CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing

Thanks for contributing to Mission-Critical Access Gatekeeper.

Workflow

1. Open an issue describing scope, risk, and expected behavior.
2. Create a focused branch for one change set.
3. Implement changes with tests when behavior changes.
4. Update docs and notebook content when user-facing behavior changes.
5. Open a PR with a clear summary and test plan.

Local Setup

py -3.13 -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Fallback runtime:

py -3.12 -m venv .venv-fallback
.\.venv-fallback\Scripts\Activate.ps1
python -m pip install -r requirements-fallback.txt

Coding Guidelines

• Keep security behavior deterministic and explicit.
• Avoid silent bypasses for identity or emotion checks.
• Preserve clear deny reasons for operators and audit trails.
• Keep README, docs in docs/, and notebook demo aligned with runtime behavior.

Test Expectations

• Verify both pass and deny paths for changed logic.
• Validate config defaults and advanced tuning behavior.
• If UI text changes, verify terminal and notebook wording remains consistent.

Pull Request Checklist

• Scope is small and reviewable.
• Tests added or updated as needed.
• README/docs/notebook updated if behavior changed.
• No secrets, credentials, or private data included.
• Risk notes included for security-impacting changes.