Contributing guide exists
Why it matters
Without a contributing guide, the implicit message to every potential contributor is: figure it out yourself. Developers who can't run the test suite, don't know the branch naming convention, or don't understand the PR review process submit lower-quality contributions or don't contribute at all. iso-25010:2011 analysability covers this: a project is more maintainable when its development workflow is documented rather than implicit. Generic templates ('fork the repo and submit a PR') fail entirely — they don't mention how to run the actual test suite or set up the project-specific dev environment.
Severity rationale
Low because the failure mode affects contributor throughput rather than end-user functionality, but repeated over time it compounds into a maintainability tax that stalls pull requests and discourages external participation.
Remediation
Create CONTRIBUTING.md at the project root with project-specific, not generic, instructions:
# Contributing
## Development Setup
1. Fork and clone the repo
2. Install dependencies: `npm install`
3. Copy `.env.example` to `.env` and fill in values
4. Run tests: `npm test`
5. Start dev server: `npm run dev`
## Submitting Changes
- Branch from `main`
- Write tests for new behavior
- Run `npm test` before opening a PR
- PR description must explain what changed and why
Replace every step above with the commands that actually work for this project. Generic templates that don't reflect the real workflow fail this check.
DetectionPro
The detection method for this pattern is part of AuditBuffet Pro.
The full method (what to look for, pass and fail conditions, and how results get reported) ships inside the Developer Documentation Audit. The pattern definition, severity rationale, and remediation remain openly licensed under CC-BY-4.0.
External references
- iso-25010:2011 · maintainability.analysability
Taxons
History
- 2026-04-18·v1.0.0·Initial import from developer-documentation·automated