Skip to content

docs: add CONTRIBUTING.md with local setup guide #175

New issue

Have a question about this project? Sign up for a free GitHub account to open an issue and contact its maintainers and the community.

Sign up for GitHub

By clicking “Sign up for GitHub”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy statement. We’ll occasionally send you account related emails.

Already on GitHub? Sign in to your account

Open
mohithhhh wants to merge 1 commit into
base: main
Choose a base branch
from
+50 −0
Open

docs: add CONTRIBUTING.md with local setup guide #175

Changes from all commits
Commits
Show all changes
1 commit
Select commit
File filter

Filter by extension

Filter by extension
Conversations
Failed to load comments.
Loading
Jump to
Jump to file
Failed to load files.
Loading
Diff view
Diff view
50 changes: 50 additions & 0 deletions CONTRIBUTING.md
View file
Open in desktop
Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
# Contributing to Traceloop Docs

Thanks for considering a contribution! This guide covers everything you need to get the docs running locally.

## Prerequisites

- [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) (v18 or later recommended)
- npm (comes with Node.js)
- Git

## Setup

1. **Fork and clone the repo**

```bash
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/docs.git
cd docs
```
Comment on lines +13 to +18

@coderabbitai coderabbitai Bot Aug 2, 2026

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

🎯 Functional Correctness | 🟡 Minor | ⚡ Quick win

Make the clone command executable for contributors.

YOUR_USERNAME is a placeholder. The guide does not tell contributors to replace it before running the command. Add an explicit instruction.

Proposed fix 
 1. **Fork and clone the repo**
 
+   Replace `YOUR_USERNAME` with your GitHub username:
+
 ```bash
    git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/docs.git
📝 Committable suggestion

‼️ IMPORTANT
Carefully review the code before committing. Ensure that it accurately replaces the highlighted code, contains no missing lines, and has no issues with indentation. Thoroughly test & benchmark the code to ensure it meets the requirements.

Suggested change
1. **Fork and clone the repo**
```bash
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/docs.git
cd docs
```
1. **Fork and clone the repo**
Replace `YOUR_USERNAME` with your GitHub username:
🤖 Prompt for AI Agents 
Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

In `@CONTRIBUTING.md` around lines 13 - 18, Add an explicit instruction in the
“Fork and clone the repo” section telling contributors to replace YOUR_USERNAME
in the git clone command with their GitHub username before executing it.


2. **Install Mintlify CLI and run the dev server**

This repo is powered by [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com). No separate install step is needed — just run:

```bash
npx mintlify@latest dev
Comment on lines +20 to +25

@coderabbitai coderabbitai Bot Aug 2, 2026

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Contributor

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

The reason will be displayed to describe this comment to others. Learn more.

🎯 Functional Correctness | 🟡 Minor | ⚡ Quick win

Align the step heading with the documented action.

The heading says “Install Mintlify CLI,” but the text says that no separate installation is needed. Rename the heading to “Run the Mintlify dev server” to remove this contradiction.

🤖 Prompt for AI Agents 
Verify each finding against current code. Fix only still-valid issues, skip the
rest with a brief reason, keep changes minimal, and validate.

In `@CONTRIBUTING.md` around lines 20 - 25, Update the step 2 heading in
CONTRIBUTING.md from “Install Mintlify CLI and run the dev server” to “Run the
Mintlify dev server” so it matches the documented npx command and no-install
requirement.

```

This starts a local preview server, typically at `http://localhost:3000`.

3. **Preview your changes**

Edit any `.mdx` file and the preview will hot-reload automatically.

## Adding a New Page

If you create a new documentation page, you **must** register it in `mint.json`, or it won't appear in the site navigation. Find the relevant section in `mint.json` and add your new page's path to the appropriate group.

## Submitting Changes

1. Create a branch: `git checkout -b docs/your-change-name`
2. Make your changes and verify them locally with `npx mintlify@latest dev`
3. Commit: `git commit -m "docs: describe your change"`
4. Push to your fork: `git push origin docs/your-change-name`
5. Open a pull request against `traceloop/docs` main branch

## Troubleshooting

- **Command not found / npx fails**: Ensure Node.js is installed and up to date (`node -v`).
- **Page not showing up**: Double check it's registered in `mint.json`.
- **Port already in use**: Mintlify will usually prompt to use an alternate port — accept it, or free up port 3000.