Dev Guide Contributing

Contributing to LingTai

Nested lingtai-dev-guide reference. Read this after the top-level router sends you here.

General principles

1. Filesystem-only IPC. TUI, portal, and kernel communicate exclusively through files. Need cross-process communication? Write a file and let the other side poll.
2. Anatomy updates are part of the code change. If your change moves, renames, splits, merges, or deletes anything cited by an ANATOMY.md, update the anatomy in the same commit (see "Anatomy maintenance" below).
3. Three-locale rule. A new i18n key means updating en.json, zh.json, and wen.json in both tui/i18n/ and (where applicable) portal/i18n/. Missing translations render as the raw key — they don't fall back.
4. Binary naming. The TUI binary is lingtai-tui, never lingtai. lingtai is the Python agent CLI inside the runtime venv.
5. Every non-trivial PR gets a self-contained HTML explainer, local-only by default. Requirements, naming, sections, the commit-vs-local rule, and the waiver exception live in reference/pr-review-deliverables/SKILL.md §3 — follow it rather than a summary here.
6. Prefer one honest sandbox acceptance when it exercises the real end-to-end path. Keep only minimal syntax/smoke checks for obvious breakage; open the reviewable PR promptly and continue broader validation after the PR when needed, rather than building a broad pytest or synthetic matrix.
7. Every test must earn its maintenance cost by protecting a distinct failure invariant. Inventory existing coverage before adding cases. When one mechanism needs multiple inputs, prefer table-driven or parameterized cases and shared setup over one pytest per narrative example. Do not inflate a PR with exhaustive assertion prose, and do not delete non-overlapping old tests merely to make the diff smaller.

Orchestrator + daemons (how the work happens)

The operating discipline for any non-trivial LingTai contribution — TUI, portal, kernel, addons, or skills.

1. Clarify and restate the contract

Before dispatching, restate the task: what changes, what does not, what "done" looks like, what is out of scope. Ask if the request is ambiguous. A daemon run against a fuzzy brief delivers a fuzzy diff, and you pay for it in review time.

2. Issue → worktree/branch → PR → merge

Non-trivial work flows through this loop — no exceptions for "small" fixes that turn out to be non-small:

1. Issue. Open or pick a GitHub issue naming the problem. If none exists, write one — it is the durable record of the contract.
2. Worktree + branch. Isolated git worktree off origin/main on a topic branch (fix/..., feat/..., docs/..., chore/...). Never edit the main checkout; never share a worktree between parallel daemons.
3. PR. Push and open against Lingtai-AI/<repo>. The body cites the issue, summarizes the change, lists validation steps.
4. Merge. After review, merge via the GitHub UI or gh pr merge, then delete the branch and clean up the worktree (see "Worktree hygiene").

3. Decompose into daemon-sized tasks

Orchestrators plan, dispatch, and review; they do not hand-code. Code reading, modification, testing, refactoring, PR preparation, batch scanning, and mechanical validation belong to the daemon backends — Claude Code daemons for exploratory reading, multi-file edits, skill/doc work, and PR composition; Codex daemons for tightly-scoped diffs, deterministic refactors, and mechanical validation.

Every dispatched daemon gets four things:

• A scoped brief — what to change, what to leave alone, what "done" means, absolute paths to source-of-truth files.
• Its own worktree and branch — parallelism is safe only when worktrees are disjoint.
• Tests or validation steps — go test ./..., python -m pytest, frontmatter parse, git diff --check, a grep for new headings; or an explicit "none applicable."
• A do-not-touch list — unrelated untracked files, sibling worktrees, the main branch.

Use as much safe parallelism as the decomposition allows. The orchestrator's leverage is many disjoint daemons running concurrently, not doing more of the work itself.

4. Orchestrator reviews diffs and tests; does not hand-code

Read the diff (ground truth — not the daemon's summary), run or inspect the validation output, check imports and cross-file consistency against the brief, then merge/forward or send the daemon back with a tightened brief.

Hand-code only for emergency hotfixes where dispatch overhead is unjustified, throwaway scratch work, or steering a daemon out of a stuck state. Default to dispatch.

5. Routine portfolio sweep before broad planning

Before planning broad dev work, run or dispatch a read-only gh sweep across Lingtai-AI/* enumerating open issues and PRs, summarized into stale items, unreviewed PRs, items relevant to the plan, and items that conflict with it. Let that surface decide what to pick up, defer, or coordinate around.

Keep it read-only — it informs planning; it does not file issues or comment as a side effect. Skipping it is how you duplicate in-flight work, stomp another branch, or ship a fix that conflicts with a pending refactor. Commands and digest shape: reference/repo-watch/SKILL.md.

