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Developer Guide

This section provides guidelines for developers who want to contribute to the Optics Framework.

Note: Before contributing, please read our Contributing Guidelines to understand the contribution process.

1. Setting Up the Development Environment

To set up the development environment for the Optics Framework, follow these steps:

Clone the Repository

Clone the Optics Framework repository to your local machine using the following command:

git clone <repository_url>
cd optics-framework

Install Dependencies

Install the required dependencies using the following command:

pipx install poetry

For changes related to source code:

poetry install --with dev

For changes related to documentation:

poetry install --with docs

For default installation:

poetry install

NOTE: We recommend using poetry to manage dependencies and virtual environments for the project. NOTE: For more info about pipx and poetry, refer to the pipx documentation and poetry documentation.

Install Pre-Commit Hooks

After installing dependencies, set up the pre-commit hooks to ensure code quality and commit message formatting:

poetry run pre-commit install

This will install hooks that: - Run ruff for code linting and formatting - Run bandit for security checks - Validate commit messages using commitizen (Conventional Commits format) - Check for trailing whitespace, end-of-file issues, and YAML/JSON validity - Scan for secrets using gitleaks

NOTE: Pre-commit hooks will automatically run on git commit. You can also run them manually: 

poetry run pre-commit run --all-files

2. Create a New Branch

Before making any changes to the codebase, create a new branch for your contribution using the following command:

git checkout -b <branch_name>

3. Make Changes

Work on your feature, bug fix, or documentation improvement in the appropriate directory:

  • Source code: optics_framework/
  • Tests: tests/
  • Documentation: docs/

Source Code Changes

  • Make changes to the source code in the optics_framework/ directory.

Adhere to the project’s coding standards: Use Ruff for linting and formatting:

poetry run ruff check .
poetry run ruff format .

Or run both together:

poetry run ruff check --fix .
poetry run ruff format .

NOTE: Ruff is configured to automatically fix issues where possible. The pre-commit hooks will also run Ruff automatically on commit.

Documentation Changes

  • Make changes to the documentation in the docs/ directory.
  • Ensure the documentation is clear, concise, and follows the style guide.
  • Use MkDocs for generating documentation.

For live changes while working on documentation: Use MkDocs to serve the documentation locally with auto-reload:

poetry run mkdocs serve

This will start a local server (typically at http://127.0.0.1:8000) that automatically reloads when you make changes to the documentation files.

To build the documentation for production:

poetry run mkdocs build

Run Tests

Run the tests to ensure that your changes do not break existing functionality:

poetry run pytest

Packaging

To build the package:

poetry build

4. Commit Changes

  • Adhere to the Conventional Commits format for your commit messages.
  • The pre-commit hooks will automatically validate your commit messages using commitizen.
  • You can also use commitizen to help create properly formatted commit messages:
poetry run cz commit

This will interactively guide you through creating a commit message that follows the Conventional Commits format.

NOTE: If you installed the pre-commit hooks (step 1.3), they will automatically run on each commit to check code quality and validate commit messages.