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Contributing to Orca
Thanks for contributing to Orca.
Before You Start
- Keep changes scoped to a clear user-facing improvement, bug fix, or refactor.
- Orca targets macOS, Linux, and Windows. Avoid platform-specific assumptions in shortcuts, labels, and file paths.
- For keyboard shortcuts, use runtime platform checks in renderer code and
CmdOrCtrlin Electron menu accelerators. - For shortcut labels, show
⌘and⇧on macOS, andCtrl+andShift+on Linux and Windows. - For file paths, use Node or Electron path utilities such as
path.join.
Local Setup
pnpm install
pnpm dev
Branch Naming
Use a clear, descriptive branch name that reflects the change.
Good examples:
fix/ctrl-backspace-delete-wordfeat/shift-enter-newlinechore/update-contributor-guide
Avoid vague names like test, misc, or changes.
Before Opening a PR
Run the same checks that CI runs:
pnpm lint
pnpm typecheck
pnpm test
pnpm build
Add high-quality tests for behavior changes and bug fixes. Prefer tests that would actually catch a regression, not shallow coverage that only exercises the happy path.
If your change affects UI or interaction behavior, verify it on the platforms it could impact.
Pull Requests
Each pull request should:
- explain the user-visible change
- stay focused on a single topic when possible
- include screenshots or screen recordings for new UI or behavior changes
- include high-quality tests when behavior changes or bug fixes warrant them
- include a brief code review summary from your AI coding agent that explicitly checks cross-platform compatibility, plus a basic security audit summary
- mention any platform-specific behavior or testing notes
- Include your X (Twitter) handle! We love giving shoutouts to our contributors when we merge features on @orca_build.
If there is no visual change, say that explicitly in the PR description.
Release Process
Version bumps, tags, and releases are maintainer-managed. Do not include release version changes in a normal contribution unless a maintainer asks for them.
Cutting a release (maintainers)
All releases are cut from the Cut Release GitHub Actions workflow. There is no local pnpm release:* script — running releases locally is too easy to get wrong (dirty tree, wrong branch, stale main).
To cut a release:
- Open Actions → Cut Release.
- Click Run workflow and pick:
- kind: one of
rc,patch,minor,major. - ref: the branch, tag, or SHA to build from. Defaults to
main.
- kind: one of
- Run it.
The workflow resolves the next version from GitHub Releases, bumps package.json, tags, pushes, and kicks off the multi-platform build via release.yml.
How the next version is chosen:
All stable kinds (patch, minor, major) are computed off the latest stable release, ignoring any RCs in between.
kind=rc+ last tag was stable (e.g.v1.3.14) →v1.3.15-rc.0.kind=rc+ active RC series (e.g.v1.3.15-rc.2) →v1.3.15-rc.3.kind=patch+ latest stablev1.3.14→v1.3.15(regardless of any intermediate RCs).kind=minor+ latest stablev1.3.14→v1.4.0.kind=major+ latest stablev1.3.14→v2.0.0.
Safety guarantees:
- Stable releases are refused if the new version isn't strictly greater than the latest published stable. This is the only rule
electron-updateractually needs — it compares semver within thelatestchannel, so a regressing stable is the one thing that breaks auto-update for fresh installs. - Off-main releases (when
refis not the tip ofmain) only push the tag.mainis never mutated from a non-main ref, so you can safely release an older commit without polluting history. - When
refis the tip ofmain, the version-bump commit is fast-forwarded ontomainso localpackage.jsonstays in sync with what's shipped.
Common scenarios:
- Normal release:
kind=patch,ref=main. - "A bad commit just landed on main, release the commit before it":
kind=patch,ref=<good-sha>.mainis left alone; the tag points at the good SHA. Fix forward onmainafterward. - One-off RC for a feature branch:
kind=rc,ref=<branch-or-sha>. Produces an RC tag that does not touchmain. - Minor or major bump:
kind=minororkind=major.
The scheduled 2x/day RC cron in release-rc.yml is independent and continues to run automatically from main.