6. Self-operate GitHub via GH_TOKEN when the human provides one

If the human pastes a GitHub token and you have bash, use it directly for any gh invocation above: GH_TOKEN=$TOKEN gh .... Don't print commands for the human to copy-paste; don't require gh auth login. Read-only probe first (gh repo view, gh issue list), then explicit per-action consent before any mutation. Never echo, log, or persist the token — it lives only in the env of the single command. The lingtai-issue-report skill's filing-flow reference owns the full consent-and-token protocol for issue filing.

Worktree hygiene: inventory first, exact-object approval before cleanup

Worktrees accumulate, so inventory them periodically. An audit establishes eligibility; it never authorizes deletion. A merged, clean, generated-only, empty, temporary, or self-created worktree still requires the human or owning maintainer to approve the exact worktree path. Branch deletion, force removal, and metadata pruning are separate destructive actions and are never implied.

1. Build a read-only inventory

Use the refs already present locally. Do not run fetch --prune during a read-only audit — it mutates local remote-tracking refs. If freshness is unknown, label it unknown, or do a separately authorized fetch first.

cd <repo-primary-checkout>

git worktree list --porcelain | awk '/^worktree /{print $2}' | tail -n +2 |
while read -r wt; do
  branch=$(git -C "$wt" branch --show-current)        # empty = detached HEAD
  head=$(git -C "$wt" rev-parse HEAD)
  if git merge-base --is-ancestor "$head" origin/main; then merged=yes; else merged=no; fi
  if [ -n "$branch" ] && git ls-remote --exit-code --heads origin "$branch" >/dev/null 2>&1; then
    remote=exists; else remote=gone_or_unknown; fi
  dirty=$(git -C "$wt" status --porcelain | wc -l | tr -d ' ')
  echo "$wt | branch=${branch:-DETACHED} | head=$head | merged=$merged | remote=$remote | dirty_files=$dirty"
done

For every candidate, inspect git -C "$wt" status --porcelain and check whether any running process, PATH/symlink, built binary, report, or other agent still references it. Never treat another agent's workspace as yours to clean.

2. Prepare a proposal; do not remove yet

A conservative candidate is secondary, fully merged into the observed main, remote-gone or detached, clean, and unreferenced — but those facts are only evidence. Before any cleanup, send the human/owner: the exact worktree path, branch, and full HEAD SHA; the merge/remote/dirt/dependency evidence and why removal is proposed; the exact commands requested, including whether branch removal, --force, or metadata pruning is involved; and the impact and recovery route.

Wait for an imperative approval naming each exact object. A category such as "merged worktrees", generated-only dirt, or permission to remove one worktree does not authorize another worktree, its branch, or a broad prune.

3. Execute only the approved objects

After exact approval, substitute only the approved literal values:

git worktree remove -- <exact-approved-worktree-path>
git branch -d -- <exact-approved-branch>  # only when that branch was also approved

Never escalate to --force, -D, git worktree prune, filesystem removal, or a wildcard/glob unless the approval explicitly covers that exact object and action. If any observed state changed after approval, stop and ask again.

4. Record and report

Record each approved action with worktree path, branch, HEAD SHA, authorization receipt, command result, and recovery route. Report skipped candidates and why; never convert a refusal or uncertainty into cleanup pressure.

Changing the TUI (tui/)

Where to look

• Screens / UI models: tui/internal/tui/ — one file per screen (Bubble Tea convention)
• Presets: tui/internal/preset/ — preset.go (~1900 lines) handles load/save/list
• Migrations: tui/internal/migrate/ — retained historical/test registry (m001–m039); production no longer runs it. Live per-machine migrations live in tui/internal/globalmigrate/ (under ~/.lingtai-tui/).
• Filesystem access: tui/internal/fs/ — read-only window into agent working directories
• Subprocess launch: tui/internal/process/ — how agents are spawned
• i18n: tui/i18n/ — en/zh/wen JSON tables

Build and test

cd ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai/tui
make build                    # builds to tui/bin/lingtai-tui
make cross-compile            # all platforms
go test ./...                 # run tests

Project migrations are retired

tui/internal/migrate/ and portal/internal/migrate/ are retained historical/test registries (m001–m039): source and tests remain for Git history and direct historical unit coverage, but no production binary reads, writes, advances, or gates on .lingtai/meta.json. Do NOT add new project migrations or bump CurrentVersion expecting them to run — the cross-binary version contract is retired. Live migrations remain only in tui/internal/globalmigrate/, the TUI-owned per-machine registry under ~/.lingtai-tui/ (run at TUI startup); Portal has no equivalent.

Adding a new screen

1. Create a Bubble Tea model in tui/internal/tui/.
2. Wire it into the main app model's Update function.
3. Add i18n keys to all three locale files.
4. Handle tea.PasteMsg forwarding if the screen has text inputs (see gotchas).

