# Contributing

Looking for the latest Prefect 2 release? Prefect 2 and Prefect Cloud 2 have been released for General Availability. See https://docs.prefect.io/ for details.

# Documentation

Contributing to Prefect's docs is just as important as adding new code! We welcome your help, whether fixing a simple typo or writing a new tutorial. For new users, this can be an excellent way to get involved.

# Contribution checklist

# Commit formatting

When possible, try to craft useful commits. Each commit should be logically distinct and self-contained, which makes reviewing code easier and understanding why changes were made easier.

We recommend following Chris Beam's style guide, which has 7 rules for effective commit messages:

  1. Separate subject from body with a blank line
  2. Limit the subject line to 50 characters
  3. Capitalize the subject line
  4. Do not end the subject line with a period
  5. Use the imperative mood in the subject line
  6. Wrap the body at 72 characters
  7. Use the body to explain what and why vs. how

# Changelog

It's important to update Prefect's changelog with any adjustments to the project. Each release has a few sections:

  • Features: headline additions to the system
  • Enhancements: improvements to existing functionality, or minor additions
  • Server: improvements to Prefect Server
  • Task Library: additions to Prefect's task library
  • Fixes: adjustments that fix bugs or other conditions
  • Deprecations: any deprecated functionality
  • Breaking Changes: any changes that break Prefect's backwards-compatibility

To avoid merge conflicts, Prefect tracks changelog entries as separate files in the changes/ directory. To add a new entry:

  1. Create a new file in the changes/ directory. The file name doesn't matter as long as it is unique (we recommend using the issue or PR number e.g. issue1234.yaml or pr1234.yaml).

  2. Choose one (or more if a PR encompasses multiple changes) of the following headers:

    • feature
    • enhancement
    • task
    • fix
    • deprecation
    • breaking
  3. Fill in one (or more) bullet points under the heading, describing the change. Markdown syntax may be used. Each entry should consist of a brief description and a link to the relevant GitHub issue(s) or PR(s).

  4. If you would like to be credited as helping with this release, add a contributor section with your name and github username.

Here's an example of a PR that adds an enhancement

enhancement:
  - "Add new `TimedOut` state for task execution timeouts - [#255](https://github.com/PrefectHQ/prefect/issues/255)"

contributor:
  - "[Chris White](https://github.com/cicdw)"

# Tests

Make sure that any new functionality is well tested! See the tests guide for more.

# Opening a PR

A helpful PR explains WHAT changed and WHY the change is important. Please take time to make your PR descriptions as helpful as possible -- both for code review today and information in the future.