Contributing

Thanks for helping build the definitive AI-first mobile engineering toolkit! Contributions of all sizes are welcome — fixing a typo, improving a skill, adding an agent, or proposing a whole new section. The value of this repository depends on consistency, so this guide explains how to keep everything coherent.

New here? Look for issues labeled good first issue, or open an issue describing what you'd like to add before starting larger work.

Ways to Contribute

You do not need to be an iOS engineer — contributions of every kind keep this toolkit honest and useful:

If you're a…	You can help by…
📱 iOS / Swift dev	Sharpening agents, skills, and standards; adding production-tested patterns
🤖 Android / Kotlin dev	Porting iOS skills to Kotlin/Compose (Android parity is on the roadmap)
🦋 Flutter / cross-platform dev	Adding Flutter, React Native, or KMP equivalents
🔌 Backend / API dev	Improving networking, API-contract, and integration workflows
🧪 Tester / QA	Strengthening the testing agent, checklists, and test-strategy skills
🛡️ Security reviewer	Auditing security standards and Keychain / crypto / pinning guidance
🧐 Critic / reviewer	Running agents on real tasks and reporting where the output falls short
✍️ Writer / typo hunter	Fixing typos, tightening wording, improving clarity and examples
🌐 Web dev	Building a docs site or landing page (open an issue to claim it first)
🎨 Designer	Improving diagrams, the logo / banner, and visual explanations
💡 Anyone	Filing ideas and bug reports, starring, and sharing the repo

Not writing code? Issues and feedback are first-class contributions. The most valuable reports describe a real task you gave an agent, the output you got, and what a senior engineer would have done instead — that directly drives what we fix.

Porting to another platform? Drop your file in the matching platform subfolder (see Repository layout) — e.g. a Kotlin secure-storage skill goes in skills/security/android/. Mirror the iOS file's section template, add the platform: front-matter, label code blocks with the right language (kotlin, dart), and cross-link the iOS counterpart so the two stay in sync. Open an issue first for anything beyond a single file so we can agree on scope.

Rebase on main before you start, and reference shared paths as they exist on main. The layout evolves (e.g. templates now live under templates/ios/, not templates/). A branch cut before such a change can pass its own CI yet break links after merge, so rebase first and run npm run lint (it link-checks) before opening the PR.

Repository Layout (platforms)

This toolkit is loaded as context for an AI agent, so the layout is optimized for an agent that works on one platform at a time: platform lives in the path (a cheap signal the agent reads without opening files), and genuinely shared material stays single-source so the agent can never load two conflicting copies.

• Platform-specific directories carry per-platform subfolders. Code and APIs differ by platform, so each topic splits into ios/, android/, flutter/, react_native/:

  skills/security/ios/keychain.md
  skills/security/android/keystore.md
  templates/ios/networking_layer/

• Shared directories stay flat — they describe concepts, rules, and procedures that hold across platforms: standards/, architecture/, checklists/, workflows/. Don't fork these per platform; if a rule is platform-specific, add a clearly labeled subsection instead.

• Agents stay flat and are distinguished by name (e.g. swiftui_expert.md vs a future compose_expert.md); they are selected individually, not globbed in bulk.

• Every platform-specific file declares its platform in front-matter so an agent (or tooling) can filter precisely:

  ---
  platform: ios        # ios | android | flutter | react_native
  ---

  _shared/ is reserved for a platform-neutral file inside an otherwise platform-split directory; such a file uses platform: shared.

How to Contribute

1. Fork the repo and create a branch: git checkout -b feat/<short-name>.
2. Set up locally (see Local Setup) so you can validate before pushing.
3. Make your change, following the file section templates and style.
4. Commit using the Conventional Commit format — this is enforced in CI.
5. Validate: run npm run lint and confirm cross-links resolve.
6. Open a pull request using the template; fill in the checklist.

