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Contributing

Table of Contents

Getting Started

When contributing to Monkeytype, it's good to know our best practices, tips, and tricks. First, Monkeytype is written in JavaScript TypeScript, CSS, and HTML (in order of language usage within the project); thus, we assume you are comfortable in these languages or have basic knowledge of them. Our backend is in NodeJS and we use MongoDB to store our user data. Firebase is used for authentication. Furthermore, we use Prettier to format our code.

Prerequisites

While most contributions don't require that you install dependencies, there are a few tools you will need to be able to run the project (this is useful and almost always necessary for tasks like creating features and fixing bugs; running the project is also useful if you are contributing a theme and want to view it on the site before you contribute it). You will need a computer with a stable internet connection, a text editor, Git, Firebase, and NodeJS with version 16.13.2.

Text Editor

If you are not a developer and wish to contribute themes, new languages, or quotes, having a text editor will make contributions much easier. To make complex edits without installing anything, we recommend using GitHub's VS Code web editor. In your fork of Monkeytype (fork it first), go to the Code tab of the repo and press .(the period/dot key). This will open up the repo in an online VS Code instance you can use to edit files in the browser. Once you are done making your changes, go to the Source Control tab in the activity bar with Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + G, click the + next to the files you've changed to stage them, type a brief message summarizing the changes made in the commit, and press Ctrl/Cmd + Enter to commit your changes to your fork. Finally, send a pull request to the Monkeytype repository when you are ready.

Git

Git is optional but we recommend you utilize it. Monkeytype uses the Git source control management (SCM) system for its version control. Assuming you don't have experience typing commands in the command line, we suggest installing Sourcetree. You will be able to utilize the power of Git without needing to remember any cryptic commands. Using a Git client such as Sourcetree won't give you access to the full functionality of Git, but provides an easy to understand graphical user interface (GUI). Once you have downloaded Sourcetree, run the installer. While installing Sourcetree, keep your eyes peeled for the option to also install Git with Sourcetree. This is the option you will need to look for in order to install Git. Make sure to click yes in the installer to install Git with Sourcetree.

NodeJS and NPM

To install NodeJS, navigate to the NodeJS website and download the 16.13.2 LTS.

Alternatively, if you use nvm then you can run nvm install and nvm use (you might need to specify the exact version) to use the version of Node.js in the .nvmrc file (if you use Windows, use nvm-windows).

Firebase

  1. Create a Firebase account if you already haven't done so.

  2. Create a new Firebase project.

    • The project name doesn't matter, but the name monkeytype would be preferred.
    • Google Analytics is not necessary.

  3. Run npm install -g firebase-tools to install the Firebase Command Line Interface.

  4. Run firebase login on your terminal to log in to the same google account you just used to create the project.

  5. Git clone this project.

    • IMPORTANT: If you are on Windows, run git config --global core.autocrlf false before-hand to prevent CRLF errors.

  6. Within the frontend directory, duplicate .firebaserc_example, rename the new file to .firebaserc and change the project name of default to the firebase project id you just created.

    • If .firebaserc_example does not exist after cloning, create your own with:
     {
     "projects": {
         "default": "your-firebase-project-id"
     }
 }
    • Run firebase projects:list to find your firebase project id.

  7. Generate a Firebase Admin private key

    • In your Firebase console, go to Project Settings > Service Accounts
    • Click "Generate New Private Key"
    • Save as serviceAccountKey.json inside the backend/credentials/ directory.

  8. Enable Firebase Authentication

    • In the Firebase console, go to Authentication > Sign-in method
    • Click on Email/Password, enable it, and save
    • Click on Google, add a support email and save

Mongo Setup

Follow these steps if you want to work on anything involving the database/account system. Otherwise, you can skip this section.

  1. Install MongoDB Community Edition and ensure that it is running

  2. Inside the backend folder, copy example.env to .env in the same directory.

    1. If necessary, uncomment the lines in the .env file to use credentials to login to MongoDB.

  3. Optional - Install MongoDB-compass. This tool can be used to see and manipulate your data visually.

    1. To connect, type mongodb://localhost:27017 in the connection string box and press connect. The monkeytype database will be created and shown after the server is started.

Building and Running Monkeytype

Once you have completed the above steps, you are ready to build and run Monkeytype.

  1. Run npm run install:all in the project root to install all dependencies.
    • If you are on Windows, use npm run install:windows.
    • If neither works, you will have to run npm install in root, frontend, and backend directories.
  2. Run npm run start:dev (npm run start:dev:fe if you skipped the mongo section) to start a local dev server on port 5000. It will watch for changes and rebuild when you edit files in src/ or public/ directories. Note that rebuilding doesn't happen instantaneously so be patient for changes to appear. Use Ctrl+C to kill it.

Mac Users: If you get 403 Forbidden errors while trying to access the local server, go into System Preferences > Sharing and disable AirPlay Receiver - it also runs on port 5000 and takes priority, causing 403 errors.

Standards and Guidelines

Code style is enforced by Prettier, which automatically runs every time you make a commit (git commit) (if you've followed the above instructions properly).

We recommend following the guidelines below to increase your chances of getting your change accepted.

Theme Guidelines

Before submitting a theme make sure...

  • your theme is unique and isn't visually similar to any we already have.
  • the text color is either black or white (or very close to these colors)
  • your theme has been added to the _list file and the textColor property is the theme's main color
  • your theme is clear and readable with both flip test colors and colorful mode enabled and disabled

(If you want to contribute themes but don't know how, check THEMES.md)

Language Guidelines

  • Do not include swear words
  • Ensure that your contribution meets JSON standards (no trailing comma at the end of a list)
  • Be sure to add your language to the _list and _groups files
  • Make sure the number of words in the file corresponds to the file name (for example: languageName.json is 200 words, languageName_1k.json is 1000 words, and so on)

(If you want to contribute languages but don't know how, check LANGUAGES.md)

Quote Guidelines

  • Do not include content that contains any libelous or otherwise unlawful, abusive or obscene text.
  • Ensure that your contribution meets JSON standards (no trailing comma at the end of a list)
  • Verify quotes added aren't duplicates of any already present
  • Verify the length property is correct (length of the text in characters)
  • Verify the id property is incremented correctly
  • Please do not add extremely short quotes (less than 60 characters)

Questions

If you have any questions, comments, concerns, or problems let me know on GitHub, Discord in the #development channel, or ask a question on Monkeytype's GitHub discussions and a contributor will be happy to assist you.