[pocketbase#147] added CONTRIBUTING.md

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,80 @@
+Contributing to PocketBase
+======================================================================
+
+Thanks for taking the time to improve PocketBase!
+
+This document describes how to prepare a PR for a change in the main repository.
+
+- [Prerequisites](#prerequisites)
+- [Making changes in the Go code](#making-changes-in-the-go-code)
+- [Making changes in the Admin UI](#making-changes-in-the-admin-ui)
+
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+- Go 1.18+ (for making changes in the Go code)
+- Node 16+ (for making changes in the Admin UI)
+
+If you haven't already, you can fork the main repository and clone your fork so that you can work locally:
+```
+git clone https://github.com/your_username/pocketbase.git
+```
+
+> It is recommended to create a new branch from master for each of your bugfixes and features.
+> This is required if you are planning to submit multiple PRs in order to keep the changes separate for review until they eventually get merged.
+
+
+## Making changes in the Go code
+
+PocketBase is a Go package, which means that in order to run the project you'll have to create a Go `main` program that imports the package.
+
+The repository already includes such program, located in `/examples/base`, that is also used for the prebuilt executables.
+
+So, let's assume that you already done some changes in the PocketBase Go code and you want now to run them:
+
+1. Navigate to `examples/base`
+2. Run `go run main.go serve`
+
+This will start a web server on `http://localhost:8090` with the embedded prebuilt Admin UI from `ui/dist`. And that's it!
+
+**Before making a PR to the main repository, it is a good idea to:**
+
+- Add unit/integration tests for your changes (we are using the standard `testing` go package).
+  To run the tests, you could execute (while in the root project directory):
+    ```sh
+    go test ./...
+
+    # or using the Makefile
+    make test
+    ```
+
+- Run the linter - **golangci** ([see how to install](https://golangci-lint.run/usage/install/#local-installation)):
+    ```sh
+    golangci-lint run -c ./golangci.yml ./...
+
+    # or using the Makefile
+    make lint
+    ```
+
+## Making changes in the Admin UI
+
+PocketBase Admin UI is a single-page application (SPA) built with Svelte and Vite.
+
+To start the Admin UI:
+
+1. Navigate to the `ui` project directory
+2. Run `npm install` to install the node dependencies
+3. Start vite's dev server
+    ```sh
+    npm run dev
+    ```
+
+You could open the browser and access the running Admin UI at `http://localhost:3000`.
+
+Since the Admin UI is just a client-side application, you need to have the PocketBase backend server also running in the background (either manually running the `examples/base/main.go` or download a prebuilt executable).
+
+> By default, the Admin UI is expecting the backend server to be started at `http://localhost:8090`, but you could change that by creating a new `ui/.env.development.local` file with `PB_BACKEND_URL = YOUR_ADDRESS` variable inside it.
+
+Every change you make in the Admin UI should be automatically reflected in the browser at `http://localhost:3000` without reloading the page.
+
+Once you are done with your changes, you have to build the Admin UI with `npm run build`, so that it can be embedded in the go package. And that's it - you can make your PR to the main PocketBase repository.

README.md

@@ -120,8 +120,9 @@ PocketBase is free and open source project licensed under the [MIT License](LICE
 
 You could help continuing its development by:
 
-- [Suggest new features, report issues and fix bugs](https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/issues)
+- [Contribute to the source code](CONTRIBUTING.md)
+- [Suggest new features and report issues](https://github.com/pocketbase/pocketbase/issues)
 - [Donate a small amount](https://pocketbase.io/support-us)
 
-> Please also note that PocketBase was initially created to serve as a new backend for my other open source project - [Presentator](https://presentator.io) (see [#183](https://github.com/presentator/presentator/issues/183)),
+> Please note that PocketBase was initially created to serve as a new backend for my other open source project - [Presentator](https://presentator.io) (see [#183](https://github.com/presentator/presentator/issues/183)),
 so all feature requests will be first aligned with what we need for Presentator v3.