TORCH/CONTRIBUTING.md

CONTRIBUTING.md

Guidelines for humans and agents proposing changes.

Change principles

• Keep changes focused and minimal.
• Explain why a change is needed, not only what changed.
• Preserve generic behavior unless implementing explicit downstream repo requirements.

Before opening a PR

1. Confirm AGENTS.md and CLAUDE.md were followed.
2. Run relevant checks/tests for the scope of change.
3. Update docs affected by behavior or workflow changes.
4. If you discovered reusable information, add/update a note in docs/agent-handoffs/.
5. If an issue remains active, update KNOWN_ISSUES.md.

Commit guidance

• Use clear, descriptive commit messages.
• Keep unrelated edits in separate commits.
• Avoid committing temporary debug code or local-only artifacts.

PR guidance

Include:

• Summary of what changed
• Why it changed
• Validation performed
• Any known follow-ups

If no tests were run, state why.

Documentation maintenance

When changing workflows:

• Update KNOWN_ISSUES.md for new known limitations/workarounds.
• Add a learning or incident note if the change uncovered reusable guidance.