migration file to `db/migrations/` following the existing naming convention (e.g. `002_add_observation_count.sql`). Do not modify existing migration files — append only via new files. - Update `db/queries/queries.sql` with any new or modified queries - Re-run `sqlc generate` to regenerate `db/sqlc/` - Update the store layer in `db/` to expose the new functionality - Update `internal/api/reader.go` if the change needs to be exposed via the API Never edit files under `db/sqlc/` by hand — they are generated by sqlc and will be overwritten. If you need to work around a sqlc limitation, document it clearly in the query comment. To regenerate after modifying `db/queries/queries.sql`: ```bash sqlc generate ``` --- ## API changes Any new or modified REST endpoint must have swagger annotations and regenerated docs: - Add or update `// @Summary`, `// @Param`, `// @Success`, `// @Failure`, and `// @Router` comments on the handler function - Response types are defined in `internal/api/` — add new types there, not inline in handlers - After changing any handler or API type, regenerate the swagger docs and commit the updated `docs/` directory alongside your changes: ```bash swag init -g cmd/beacon/main.go -o docs --parseInternal --parseDependency ``` Install swag if you don't have it: ```bash go install github.com/swaggo/swag/cmd/swag@latest ``` Each handler function should have a godoc-style annotation block: ```go // listThings godoc // // @Summary Short description shown in the UI // @Tags TagName // @Produce json // @Param paramName query string false "Description" // @Param id path string true "Resource ID" // @Success 200 {object} api.MyResponseType // @Failure 400 {object} handlers.APIError // @Failure 500 {object} handlers.APIError // @Router /things [get] func listThings(reader api.Reader) http.HandlerFunc { ``` For paginated responses use the generic page wrapper: ```go // @Success 200 {object} api.Page[api.MyType] ``` --- ## Caching Beacon uses a Redis-backed caching layer in `internal/cache`. If you add a new REST endpoint backed by a new `api.Reader` method, consider whether it should be cached: - Add the method to `CachedReader` in `internal/cache/reader.go` - Pass-through to `cr.inner` if the data is highly dynamic, paginated with many filter combinations, or low traffic - Use `getOrSet` with an appropriate TTL category (`cr.ttl.Stats`, `cr.ttl.Reference`, `cr.ttl.Nodes`, or `cr.ttl.Observers`) for read-heavy, slow-changing responses - If the data is mutated by the ingest path, add an invalidation call in `internal/ingest/side_effects.go` via the `onNodeUpsert` or `onObserverUpsert` callbacks, or add a new callback following the same pattern Cache keys live as constants at the top of `reader.go`. Use the `beacon:` namespace prefix and include all parameters that affect the response in the key. --- ## Updating the IATA database Beacon includes a static IATA → country/continent mapping compiled into the binary, generated from the [OurAirports](https://ourairports.com/data/) public dataset. To refresh it with the latest airport data: ```bash rm internal/iatadb/gen/airports.csv go generate ./internal/iatadb/ ``` This fetches a fresh `airports.csv` from OurAirports, saves it locally, and regenerates `internal/iatadb/db.go`. Commit both files. To use a local CSV instead (e.g. in a restricted network environment): ```bash AIRPORTS_CSV=/path/to/airports.csv go run ./internal/iatadb/gen ``` --- ## Adding a new dependency - Run `go get ` and `go mod tidy` - Add an entry to [SHOULDERS.md](SHOULDERS.md) with a brief description of what the dependency does and why it was added --- ## Commit messages Use the conventional commits format: ``` feat(routes): add observation_count to known routes response fix(ingest): correct lat/lon divisor for advert payloads refactor(hub): collapse RegionIATAs into IATAs in Scope test(api): add unit tests for NodeTypeName and NodeTypeFromString chore: update airports.csv docs: expand CONTRIBUTING.md ``` Scopes are optional but helpful for larger codebases. Common scopes: `api`, `db`, `ingest`, `hub`, `ws`, `handlers`, `config`, `keystore`. --- ## Project structure ``` cmd/beacon/ — main entry point, wiring, startup db/ — store layer: sqlc-generated code + thin mapping layer migrations/ — SQL schema (single file, append only) queries/ — SQL queries (input to sqlc) sqlc/ — generated Go code (do not edit by hand) internal/ api/ — response types and Reader interface handlers/ — HTTP handlers (validation, routing, response) router/ — chi router wiring config/ — config loading and scope key derivation hub/ — WebSocket fan-out broker ingest/ — MQTT packet ingestion and side effects iatadb/ — in-memory IATA airport lookup keystore/ — channel key lookup scopestore/ — transport scope key lookup ws/ — WebSocket connection handling docs/ — generated swagger docs (do not edit by hand) ``` Key patterns to understand before contributing: - **Store layer** (`db/`): thin wrappers around sqlc-generated queries. Each method maps between the ingest/api param structs and sqlc param structs. Never put business logic here. - **Ingest layer** (`internal/ingest/`): processes raw MQTT packets, calls the store, and broadcasts hub events. The `DB` interface in `ingest.go` defines exactly what the ingest layer needs from the store — keep it minimal. - **Hub** (`internal/hub/`): pure fan-out broker. Events are pre-serialised JSON before entering the hub so the broadcast loop never touches encoding. - **Reader interface** (`internal/api/reader.go`): defines everything the API layer can read. The store implements it. All handler tests use a stub reader. --- ## Releases Merges from `dev` to `main` are done by maintainers and represent a versioned release. Do not open PRs directly against `main`. ### Cutting a release > NOTE: release are done manually, not from GH. Commits for releases should be > signed. 1. Ensure all changes are committed and CI is green on `dev` 2. Bump the version string in the `@version` swagger annotation in `cmd/beacon/main.go` 3. Regenerate swagger docs: ```bash swag init -g cmd/beacon/main.go -o docs --parseInternal --parseDependency ``` 4. Commit the version bump and updated docs: ``` chore: bump version to vX.Y.Z ``` 5. Merge `dev` into `main` (fast-forward only): ```bash git checkout main git merge --ff-only dev ``` 6. Tag the release and push: ```bash git tag vX.Y.Z git push origin main --tags ``` Pushing the tag triggers the release CI workflow, which builds binaries for all supported platforms and attaches them to a draft GitHub release. 7. Open the draft release on GitHub, paste the release notes, and publish. 8. Rebase `dev` on `main` to keep histories in sync for future releases: ```bash git checkout dev git rebase main ``` ## Recognition If you'd like to be listed as a contributor, add yourself to [CONTRIBUTORS.md](CONTRIBUTORS.md) in your PR.