decaf-dev_obsidian-vault-explorer/CONTRIBUTING.md

# Contribute to Vault Explorer

## Issues

Please open an [issue](https://github.com/decaf-dev/obsidian-vault-explorer/issues) for bugs or suggestions for improvement. All feedback is welcome.

## Pull requests

Pull requests are welcome. For major changes, please open an issue first to discuss what you would like to change.

### Project installation

Fork the Vault Explorer repository from GitHub

Install [Bun.sh](https://bun.sh/) for your operating system

Clone the forked repository

```shell
git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/obsidian-vault-explorer.git
```

Change directories to the repository on your machine

```shell
cd obsidian-vault-explorer
```

Install dependencies

```shell
bun install
```

Build the project. This will create a `dist` folder

```shell
bun run build
```

The repository that you cloned contains a folder called `test-vault`. This is what will be used for development.

The `test-vault` contains a `.obsidian/plugins/vault-explorer` folder with a `data.json` file but it is missing the `main.js`, `manifest.json` and `styles.css`.

We need to create symbolic links for each of these folders

```shell
cd test-vault/.obsidian/plugins/vault-explorer
```

```shell
ln -s ../../../../dist/main.js .
```

```shell
ln -s ../../../../dist/manifest.json .
```

```shell
ln -s ../../../../dist/styles.css .
```

### Development

Checkout the `dev` branch and make a child branch off of it.

```shell
git pull dev
```

```shell
git checkout dev
```

```shell
git checkout -b <your-branch-name>
```

> [!IMPORTANT]  
> Please make sure that you make a branch off of `dev` instead of `master`. This will help reduce merge conflicts by making sure that you have the latest code changes.

Run esbuild in development mode

```shell
bun run dev
```

Make some code changes

Restart your Obsidian application to see your code changes in action

### Open a pull request

Once you have commited your changes, push your code to GitHub and open a pull request.

Please choose your branch and `dev` as the branch you want to merge into.

Your pull request will be reviewed. Once it is approved, it will be merged.