mermaid/docs/community/development.md

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Development and Contribution 🙌

So you want to help? That's great!

Here are a few things to get you started on the right path.

Requirements

• volta to manage node versions.
• Node.js. volta install node
• pnpm package manager. volta install pnpm

Development Installation

In GitHub, you fork a repository when you are going to make changes and submit pull requests. Here is a GitHub document that gives an overview of the process.

git clone git@github.com:mermaid-js/mermaid.git
cd mermaid
# npx is required for first install as volta support for pnpm is not added yet.
npx pnpm install
pnpm test

The Docs Structure is dictated by sidebar.md

Contributing Code

The basic steps for contributing code are:

1. Create a git branch and work on your code in the branch
2. Write and update tests (unit and perhaps even integration (e2e) tests) (If you do TDD/BDD, the order might be different.)
3. Let users know that things have changed or been added in the documents! This is often overlooked, but critical
4. Submit your code as a pull request.

1. Create a git branch for your work

Mermaid uses a Git Flow–inspired approach to branching. Development is done in the develop branch.

Once development is done we branch a release branch from develop for testing.

Once the release happens we merge the release branch with master and delete the release branch. The live product and on-line documentation are what is in the master branch.

All new work should be based on the develop branch.

When you are ready to do work, always, ALWAYS:

1. Make sure you have the most up to date version of the develop branch. (fetch or pull to update it)
2. Check out the develop branch
3. Create a new branch for your work. Please name the branch following our naming convention below.

[TODO what about just changing documentation? how about docs/.... ]

We use the follow naming convention for branches:

   [feature | bug | chore | docs]/[issue number]_[short description using dashes ('-') or underscores ('_') instead of spaces]

• The first part is the type of change: a feature, bug, chore, or documentation change ('docs')
• followed by a slash (which helps to group like types together in many git tools)
• followed by the issue number
• followed by an underscore ('_')
• followed by a short text description (but use dashes ('-') or underscores ('_') instead of spaces)

** Ex: A new feature described in issue 2945 that adds a new arrow type called 'florbs':**

feature/2945_state_diagrams_arrow_florbs

** Ex: A bug described in issue 1123 that causes random ugly red text:** bug/1123_random_ugly_red_text

2. Tests

Tests ensure that each function, module, or part of code does what it says it will do. This is critically important when other changes are made to ensure that existing code is not broken (no regression).

The contents of https://mermaid-js.github.io/mermaid/ are based on the docs from the master branch. Updates committed to the master branch are reflected in the Mermaid Docs once released.

Just as important, the tests act as specifications: they specify (or describe) what the code does (or should do). Whenever someone is new to a section of code, they should be able to read the tests to get a thorough understanding of what it does and why.

If you are fixing a bug, you should add tests to ensure that your code has actually fixed the bug, to specify/describe what the code is doing, and to ensure the bug doesn't happen again. (If there had been a test for the situation, the bug never would have happened in the first place.) You may need to change existing tests if they were inaccurate.

If you are adding a feature, you will definitely need to add tests. Depending on the size of your feature, you may need to add integration tests.

Unit Tests for Parsing

If you are adding or changing the text that describes a diagram (the grammar), you will need to add (or change) tests for the parser.

Integration/End-to-End (e2e) tests

These test the rendering and visual appearance of the diagrams. This ensures that the rendering of that feature in the e2e will be reviewed in the release process going forward. Less chance that it breaks!

To start working with the e2e tests:

1. Run pnpm run dev to start the dev server (or use the pnpm dev script)
2. Start Cypress by running pnpm exec cypress open in the mermaid folder (or use the pnpm cypress:open script).

The rendering tests are very straightforward to create. There is a function imgSnapshotTest, which takes a diagram in text form and the mermaid options, and it renders that diagram in Cypress.

When running in CI it will take a snapshot of the rendered diagram and compare it with the snapshot from last build and flag it for review if it differs.

This is what a rendering test looks like:

it('should render forks and joins', () => {
  imgSnapshotTest(
    `
    stateDiagram
    state fork_state <<fork>>
      [*] --> fork_state
      fork_state --> State2
      fork_state --> State3

      state join_state <<join>>
      State2 --> join_state
      State3 --> join_state
      join_state --> State4
      State4 --> [*]
    `,
    { logLevel: 0 }
  );
  cy.get('svg');
});

[TODO - running the tests against what is expected in development. ] [TODO - how to generate new screenshots] ....