Changing the portal (portal/)

Where to look

• API handlers: portal/internal/api/ — server.go, handlers.go, replay.go
• Filesystem access: portal/internal/fs/ — same shape as TUI's, portal-tailored
• Web frontend: portal/web/src/ — React 19 + TypeScript + Vite
• Migrations: portal/internal/migrate/ — retained historical/test registry; Portal production does not run it
• i18n: portal/i18n/ — independent of TUI's i18n, same three-locale rule

Build and test

cd ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai/portal
make build                    # builds web frontend + Go binary
# Output: portal/bin/lingtai-portal

Pipeline: npm install → npm run build (in web/) → go build (embeds web/dist/ via embed.go).

Changing the web frontend

1. Edit files in portal/web/src/.
2. cd portal/web && npm run build to rebuild the frontend.
3. cd portal && make build to embed it into the Go binary.
4. Embedding happens at compile time via //go:embed all:web/dist in portal/embed.go.

Migrations

Retired with the project migration registries — Portal production no longer runs portal/internal/migrate/. See "Project migrations are retired" above.

Changing the kernel (lingtai-kernel/)

Where to look

• Agent runtime: src/lingtai/kernel/ — turn loop, lifecycle, tool dispatch, mailbox, soul/molt
• Wrapper (CLI + services): src/lingtai/ — MCP, FileIO, Vision, Search, CLI
• Intrinsics: src/lingtai/kernel/intrinsics/ — email, soul, system, psyche, codex, etc.
• Skills: src/lingtai/intrinsic_skills/ — bundled skill manuals

The kernel-root anatomy at src/lingtai/kernel/ANATOMY.md is the entry point for navigating the source; the lingtai-kernel-anatomy skill owns the convention.

Build and test

cd ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-kernel
pip install -e .              # editable install
python -m pytest              # run tests

With the TUI's runtime venv:

~/.local/bin/uv pip install -e ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-kernel \
    -p ~/.lingtai-tui/runtime/venv

Kernel source changes need no binary rebuild in editable mode, but they are live only in the checkout/package the agent actually imports. After a merge in another worktree, the update/build owner identifies and, with separate authorization, repairs that imported source, then hands off exact interpreter/source/HEAD and selector evidence. Kernel system-manual → reference/refresh-precheck/SKILL.md owns the source/venv cutover transaction. Use reference/runtime-self-check/SKILL.md only for the relevant provenance assertion or when live behaviour still suggests a mismatch.

Beware the auto-upgrader: a local pyproject.toml version lower than PyPI's lets it replace the editable install with a wheel and silently undo dev mode. Prevention, symptoms, and recovery are in reference/gotchas/SKILL.md → "Auto-upgrader clobbers editable install".

Changing MCP addons

Each addon (imap, telegram, feishu, wechat) is a separate repo with its own MCP server. See the mcp-manual skill for the registration workflow.

# Install in editable mode
~/.local/bin/uv pip install -e ~/Documents/GitHub/lingtai-imap \
    -p ~/.lingtai-tui/runtime/venv

# Register the MCP server
# See mcp-manual skill for the workflow

Changing skills

To author a new skill, see skills-manual for the full workflow (frontmatter schema, template, validator, publishing), and reference/skill-stewardship/SKILL.md for LingTai-specific stewardship.

Anatomy maintenance

Every ANATOMY.md is updated in the same commit as the code change it describes. The citation rules — file:line citations for every named symbol, line ranges over paragraphs, verified citations, repo-root-relative cross-references, no leaf stubs, no paraphrase — are owned by the lingtai-tui-anatomy skill (Go) and the lingtai-kernel-anatomy skill (Python). Read the matching one; don't work from a summary.

Cheap mechanical check

Scans anatomy citations for missing files and out-of-range line numbers. Set root/ext/prefix for the tree you are in — Go: tui, go|ts|tsx, tui/; Python: src/lingtai/kernel, py, src/.

python - <<'PY'
import pathlib, re
root, ext, prefix = pathlib.Path("tui"), r"go|ts|tsx", "tui/"
for anatomy in root.rglob("ANATOMY.md"):
    text = anatomy.read_text()
    for rel, line in re.findall(rf"`?([A-Za-z0-9_./-]+\.(?:{ext})):(\d+)", text):
        path = root / rel if not rel.startswith(prefix) else pathlib.Path(rel)
        if not path.exists():
            print(f"{anatomy}: missing citation target {rel}:{line}")
            continue
        n = len(path.read_text().splitlines())
        if int(line) > n:
            print(f"{anatomy}: out-of-range citation {rel}:{line} > {n}")
PY

It only catches missing files and out-of-range lines; you still have to open the cited code and confirm the claim.