copilotkit--copilotkit/skills/copilotkit-contribute/references/pr-guidelines.md

Pull Request Guidelines

Before You Start

Reach out to the maintainers before starting any significant work on new or existing features. File an issue or ask on Discord. This prevents wasted effort on work that doesn't align with the project direction or is already in progress.

PR Checklist

Before opening a PR, verify all of these pass locally:

1. Tests pass: pnpm run test
2. Build succeeds: pnpm build
3. Formatting clean: pnpm run check-prettier
4. Lint clean: pnpm run lint
5. Package quality: pnpm run check:packages (runs publint + attw)
6. Commit messages valid: all commits follow <type>(<scope>): <subject> format

CI Pipeline

Every push and pull request triggers the CI workflow which:

1. Checks out the code
2. Installs pnpm and Node.js (version from package.json)
3. Runs pnpm install
4. Runs pnpm run build (builds all packages respecting Nx dependency graph)
5. Publishes preview packages via pkg-pr-new for every commit

Preview packages are published from both packages/v1/* and packages/v2/*, allowing reviewers and users to test your changes before merge.

Pre-commit Hooks

CopilotKit uses lefthook to run pre-commit and commit-msg hooks automatically:

Pre-commit (parallel)

Hook	What it does
check-binaries	Rejects binary files, build artifacts, dSYM dirs, and files >1MB
sync-lockfile	Runs pnpm i --lockfile-only when package.json changes, auto-stages
lint-fix	Runs pnpm run lint --fix && pnpm run format, auto-stages fixes
test-and-check-packages	Runs pnpm run test && pnpm run check:packages

Commit-msg

Hook	What it does
commitlint	Validates commit message against conventional commit format

If hooks fail, fix the issue and try again. Do not use --no-verify to bypass hooks.

Commit Message Format

Enforced by commitlint with @commitlint/config-conventional:

<type>(<scope>): <subject>

• Header max length: 120 characters
• Subject case: not enforced (rule disabled)

Valid types

feat, fix, docs, style, refactor, perf, test, chore

Scope

Use the package directory name: runtime, core, react, angular, react-core, react-ui, shared, agent, etc.

Examples

feat(react): add useInterrupt hook for agent interrupts
fix(runtime): handle missing agent ID in request middleware
test(core): cover tool registry edge cases
docs(shared): update type documentation for EventType
chore(deps): bump vitest to 3.x

PR Description

Include in your PR:

1. What changed — brief description of the changes
2. Why — the motivation or issue being addressed
3. Issue reference — link to the related GitHub issue (e.g., Fixes #1234)
4. Testing — how you verified the changes work
5. Known limitations — anything the reviewer should be aware of

Review Process

1. A maintainer will review your PR.
2. CI must pass before review begins.
3. Reviewers may request changes — address feedback with additional commits.
4. Once approved and CI is green, a maintainer will merge the PR.

Tips

• Keep PRs focused. One feature or fix per PR. Smaller PRs get reviewed faster.
• Update tests. If you change behavior, update or add tests to cover it.
• Don't mix refactoring with features. If you need to refactor something to enable your feature, submit the refactor as a separate PR first.
• Rebase on main before submitting if your branch is behind. Stale lockfiles are a common CI failure cause.
• V2 first. New features go in packages/v2/. Only add V1 wrappers if backward compatibility is needed.