Contributor Guide

Welcome to the development side of LatticeQM. This guide outlines how to contribute code, documentation, and examples while keeping the project maintainable.

Development setup

Fork/clone the repository and develop the package locally:
```
julia
using Pkg
Pkg.develop(path="/path/to/LatticeQM")
```
Install optional tooling: Revise, Documenter, Plots, IJulia.
Run the test suite (julia --project -e 'using Pkg; Pkg.test()') before opening a merge request.

Coding standards

Prefer explicit imports (import .Module: function) and keep docstrings up to date with argument/keyword descriptions.
Use ASCII unless physics notation requires otherwise.
Add concise comments ahead of non-trivial code blocks explaining the intent.

Documentation workflow

Update or create doc pages in extra/docs/src/.
When adding notebooks or examples, include a short README summarising usage and runtime expectations.
Run julia --project=extra/docs/ make.jl to preview the docs locally.

Branching and commits

Work on topic branches (docs/tutorial-structure, feat/meanfield-update).
Keep commits focused; describe both intent and scope.
Reference related issues in commit messages when relevant.

Review checklist

Tests pass and new functionality has coverage (unit tests or runnable examples).
Documentation reflects API changes and links to newly created artefacts.
Examples run end-to-end or include notes about outstanding validation steps.

Release coordination

Before tagging a release, ensure the docs build cleanly and all relevant hyperlinks resolve.

Getting help

Open a discussion or issue with context (Julia version, environment, stack trace).
Tag module maintainers when code touches their area.