Local Setup

The toolkit is markdown + illustrative Swift, so the only tooling is for docs validation:

npm install                 # installs markdownlint, link-check, commitlint
npm run lint                # markdown lint + relative/external link check
npm run lint:md:fix         # auto-fix common markdown issues
git config commit.template .gitmessage   # (optional) prefill the commit format

CI runs the same checks on every PR, plus commit-message linting, so running them locally saves a round-trip.

Principles

1. AI-first, not human-first. Write for a coding agent reading the file as context. Be explicit, structured, and unambiguous. Prefer rules and checklists over prose.
2. Focused files. One file = one role / skill / workflow / topic. If a file covers two things, split it.
3. Cross-link, don't duplicate. Reference other files with relative links instead of repeating content. Duplication drifts out of sync.
4. Illustrative code. Snippets (Swift/SwiftUI, Kotlin/Compose, Dart, …) demonstrate the correct pattern; they need not compile as a whole project. Keep them idiomatic and current, and match the file's platform:.
5. Standards are law. New content must conform to standards/.

File Section Templates

Use the canonical section set for each content type. Do not invent new section names.

Type	Required sections
agents/*	Purpose · Responsibilities · Rules · Coding Standards · Review Checklist · Common Mistakes · Example Tasks
skills/*	Overview · Use Cases · Best Practices · Anti-Patterns · Checklist · Swift Examples · Common Interview Questions · AI Implementation Notes
workflows/*	Objective · Inputs · Outputs · Step-by-Step Process · Validation Steps · Failure Scenarios · AI Agent Instructions · Acceptance Criteria
checklists/*	Grouped checkbox items, each objective and measurable
prompts/*	Role · Objective · Constraints · Output Format · Quality Requirements
standards/*	Topic-grouped rules with ✅/❌ examples
architecture/*	Explanation · Mermaid diagram(s) · Data flow · Sample implementation

Style

• Markdown with ATX headings (#), one H1 per file.
• Fenced code blocks must declare a language (swift, kotlin, bash, mermaid, json).
• Use ✅ for recommended and ❌ for discouraged examples.
• Keep line length reasonable (~100 chars) for diff readability.
• American English, present tense, imperative voice for instructions.

Checklist Authoring Rules

Each checklist item must be:

• Objective — two reviewers would agree whether it passes.
• Measurable — ideally automatable (lint rule, test, grep).
• Production-focused — reflects real risk, not style preference (style → standards/).

Commit Convention

All commits must follow Conventional Commits. CI lints every commit in a PR and the PR title — non-conforming messages fail the build.

Format:

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

<optional body — explain what and why>

<optional footer — e.g. Closes #123>

• type (required): feat · fix · docs · refactor · test · chore · perf · build · ci · revert
• scope (optional): the area touched — common ones: security, networking, ui, auth, storage, agents, skills, workflows, checklists, standards, architecture, prompts, templates, examples, ci, repo.
• subject (required): imperative, lower-case, no trailing period, ≤ 100 chars total.

Examples:

feat(security): add public-key TLS pinning with backup pin
fix(networking): map 404 to DomainError.notFound
docs(readme): clarify Cursor setup
chore(repo): add markdown link-check to CI

Run git config commit.template .gitmessage to prefill the format in your editor, and npm run lint:commits to check your branch's commits before pushing. See standards/git_standards.md for the full convention.

Pull Requests

• Keep PRs scoped to one area (e.g. "add storage skills", not "misc updates").
• Update the relevant directory README.md index when adding a file.
• Verify cross-links resolve (workflows/ references should point to real files).
• Run the docs checks locally: npm run lint.
• Use a Conventional Commit PR title (it's linted, and becomes the squash-merge commit).
• Follow standards/git_standards.md for commits and PR descriptions.

Adding a New Agent or Skill

1. Copy the section template above.
2. Cross-link related agents/skills/workflows.
3. Add an entry to the directory README.md and, for agents, to the table in README.md and routing in AGENTS.md.