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Contributing

ClipSlop is small enough that a tour of Sources/ and Tests/ is the fastest way in. This page is for people who want to push commits.

Getting set up​

See Building from source for the prerequisites and a clone-build-test cycle.

What we want help with​

In rough priority:

  1. Bug fixes with regression tests. A reproducer in Tests/ is more valuable than the fix itself.
  2. More built-in prompts. Especially translation languages, code-language-specific Dev prompts, and recipes that need their own pre-baked chain.
  3. Provider integrations. New OpenAI-compatible APIs go in Sources/Services/Providers/. The existing files are a good template.
  4. Accessibility audits. Keyboard-only flows should keep working with VoiceOver and Full Keyboard Access.
  5. Documentation. Spotted something wrong, missing, or fuzzy on this site? Edit the file and open a PR — every doc page has an Edit on GitHub link.

What we don't want​

  • Telemetry / analytics PRs. No.
  • Required-account features. ClipSlop is local-first; nothing should require a ClipSlop account because there is no ClipSlop account.
  • Bundling our own AI. We integrate with providers, we don't ship a model.
  • Major UI rewrites without a discussion. Open an issue first — the keyboard-first / single-key-mnemonic surface is load-bearing, and it's very easy to break it accidentally.

Code style​

  • Swift Concurrency over Combine where possible.
  • Domain types in Models/, IO in Services/, UI in Views/. Don't mix.
  • Tests in Tests/<MirrorOfSourcesFolder>/. Use real types, not mocks, where the real type is small.
  • Keep Sources/ files under ~400 lines. Extract a sibling file before letting one grow.

License​

By contributing, you agree your code ships under the project's MIT License. No CLA — the MIT terms are short, sufficient, and well-understood.

Releases & signing​

The release pipeline lives in .github/workflows/release.yml. It produces an unsigned DMG today — see FAQ → Why isn't ClipSlop signed by Apple? for the rationale.

If you have ideas for getting a notarised build without a paid Developer account (e.g., shipping via the Mac App Store with the open-source Free tier), open a discussion.

Asset asks​

The design notes flag a few visual assets we'd like:

  • A transparent-bg, square-cropped app icon at 26 / 30 / 56 px for use in the brand mark.
  • Annotated screenshots of the panel with a consistent macOS chrome and drop shadow, max 720 px wide.
  • Monochrome SVG provider logos.

If illustration / icon work is your thing, this is a low-stakes way to make the docs site noticeably better.