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Contributing to OpenClaw Evolution Framework

Thank you for your interest in contributing! This framework is built by the community, for the community.

🌟 Ways to Contribute

1. Share Your Evolution Results

Run the framework and share interesting insights:

  • Where: Create a PR to examples/community/
  • What to include:
    • Anonymized exploration outputs (remove personal info)
    • Your configuration (evolution-config.yaml)
    • Summary of key insights
    • Lessons learned

Example structure:

examples/community/your-name/
├── README.md (summary & lessons)
├── config.yaml (your configuration)
└── rounds/
    ├── round-05-interesting-insight.md
    └── round-23-breakthrough-moment.md

2. Improve Safety Mechanisms

Help make evolution sessions safer and more reliable:

  • Better stop conditions
  • HITL checkpoint patterns
  • Error recovery strategies
  • Resource monitoring

3. Add Exploration Templates

Create reusable exploration templates for common use cases:

  • Research assistant patterns
  • Product development workflows
  • Learning companion scripts
  • Creative exploration prompts

4. Build Tooling

Enhance the framework with developer tools:

  • Visual dashboard for monitoring
  • Export to other formats (Obsidian, Notion, Roam)
  • Analytics and insight extraction
  • Integration with external tools

5. Documentation

  • Improve README clarity
  • Add tutorials and guides
  • Translate to other languages
  • Document edge cases and solutions

🔧 Development Setup

Prerequisites

node >= 18.0.0
npm >= 9.0.0
openclaw >= 2026.2.0

Setup

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/your-org/openclaw-evolution-framework.git
cd openclaw-evolution-framework

# Install dependencies (if any)
npm install

# Copy example config
cp evolution-config.example.yaml evolution-config.yaml

# Run tests (coming soon)
npm test

📝 Pull Request Process

1. Fork & Branch

git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name

2. Make Changes

  • Keep commits atomic and well-described
  • Follow existing code style
  • Add tests if applicable
  • Update documentation

3. Test

Before submitting:

# Test your config
openclaw cron add --file cron-evolution-job.json
openclaw cron run evolution-fast-loop

# Verify output
ls -la memory/evolution/

4. Submit PR

  • Clear title describing the change
  • Description explaining why and what
  • Link to related issues
  • Screenshots/examples if applicable

PR Review Process

  1. Automated checks (if configured)
  2. Community review (1-2 reviewers)
  3. Maintainer approval
  4. Merge (squash and merge)

🎨 Style Guidelines

Configuration Files

  • Use YAML for configs (not JSON for user-facing files)
  • Include comments explaining each section
  • Provide sensible defaults
  • Use consistent indentation (2 spaces)

Markdown Documentation

  • Use ATX-style headers (# not underlines)
  • Include code blocks with language hints
  • Add examples for complex concepts
  • Keep line length reasonable (~80-100 chars)

Code (if contributing scripts)

  • Follow JavaScript Standard Style
  • Use async/await over callbacks
  • Add JSDoc comments for functions
  • Handle errors gracefully

🚫 What NOT to Contribute

Please avoid:

  • Personal information in examples

    • Remove names, locations, companies
    • Anonymize user data
    • Strip API keys and secrets

  • Copyrighted content

    • Don't copy-paste from papers without permission
    • Use your own words
    • Link to sources instead

  • Dangerous configurations

    • No infinite loops without stop conditions
    • No excessive API usage
    • No privacy-violating data collection

🏆 Recognition

Contributors will be recognized in:

  • CONTRIBUTORS.md file
  • Release notes
  • Project README

📜 Code of Conduct

Be respectful, collaborative, and constructive:

  • Be kind: Assume good intentions
  • Be helpful: Share knowledge generously
  • Be honest: Admit mistakes, learn together
  • Be inclusive: Welcome all backgrounds

🤔 Questions?

  • General questions: Open a Discussion
  • Bug reports: Open an Issue
  • Feature requests: Open an Issue with [Feature] prefix
  • Security concerns: Email maintainers privately

📊 Priority Areas

We especially welcome contributions in:

  1. Safety & reliability (HITL patterns, error handling)
  2. Templates & patterns (reusable exploration workflows)
  3. Visualization (dashboards, progress tracking)
  4. Documentation (tutorials, case studies)
  5. Testing (automated testing, validation)

🙏 Thank You!

Every contribution makes the framework better for everyone. Whether you fix a typo or build a major feature, your effort is appreciated.

Happy evolving! 🌳