# Contributing

Thanks for helping improve WLC Monitor.

## Before you start

Use GitHub Issues for reproducible bugs and focused feature proposals. Search
existing issues first. Use the private process in [SECURITY.md](SECURITY.md)
for vulnerabilities.

## Development setup

```bash
python3 -m venv .venv
. .venv/bin/activate
python -m pip install -r requirements.txt
cp config.ini.example config.ini
chmod 600 config.ini
```

Never commit real credentials or infrastructure data. Use reserved example
addresses/domains and synthetic state fixtures.

## Making changes

- Create a focused branch.
- Add or update tests for behavior changes.
- Update the README and configuration examples for user-visible changes.
- Keep unrelated formatting out of the patch.

Run the local checks before opening a pull request:

```bash
python -m py_compile wlc_monitor.py
python -m unittest discover -v
python -m pip check
```

If Docker is available, also run:

```bash
cp .env.example .env
docker compose config --quiet
docker build -t wlc-monitor:test .
```

Remove the local `.env` afterward or keep it private; it is ignored by Git.

## Pull requests

Explain the problem and solution, link related issues, list the checks you ran,
and call out compatibility or operational impact. Confirm that the diff
contains no credentials, `.env`, `config.ini`, `state.json`, controller/AP
identifiers, or personal data.