Contributing - UpstandPlatform/OpenRive GitHub Wiki

Thanks for helping build OpenRive. Every contribution counts: bug reports, docs fixes, templates, file-format coverage and features.

Ways to contribute

You want to…	Start here
Report a bug or a file that renders wrong	Bug report
Suggest a feature	Feature request
Propose or build a template	Template request · Building Templates
Improve docs	Writing Docs
Write code	Development
Work with AI agents	AI Collaboration
Report a security vulnerability	Security policy — use private reporting
Read the community standards	Code of Conduct

Quick start for code contributions

OpenRive requires Bun 1.4 or newer and Git. Docker is optional for PostgreSQL-backed development. The full setup and architecture notes are in the development guide.

git clone https://github.com/UpstandPlatform/OpenRive.git
cd OpenRive
bun install
bun run dev                 # http://localhost:3000

Open or find an issue first for anything bigger than a small fix, so we can agree on the approach.
Branch from main: feat/assets-drag, fix/text-bounds, docs/self-hosting.
Make the change following the code style.
Check it:
```
bun run check-types
bun run lint
bun run test
```
Also run bun run test:mcp if you touched the editing API or tools, and bun run test:corpus -- <rive-runtime>/tests if you touched the format layer (see testing).
Open a pull request using the template. Include screenshots or a short recording for UI changes, and attach .riv files for format fixes.

Project layout

Area	Path
Web editor and REST API	`apps/web/`
CLI, TUI and MCP server	`apps/cli/`
Electrobun desktop app	`apps/desktop/`
`.riv` format and editing core	`packages/rive/`
Database schema and queries	`packages/db/`
Shared zod schemas and types	`packages/shared/`
Shared React components	`packages/ui/`

The shared, DOM-free editing API lives in packages/rive/src/api.ts. Editor commands belong in apps/web/src/components/editor/actions.ts, and database changes belong in packages/db/src/schema.ts.

Ground rules

Never break files. Unmodified .riv files must round-trip byte for byte. Format changes need tests.
Local-first and login-free. Don't add accounts, telemetry or required network calls. Optional integrations must be off by default.
One editing API. Features that create or change content belong in packages/rive/src/api.ts (or a DOM-free module next to it), so the UI, CLI, MCP and Code panel all get them.
Keyboard and menus. New commands go in the action registry (apps/web/src/components/editor/actions.ts) with a sensible shortcut when appropriate.
Docs with features. User-visible changes update the relevant page in docs/.
Be kind and constructive. Assume good intent.
Follow the Code of Conduct in all OpenRive community spaces.

License

By contributing, you agree that your contributions are licensed under the MIT License.

_{This page is generated from CONTRIBUTING.md. Suggest an edit.}