# Lawnchair contributing guidelines
Welcome to the **Lawnchair** project. We appreciate your interest in contributing. For questions,
feel free to reach out on [Telegram][telegram] or [Discord][discord].
## No-code contributions
### Bug reports and feature requests
> [!TIP]
> Use the [Lawnchair Nightly builds][nightly] when reporting bugs, as your issue may have already
> been fixed.
- For **[bug reports][bug-reports]**, please be as detailed as possible and provide clear steps to
reproduce the issue.
- For **[feature requests][feature-requests]**, clearly describe the feature and its potential
benefits.
Please be civil, as outlined in our [Code of Conduct][code-of-conduct].
### Translations
For translations, please visit **[Lawnchair on Crowdin][crowdin]**.
## Contributing code
### Getting started
1. Clone the repository with the `--recursive` flag to include the project's
submodules.
```bash
git clone --recursive https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair.git
```
2. Open the project in Android Studio.
3. Select the `lawnWithQuickstepGithubDebug` build variant.
If you encounter errors with the `iconloaderlib` or `searchuilib` modules, run
`git submodule update --init --recursive`.
Here are some contribution tips to help you get started:
- Always make sure that you're up-to-date with **Lawnchair** by setting your base branch to
`15-dev`.
- Make sure your code is logical and well-formatted. If using Kotlin,
see [“Coding conventions” in the Kotlin documentation][kotlin-coding-conventions];
- [The `lawnchair` package][lawnchair-package]
houses Lawnchair’s own code, whereas [the `src` package][src-package] includes a clone of
the Launcher3 codebase with modifications. Generally, place new files in the former,
keeping changes to the latter to a minimum.
### Additional documentation
- [Lawnchair roadmap](ROADMAP.md)
- [The Lawnchair Wiki](https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/wiki)
- [Lawnchair Visual Guidelines](/docs/assets/README.md)
- [Lawnchair Quickstep Compat Library](compatLib/README.md)
- [Lawnchair Preferences Components](lawnchair/src/app/lawnchair/ui/preferences/components/README.md)
- [SystemUI Module](systemUI/README.md)
- [ViewCapture](systemUI/viewcapture/README.md)
- [Common](systemUI/common/README.md)
- [Prebuilt Library](prebuilts/libs/README.md)
### Development workflow
We use a tiered workflow to balance development speed with stability. The process for merging a
change depends on its complexity and risk. All PRs should target the `15-dev` branch.
| Tier | Definition | Examples | Protocol |
|-----------------------------|-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Trivial changes | Changes with zero risk of functional regression. | Fixing typos in comments or UI text (`docs`, `fix`), simple code style fixes (`style`). | Commit **directly** to the active branch. |
| Simple, self-contained work | Changes that are functionally isolated and have a very low risk of side effects. | Most single-file bug fixes, minor UX polish (padding, colors). | 1. Create a Pull Request. 2. Assign a reviewer. 3. Enable **"Auto-merge"** on the PR. It will merge automatically after CI passes and a reviewer approves. |
| Medium complexity features | New features or changes that affect multiple components but are not deeply architectural. | A new settings screen, a new drawer search provider | 1. Create a detailed Pull Request. 2. Assign the core team for review. |
| Major architectural changes | High-risk, complex changes that affect the core foundation of the app. | Android version rebase | 1. Create a very detailed Pull Request. 2. **Mandatory Review:** You **must** wait for at least one formal approval from a key team member before merging. The "Merge on Silence" rule does not apply. |
### Commit message convention
We follow the **[Conventional Commits specification][conventional-commits]**.
* **Format:** `type(scope): subject`
* **Example:** `feat(settings): Add toggle for new feature`
* **Allowed Types:** `feat`, `fix`, `style`, `refactor`, `perf`, `docs`, `test`, `chore`.
### Versioning scheme
As of Lawnchair 15 Beta 1, Lawnchair’s version code is composed of four parts, separated by
underscores:
1. Android major version
2. Android minor version
3. Lawnchair development status
4. Lawnchair development version
#### Android major & minor versions
These represent the Android version in which Lawnchair is based on.
They make up the first two parts of the version code:
- Major version: Indicates the main Android version.
- Minor version: Reflects any point release or update within the major version.
Example: Android 11 will be `11_00_XX_XX` while Android 12.1 will be `12_01_XX_XX`.
#### Development status & version
The third and fourth parts of the version code refer to Lawnchair's development stage
and the specific version within that stage:
- Development status: Shows the current development stage of the Lawnchair build (e.g., Alpha,
Beta).
- Development version: Specifies the incremental version within the same development stage.
The table below shows release phase used by Lawnchair:
| Status | Stage |
|-------------------|-------|
| Development | 00 |
| Alpha | 01 |
| Beta | 02 |
| Release Candidate | 03 |
| Release | 04 |
Example: Alpha 5 will be `XX_XX_01_05` and Beta 3 will be `XX_XX_02_03`.
### String naming
Strings `names` in `strings.xml` should follow this format:
| Type | Format | Example usage | Actual string | Other information |
|--------------------------------------------------|-------------------|----------------------------|----------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Generic word | $1 | `disagree_or_agree` | Disagree or agree | Should only be used if it doesn't fit the below categories |
| Action | $1_action | `apply_action` | Apply | Any generic action verb can fit here |
| Preference or popup label Preference headers | $1_label | `folders_label` | Folders | |
| Preference or popup description | $1_description | `folders_description` | Row and column count | |
| Preference choice | $1_choice | `off_choice` | Off | |
| Feature string | (feature_name)_$1 | `colorpicker_hsb` | HSB | Feature strings are strings that are confined to a specific feature. Examples include the gesture and color picker. |
| Launcher string | $1_launcher | `device_contacts_launcher` | Contacts from device | Strings that are specific to the Launcher area |
### Updating locally stored font listing
Lawnchair uses a locally stored JSON file (`google_fonts.json`) to list available fonts from Google
Fonts. This file should be updated periodically or before release to include the latest fonts.
To update Lawnchair's font listing, follow these steps:
1. Acquire
a [Google Fonts Developer API key][google-fonts-api-key].
2. Download the JSON file from `https://www.googleapis.com/webfonts/v1/webfonts?key=API_KEY`,
replacing `API_KEY` with the API key from step 1.
3. Replace the content of [`google_fonts.json`](lawnchair/assets/google_fonts.json) with the API
response.
[telegram]: https://t.me/lccommunity
[discord]: https://discord.com/invite/3x8qNWxgGZ
[nightly]: https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/releases/tag/nightly
[bug-reports]: https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/issues/new?assignees=&labels=bug&projects=&template=bug_report.yaml&title=%5BBUG%5D+
[feature-requests]: https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/issues/new?assignees=&labels=feature%2Cenhancement&projects=&template=feature_request.yaml&title=%5BFEATURE%5D+
[code-of-conduct]: CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
[crowdin]: https://lawnchair.crowdin.com
[kotlin-coding-conventions]: https://kotlinlang.org/docs/coding-conventions.html
[lawnchair-package]: https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/tree/15-dev/lawnchair
[src-package]: https://github.com/LawnchairLauncher/lawnchair/tree/15-dev/src
[conventional-commits]: https://www.conventionalcommits.org/en/v1.0.0/
[google-fonts-api-key]: https://developers.google.com/fonts/docs/developer_api#APIKey
