Contributing

Thank you for your interest in contributing to NovaPhy!

Development Setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Novaphy/NovaPhy.git
   cd NovaPhy
   

2. Create the conda environment:

   conda env create -f environment.yml
   conda activate novaphy
   

3. Install in development mode:

   $env:CMAKE_TOOLCHAIN_FILE="C:/path/to/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake"
   pip install -e ".[dev]"
   

Code Conventions

C++

• C++20 standard
• float32 only — never use double; use Eigen *f types
• #pragma once for include guards
• Namespace: novaphy
• Classes: PascalCase, functions: snake_case, private members: trailing_underscore_
• Spatial algebra: [angular; linear] (Featherstone convention)

Python

• PEP 8 style
• Type hints where practical

Testing

Every new Python-exposed feature must have a corresponding test in python/tests/.

# Run full test suite
pytest python/tests/ -v

# Run specific test file
pytest python/tests/test_collision.py -v

Writing Tests

• Use analytical comparisons for physics validation
• Float32 tolerance: pytest.approx(expected, rel=1e-4)
• Keep tests independent — no shared mutable state
• Name files test_<module>.py, functions test_<behavior>

Code Quality

Formatting

# Check C++ formatting
find novaphy/include novaphy/src python/bindings -name "*.h" -o -name "*.cpp" | xargs clang-format --dry-run --Werror

# Auto-fix
find novaphy/include novaphy/src python/bindings -name "*.h" -o -name "*.cpp" | xargs clang-format -i

# Python linting
ruff check python/ python/tests/ python/demos/ --select=E,W,F,I

Documentation

Documentation is built with MkDocs Material and deployed to Cloudflare Pages by the Docs (Cloudflare Pages) GitHub Actions workflow.

# Install docs dependencies
pip install mkdocs-material pymdown-extensions mkdocs-autorefs

# Serve locally
mkdocs serve

# Build
mkdocs build

Documentation changes under docs/**, mkdocs.yml, or the documentation workflow are built by CI before deployment.

Pull Request Process

1. Create a feature branch from main
2. Make your changes with tests
3. Ensure all tests pass: pytest python/tests/ -v
4. Push and create a PR against main
5. CI will run on Ubuntu and Windows

License

By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the MIT License.