HealthLog/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to HealthLog

Contributions are welcome. This guide covers how to set up the project and submit changes.

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• pnpm
• PostgreSQL 16+ (or Docker)
• Git

Setup

git clone https://github.com/MBombeck/HealthLog.git
cd HealthLog
cp .env.example .env

Edit .env and configure at minimum:

POSTGRES_PASSWORD=<base64, 24 bytes>
DATABASE_URL="postgresql://healthlog:${POSTGRES_PASSWORD}@db:5432/healthlog"
ENCRYPTION_KEY=<64-char hex>
API_TOKEN_HMAC_KEY=<64-char hex>

Generate the three secrets:

echo "POSTGRES_PASSWORD=$(openssl rand -base64 24)" >> .env
echo "ENCRYPTION_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)"       >> .env
echo "API_TOKEN_HMAC_KEY=$(openssl rand -hex 32)"   >> .env

With Docker (database only)

docker compose up -d db
pnpm install
pnpm db:generate
pnpm db:migrate
pnpm dev

Full Docker

docker compose up -d

Development Workflow

pnpm dev             # Start dev server (http://localhost:3000)
pnpm lint            # ESLint
pnpm format:check    # Prettier (check)
pnpm typecheck       # TypeScript strict mode
pnpm test            # Vitest
pnpm build           # Next.js production build

All five checks must pass before submitting a PR. The full one-liner that mirrors CI:

pnpm typecheck && pnpm lint && pnpm test && pnpm format:check && pnpm build

Code Conventions

• TypeScript strict mode -- avoid any. Where it's truly unavoidable (e.g. variadic Next.js handler signatures in src/lib/api-handler.ts), document the reason inline.
• English-default UI -- the default locale is English. German is user-selectable. Code, comments, commit messages, and docs are English. All user-facing strings go through t("key") with translations in both messages/en.json and messages/de.json. The i18n-locale-integrity.test.ts suite blocks merges if keys drift between locales or duplicate at any nesting depth.
• API responses follow the { data, error } envelope via apiSuccess() / apiError() in src/lib/api-response.ts. Wrap every route handler in apiHandler() (src/lib/api-handler.ts) for error handling, structured Wide-Event logging, and x-request-id propagation.
• Zod v4 (import { ... } from "zod/v4") for input validation in API routes and forms.
• shadcn/ui components (new-york style) for UI primitives.
• Dracula theme -- dark mode is the default; a light/system toggle is exposed in the topbar. Chart and accent colors use the --dracula-* CSS tokens so both themes stay coherent.

See CONTRIBUTING-AI.md for detailed architecture and patterns.

Database Changes

# After modifying prisma/schema.prisma:
pnpm db:migrate     # Creates a new migration
pnpm db:generate    # Regenerates Prisma client

Always include the migration file in your PR.

Branch Model

HealthLog uses a long-lived develop branch for daily work and reserves main for releases.

   feature/* ──┐
               ├──► develop ──► (release-merge) ──► main ──► tag vX.Y.Z ──► GHCR build ──► Coolify deploy
   fix/*    ──┘                                        │
                                                       └──► hotfix/* ──► main + tag, then merge back to develop

Two simple rules:

• develop is the daily target. Open feature, fix, test, and docs PRs against develop. Builds do not run on develop pushes — the branch is free of release ceremony.
• main is release-only. It receives a single release-merge per version, gets tagged (v1.4.20, etc.), and that tag is what triggers the Docker image build, the GHCR push, and the Coolify deploy. Pushes to main outside a release are reserved for hotfixes that cannot wait for the next cycle.

If a critical bug needs a hotfix:

1. Branch from main: git checkout -b hotfix/something main
2. Land the fix; tag a patch release on main
3. Merge main back into develop so the next release inherits the fix

End users: track the latest v* tag (or :latest on GHCR). The main branch always equals the latest release.

Contributors: track develop. PRs target develop.

Pull Requests

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch off develop (git checkout -b feature/your-feature develop)
3. Make your changes
4. Ensure all checks pass (pnpm typecheck && pnpm lint && pnpm test && pnpm format:check && pnpm build)
5. Submit a PR against develop with a clear description of the changes

Translations

HealthLog ships with English (en) and German (de) maintained by the project, plus French (fr), Spanish (es), Italian (it), and Polish (pl) that are AI-initial, community-maintained. The maintained locales are reviewed line-by-line; the community-maintained ones surface a small banner inviting users to improve them.

Improving an existing locale

Translation files live at messages/<locale>.json. Each key matches the same key in messages/en.json (which is the source-of-truth — never delete a key here without coordinating).

To suggest a fix or improvement:

1. Fork the repository.
2. Create a branch like i18n-fr/<area> (e.g. i18n-fr/coach-prompts, i18n-pl/dashboard).
3. Edit messages/<locale>.json. Keep the JSON valid; the i18n integrity test will flag missing or extra keys against en.json before CI accepts the PR.
4. Open a PR titled i18n(<locale>): <area>. Describe what was unclear, awkward, or wrong in the previous wording.

Adding a new locale

If you want to introduce a locale that isn't shipped (e.g. nl, pt-BR, cs):

1. Open an issue first using the Translation request template. We'll confirm the locale is in scope and decide whether it joins the AI-initial-community-maintained tier or the maintained tier.
2. Copy messages/en.json to messages/<locale>.json.
3. Translate. AI assistance is welcome as a starting point but the PR description should note whether it's an AI-initial pass or a fully human-reviewed one — that information drives the banner state.
4. Add the locale to the supported list in src/lib/i18n/locales.ts (or wherever the registry lives — grep SUPPORTED_LOCALES).
5. The Coach system prompts at src/lib/ai/prompts/coach-prompt.ts and src/lib/ai/prompts/insight-generator.ts and the doctor-report PDF strings need translation too. Include those in the same PR.
6. Run pnpm test -- i18n-integrity locally before submitting.

Style guide for translators

• Tone: warm but reserved, curious not pushy. Examples in EN: "Your blood pressure has settled into the green zone" — not "Awesome, your BP is amazing!"
• Numbers and units stay numeric: "120/80 mmHg" stays "120/80 mmHg" in every locale.
• Brand terms stay untranslated: HealthLog, Coach, Tagesbriefing (the DE Coach term — leave as-is in EN if it appears).
• Medical terms: prefer the language community's native medical vocabulary (e.g. "Blutdruck" in DE, "tensión arterial" in ES, "ciśnienie krwi" in PL). When in doubt, mirror the style used in the country's clinical guidelines.
• Avoid US-specific units (lb, oz, °F) — HealthLog is metric-first.
• No PII in copy. No real names, no real readings. Sample data uses round numbers.

Long-term

When the community grows beyond ad-hoc PRs, we'll spin up a self-hosted Weblate instance. That replaces the JSON-PR workflow with a web UI but keeps every translation under our own roof — no third-party telemetry. Tracking issue: v1.6 — Weblate self-hosted on edge-01.

Code of Conduct

This project follows the Contributor Covenant 2.1. By participating, you agree to uphold its standards. Reports of unacceptable behavior go to conduct@bombeck.io.

Security

If you find a security vulnerability, do not open a public issue. See SECURITY.md for responsible disclosure instructions.

License

By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the AGPL-3.0 license.