Contribution Guide

Thanks for contributing to Wirechat! We're excited to have you help improve the project. Here's how to get started:

Setting up your environment

Use an existing Laravel project or create a new one. For new projects, you may choose livewire with your preferred authentication starter kit.

laravel new wirechat
cd wirechat

Set up WebSockets and broadcasting (using Reverb):

php artisan install:broadcasting
php artisan reverb:start

Note: The install:broadcasting command may prompt you to install Laravel Reverb and the necessary front-end packages like Echo. Accept these if you don't already have a WebSocket server set up.

In a separate terminal window, run:

php artisan queue:work --queue=messages,default

Then start your development servers:

composer dev

Installing Wirechat

Clone the Wirechat repository inside your Laravel test application:

git clone https://github.com/wirechat/wirechat.git

Add the local package as a path repository in your Laravel application's composer.json:

"repositories": [
    {
        "type": "path",
        "url": "/wirechat",
        "options": {
            "symlink": true
        }
    }
]

Require the local package, then run the installer and migrations:

composer require wirechat/wirechat:@dev
php artisan wirechat:install
php artisan migrate

After this setup, you can visit the /chats route to start conversations, send messages, and more.

Making Changes

Create a new branch prefixed with feat/ or fix/ for your work. Once you're done making changes, run the tests to make sure everything still works as expected:

composer install
composer test

Then commit your changes, push to your branch, and open a pull request on GitHub. Provide a clear title and a detailed description of your changes, and reference any related issues.

Reporting Bugs and Suggesting Features

If you've found a bug or have a suggestion for a new feature, please open an issue on GitHub.

Thank you for contributing!