3. Documentation

If the users have no way to know that things have changed, then you haven't really fixed anything for the users; you've just added to making Mermaid feel broken. Likewise, if users don't know that there is a new feature that you've implemented, it will forever remain unknown and unused.

The documentation has to be updated to users know that things have changed and added!

We know it can sometimes be hard to code and write user documentation.

[TODO - how to submit documentation changes -- see Contributing Documentation

Create another issue specifically for the documentation.
You will need to help with the PR, but definitely ask for help if you feel stuck. When it feels hard to write stuff out, explaining it to someone and having that person ask you clarifying questions can often be 80% of the work!]

When in doubt, write up and submit what you can. It can be clarified and refined later. (With documentation, something is better than nothing!)

4. Submitting your code as a pull request

We make all changes via Pull Requests. As we have many Pull Requests from developers new to mermaid,
we have put in place a process, wherein knsv, Knut Sveidqvist is the primary reviewer of changes and merging pull requests. The process is as follows:

• Large changes are reviewed by knsv or other developer asked to review by knsv
• Smaller, low-risk changes like dependencies, documentation, etc. can be reviewed and merged by active collaborators

Reminder: Pull Requests should be directed to the develop branch.

Contributing Documentation

If it is not in the documentation, it's like it never happened. Wouldn't that be sad? With all the effort that was put into the feature?

The docs are located in the src/docs folder and are written in Markdown. Just pick the right section and start typing. If you want to propose changes to the structure of the documentation, such as adding a new section or a new file you do that via the sidebar.

All the documents displayed in the GitHub.io page are listed in sidebar.md.

The contents of https://mermaid-js.github.io/mermaid/ are based on the docs from the master branch. Updates committed to the master branch are reflected in the Mermaid Docs once released.

How to Contribute to Documentation

We are a little less strict here, it is OK to commit directly in the develop branch if you are a collaborator.

The documentation is located in the src/docs directory and organized according to relevant subfolder.

The docs folder will be automatically generated when committing to src/docs and should not be edited manually.

We encourage contributions to the documentation at mermaid-js/mermaid/src/docs. We publish documentation using GitHub Pages with Docsify

• Documentation (we encourage updates to the src/docs folder; you can submit them via direct commits)

The source files for documentation are in /packages/mermaid/docs and are written in markdown.

DO NOT CHANGE FILES IN /docs

The official documentation site

The mermaid documentation site is powered by Docsify, a simple documentation site generator.

[TODO - how to preview the documents on a local machine? how to run VitePress?]

If you want to preview the whole documentation site on your machine, you need to install docsify-cli:

Markdown is used to format the text, for more information about Markdown see the GitHub Markdown help page.

To edit Docs on your computer:

1. Find the Markdown file (.md) to edit in the mermaid-js/mermaid/src/docs directory in the develop branch.
2. Create a fork of the develop branch.
3. Make changes or add new documentation.
4. Commit changes to your fork and push it to GitHub.
5. Create a Pull Request of your fork.

To edit Docs on GitHub:

1. Login to GitHub.com.
2. Navigate to mermaid-js/mermaid/src/docs.
3. To edit a file, click the pencil icon at the top-right of the file contents panel.
4. Describe what you changed in the Propose file change section, located at the bottom of the page.
5. Submit your changes by clicking the button Propose file change at the bottom (by automatic creation of a fork and a new branch).
6. Create a Pull Request of your newly forked branch by clicking the green Create Pull Request button.

Any Questions or Suggestions?

First search to see if someone has already asked (and hopefully been answered) or suggested the same thing.

• search in the Discussions
• search in the open Issues

If you find an open issue or discussion thread that is similar to your question but isn't answered, you can let us know that you are also interested in it. [TODO: describe +1, upvote] This helps the team know the relative interest in something and helps them set priorities and assignments.

Feel free to add to the discussion on the issue or topic.

If you can't find anything that already addresses your question or suggestion, open a new issue:

Log in to GitHub.com, open or append to an issue using the GitHub issue tracker of the mermaid-js repository.

How to Contribute a Suggestion

Last Words

Don't get daunted if it is hard in the beginning. We have a great community with only encouraging words. So, if you get stuck, ask for help and hints in the Slack forum. If you want to show off something good, show it off there.

Join our Slack community if you want closer contact!