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title: Contributing to VictoriaMetrics
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- /CONTRIBUTING.html
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# Contributing to VictoriaMetrics

If you like VictoriaMetrics and want to contribute, then it would be great:

- Joining VictoriaMetrics community Slack ([Slack inviter](https://slack.victoriametrics.com/) and [Slack channel](https://victoriametrics.slack.com/))
  and helping other community members there.
- Filing issues, feature requests and questions [at VictoriaMetrics GitHub](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues).
- Improving [VictoriaMetrics docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/). The docs' sources are located [here](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/tree/master/docs).
- Spreading the word about VictoriaMetrics via various channels:
  - conference talks
  - blogposts, articles and [case studies](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/blob/master/docs/CaseStudies.md)
  - comments at Hacker News, Twitter, LinkedIn, Reddit, Facebook, etc.
  - experience sharing with colleagues.
- Convincing your management to sign [Enterprise contract](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/enterprise/) with VictoriaMetrics.

We are open to third-party pull requests provided they follow [KISS design principle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KISS_principle):

- Prefer simple code and architecture.
- Avoid complex abstractions.
- Avoid magic code and fancy algorithms.
- Apply optimizations, which make the code harder to understand, only if [profiling](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/#profiling)
  shows significant improvements in performance and scalability or significant reduction in RAM usage.
  Profiling must be performed on [Go benchmarks](https://pkg.go.dev/testing#hdr-Benchmarks) and on production workload.
- Avoid [big external dependencies](https://medium.com/@valyala/stripping-dependency-bloat-in-victoriametrics-docker-image-983fb5912b0d).
- Minimize the number of moving parts in the distributed system.
- Avoid automated decisions, which may hurt cluster availability, consistency, performance or debuggability.

Adhering `KISS` principle simplifies the resulting code and architecture, so it can be reviewed, understood and debugged by wider audience.

Before sending a pull request to [VictoriaMetrics repository](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/) please check the following:

- [ ] The pull request contains clear description of the change, with links to the related GitHub issues and [docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/), if needed.
- [ ] Commit messages contain concise yet clear descriptions. Include links to related GitHub issues in commit messages, if such issues exist.
- [ ] All the commits are signed and include `Signed-off-by` line. Use `git commit -s` to include `Signed-off-by` your commits.
  See this [doc](https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Signing-Your-Work) about how to sign your commits.
- [ ] Tests are passing locally. Use `make test` to run all tests locally.
- [ ] Linting is passing locally. Use `make check-all` to run all linters locally.
- [ ] If the change fixes some bug, it would be great to cover it by [tests](https://pkg.go.dev/testing) (if it isn't covered yet by existsing tests).
- [ ] If the change improves pefromance or reduces resource usage, then it would be great to add [benchmarks](https://pkg.go.dev/testing#hdr-Benchmarks)
      and mention benchmark results before and after the change in the description to the pull request.

Further checks are optional for External Contributions:

- [ ] The change is described in **clear user-readable** form at [docs/CHANGELOG.md](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/blob/master/docs/CHANGELOG.md),
  since it is read by **VictoriaMetrics users** who may not know implementation details of VictoriaMetrics products. The change description must **clearly** answer the following questions:
  - What does this change do?
  - Why this change is needed?
  The change description must link to related GitHub issues and the related docs, if any.

  Tips for writing a good changelog message:

  - Write a human-readable changelog message that describes the problem and the solution.
  - Use specific text, which can be googled by users interested in the change, such as an error message, metric name, command-line flag name, etc.
  - Include a link to the issue or pull request in your changelog message.
  - Provide a link to the relevant documentation for any new features you add or modify.

- [ ] After your pull request is merged, please add a message to the issue with instructions for how to test the fix or try the feature you added before the new release.
  [Here is an example](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/4048#issuecomment-1546453726).
- [ ] Do not close the original issue before the change is released. Please note, in some cases Github can automatically closes the issue once PR is merged. Re-open the issue in such case.
- [ ] If the change introduces a new feature, this feature must be documented in **user-readable** form at the appropriate parts of [VictoriaMetrics docs](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/).
  The docs' sources are located in the [`docs` folder](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/tree/master/docs).

Examples of good changelog messages:

1. FEATURE: [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent/): add support for [VictoriaMetrics remote write protocol](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent/#victoriametrics-remote-write-protocol) when [sending / receiving data to / from Kafka](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmagent/#kafka-integration). This protocol allows saving egress network bandwidth costs when sending data from `vmagent` to `Kafka` located in another datacenter or availability zone. See [this feature request](https://github.com/VictoriaMetrics/VictoriaMetrics/issues/1225).

2. BUGFIX: [stream aggregation](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/stream-aggregation/): suppress `series after dedup` error message in logs when `-remoteWrite.streamAggr.dedupInterval` command-line flag is set at [vmagent](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/vmgent.html) or when `-streamAggr.dedupInterval` command-line flag is set at [single-node VictoriaMetrics](https://docs.victoriametrics.com/).