molecule-core/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to Molecule AI

Thanks for your interest in contributing to Molecule AI! This guide covers the development workflow, conventions, and how to get your changes merged.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Go 1.25+ — platform backend
• Node.js 20+ — canvas frontend
• Python 3.11+ — workspace runtime
• Docker — infrastructure services (Postgres, Redis)
• Git — with hooks path set to .githooks
• jq — parses manifest.json during setup.sh to clone the template/plugin registry. Install via brew install jq (macOS) or apt install jq (Debian). Without it, setup.sh prints a note and leaves the registry dirs empty (recoverable by installing jq and re-running).

Setup

# Clone the repo
git clone https://git.moleculesai.app/molecule-ai/molecule-core.git
cd molecule-core

# Install git hooks
git config core.hooksPath .githooks

# Copy and edit .env (generate ADMIN_TOKEN + SECRETS_ENCRYPTION_KEY)
cp .env.example .env

# Start infrastructure (Postgres, Redis, Langfuse, Temporal)
./infra/scripts/setup.sh

# Build and run the platform — applies pending migrations on first boot
cd workspace-server
go run ./cmd/server

# In a separate terminal, run the canvas
cd canvas
npm install
npm run dev

Environment Variables

Copy .env.example to .env and fill in your values:

cp .env.example .env

See CLAUDE.md for a full list of environment variables and their purposes.

What goes where (content vs code)

This repo is scoped to code (canvas, workspace, workspace-server, related infra). Public content (blog posts, marketing copy, OG images, SEO briefs, DevRel demos) lives in Molecule-AI/docs. The Block forbidden paths CI gate fails any PR that writes to marketing/ or other removed paths — open against Molecule-AI/docs instead.

Content type	Target
Blog posts	Molecule-AI/docs → content/blog/<YYYY-MM-DD-slug>/
Doc pages	Molecule-AI/docs → content/docs/
Marketing copy / PMM positioning	Molecule-AI/docs → marketing/
OG images, visual assets	Molecule-AI/docs → app/ or marketing/
SEO briefs	Molecule-AI/docs → marketing/
DevRel demos (runnable code)	Standalone repo under Molecule-AI/, OR embedded in Molecule-AI/docs
Launch checklists, internal tracking	GitHub Issues — not committed files
Engineering docs (docs/adr/, docs/architecture/, docs/incidents/)	This repo (internal, not published)
Live product pages (e.g. canvas/src/app/pricing/page.tsx)	This repo (these are app code, not marketing copy)

If a PR fails the Block forbidden paths check, the contents belong in Molecule-AI/docs. No CI drag, no Canvas E2E, content lands in minutes.

Development Workflow

Branch Naming

Use prefixed branches:

• feat/ — new features
• fix/ — bug fixes
• chore/ — maintenance, deps, CI
• docs/ — documentation only

Never push directly to main. All changes go through pull requests.

Commits

Write concise commit messages that focus on the "why":

fix(canvas): prevent infinite re-render on WebSocket reconnect

The useEffect dependency array included the entire nodes object,
causing a render loop when any node position changed.

Pull Requests

• Keep PRs focused — one concern per PR
• Include a test plan in the PR description
• PRs are merged with merge commits (not squash or rebase)

Auto-merge & the "extra commit" trap

Two system guards protect against pushing commits after auto-merge has been enabled. Don't try to work around them — they exist because we shipped a half-merged PR on 2026-04-27 (#2174 merged with only its first commit; the second was orphaned on a branch GitHub had already deleted).

1. Repo-wide: "Automatically delete head branches" is on. Once a PR merges, the branch is deleted server-side. Any subsequent git push to that branch fails with remote rejected — no such branch.

2. CI: the pr-guards workflow (calling molecule-ci disable-auto-merge-on-push) fires on every push to an open PR. If auto-merge was already enabled, it's disabled and a comment is posted. You must explicitly re-enable after verifying the new commit.

Workflow rules that follow from the guards:

• Push all commits before running gh pr merge --auto.
• If you realize you need another commit after enabling auto-merge: push it, then re-run gh pr merge --auto — the guard will already have disabled it. The disable + re-enable is the verification step.
• For changes that depend on each other across PRs (e.g. a build-script change + a workflow that consumes it), prefer a stack of PRs (PR-B branched off PR-A's branch, opened only after PR-A is in queue) over amending one in-flight PR.

Running Tests

# Go (platform)
cd workspace-server && go test -race ./...

# Canvas (Next.js)
cd canvas && npm test

# Workspace runtime (Python)
cd workspace && python -m pytest -v

# E2E API tests (requires running platform)
bash tests/e2e/test_api.sh

Pre-commit Hooks

The .githooks/pre-commit hook enforces:

• 'use client' directive on React hook files
• Dark theme only (no white/light CSS classes)
• No SQL injection patterns (fmt.Sprintf with SQL)
• No leaked secrets (sk-ant-, ghp_, AKIA)

Fix violations before committing — the hook will reject the commit.

CI Pipeline

CI runs on GitHub Actions with a self-hosted runner. External contributors: PRs from forks will not trigger CI automatically. A maintainer will review and run CI manually.

Job	What it checks
platform-build	Go build + vet + go test -race
canvas-build	npm build + vitest
python-lint	pytest with coverage
e2e-api	Full API test suite (62 tests)
shellcheck	Shell script linting

Code Style

Go (Platform)

• Standard gofmt formatting
• go vet must pass
• No fmt.Sprintf in SQL queries (use parameterized queries)
• Prefer function injection over import cycles

TypeScript (Canvas)

• Strict mode enabled
• No any types (use unknown or proper types)
• Use ConfirmDialog component, never native confirm/alert/prompt
• Dark theme only — no white/light CSS classes

Python (Workspace Runtime)

• Type hints on public functions
• pytest for all tests

External integrations

Code in this repo lands in molecule-core. Some related runtime artifacts live in their own repos:

• Molecule-AI/molecule-ai-workspace-runtime — Python adapter SDK (molecule_runtime) that runs inside containerized Molecule workspaces. Bridges Claude Code SDK / hermes / langgraph / etc. → A2A queue.
• Molecule-AI/molecule-sdk-python — A2AServer + RemoteAgentClient for external agents that register over the public /registry/register flow.
• Molecule-AI/molecule-mcp-claude-channel — Claude Code channel plugin. Bridges A2A traffic into a running Claude Code session via MCP notifications/claude/channel. Polling-based (no tunnel required); install with claude --channels plugin:molecule@Molecule-AI/molecule-mcp-claude-channel.

When extending the A2A surface in molecule-core (workspace-server/internal/handlers/a2a_proxy.go etc.), consider whether the change has a downstream impact on the runtime SDK or the channel plugin — they're versioned independently but share the wire shape.

Architecture Overview

See CLAUDE.md for detailed architecture documentation, including:

• Component diagram (Platform, Canvas, Workspace Runtime)
• Key architectural patterns
• Database schema and migrations
• API route reference

Reporting Issues

Use GitHub Issues with a clear title and reproduction steps. Include:

• What you expected
• What actually happened
• Platform/OS version
• Relevant logs or screenshots

Security

If you discover a security vulnerability, please report it privately via GitHub Security Advisories rather than opening a public issue.

License

By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the same Business Source License 1.1 that covers this project.