Contributing

Contributing to OpenCut

Thank you for your interest in contributing to OpenCut! This document provides guidelines and instructions for contributing.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or later)
• Bun (preferred package manager)
• Docker and Docker Compose for optional services

Note: Docker is optional but required for running the local database and Redis services. If you are only working on the frontend you can skip Docker.

Setup

1. Fork the repository
2. Clone your fork locally
3. Navigate to the web app directory: cd apps/web
4. Copy .env.example to .env.local
5. Install dependencies: bun install
6. Start the development server: bun run dev

If you see an error like Unsupported URL Type "workspace:*" when running npm install, upgrade npm to v9+ or use Bun/PNPM.

Where to Focus

Great areas: timeline and project management improvements, performance tuning, bug fixes, accessibility, documentation, and tests.

Avoid for now: preview rendering, export pipeline internals, and major preview UI overhauls (a binary renderer is being developed).

Unsure? Ask in Discord or open an issue.

Local development

# Start database + Redis services
docker-compose up -d

# Apply migrations from apps/web
bun run db:migrate

# Run the app
bun run dev

Populate .env.local with the values documented in the getting started guide.

Quality checks

bun run lint
bun run typecheck
bunx biome format --write .
bun run test

Submitting changes

1. Create a topic branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature
2. Make changes and add tests where relevant
3. Run linting/formatting checks
4. Commit with a descriptive message and open a pull request

Please follow the Code of Conduct and keep discussions respectful.