06 - First Contribution

First Contribution

Your goal is not to understand the entire orchestrator at once. Your goal is to make one small, reviewable improvement while respecting the workflow.

Setup

From the Son-of-Anton repo:

bun install
bun run ci

If you are in a fresh Bun worktree and node_modules is missing, install before running tests.

Pick A Small Surface

Good first contribution areas:

• typo or clarity improvements in docs/template/
• focused tests around tools/delivery/ behavior
• small UX improvements in status output
• one isolated parser or formatter edge case

Avoid starting with closeout, branch mutation, or GitHub automation internals unless someone is pairing with you.

Before You Code

Read:

1. docs/how-son-of-anton-works.md
2. CONTRIBUTING.md
3. the specific module and test file you plan to touch

If your change is product-scope expansion, do not jump straight to code. It needs planning and approved decomposition first.

During The Change

Keep the diff narrow:

• test public behavior
• mock only system boundaries
• update docs only when behavior or commands change
• record rationale in ticket docs when working inside an orchestrated ticket

Before Commit

This repo has an ordering rule:

bun run format
git status
git add <files>
git commit -m "<subject>"

Run verification appropriate to the change. For broad changes, use:

bun run ci

What Good Looks Like

A good first PR is boring in the best way:

• the behavior is clear
• the test explains why it matters
• the implementation is smaller than expected
• the docs match the command surface
• there is no hidden process state in chat