langchain4j/CONTRIBUTING.md

Thank you for investing your time and effort in contributing to our project, we appreciate it a lot! 🤗

# General Guidelines

- If you want to contribute a bug fix or a new feature that isn't listed in the [issues](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/issues) yet, please open a new issue for it and link it to your PR.
- Follow [Google's Best Practices for Java Libraries](https://jlbp.dev/)
- Keep the code compatible with Java 8. We plan to increase the baseline to Java 17 a bit later.
- Avoid adding new dependencies as much as possible. If absolutely necessary, try to use the same libraries which are already used in the project.
- Write unit and/or integration tests for your code. This is critical: no tests, no review!
- Avoid making breaking changes. Always keep backward compatibility in mind.
- Follow existing naming conventions.
- Add Javadoc where necessary. There's no need to duplicate Javadoc from the implemented interfaces.
- Follow existing code style present in the project.
- Large features should be discussed with maintainers before implementation. Please ping @langchain4j in the comments on the issue.

# Priorities
All [issues](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/issues) are prioritized by maintainers. There are 4 priorities: [P1](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3AP1), [P2](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3AP2), [P3](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3AP3) and [P4](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3AP4).

Please start with the higher priorities. PRs will be reviewed in order of priority, with bugs being a higher priority than new features.

Please note that we do not have the capacity to review all PRs immediately.

# Opening an issue
- Please fill in all sections of the issue template.

# Opening a PR
- Link an [issue](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/issues) to your PR. If there is no issue yet, open one.
- Fill in all the sections of the PR template.
- Make sure you've added tests.
- Make sure you've added documentation where required.
- For new big features, make sure you've added an example in the [examples repository](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j-examples) (as a separate PR, linked to the main one).
- Please make it easier to review your PR:
  - Keep changes as small as possible.
  - Do not combine refactoring with changes in a single PR.
  - Avoid reformatting existing code.

# Guidelines on adding a new model integration
- [Integration with Anthropic](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/tree/main/langchain4j-anthropic) is a good example.
- Use the official SDK if available.
- If the official SDK is not available, use Retrofit and Gson to implement the client.
- Document the new integration [here](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/blob/main/README.md), [here](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/tree/main/docs/docs/integrations/language-models) and [here](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/blob/main/docs/docs/integrations/language-models/index.md).
- Add an example to the [examples repository](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j-examples), similar to [this](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j-examples/tree/main/anthropic-examples).
- Add a new module to the appropriate section of the [BOM](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/blob/main/langchain4j-bom/pom.xml).
- It would be great if you could add a [Spring Boot starter](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j-spring).

# Guidelines on adding a new embedding store integration
- [Integration with Chroma](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/tree/main/langchain4j-chroma) is a good example.
- Use the official SDK if available.
- If the official SDK is not available, use Retrofit and Gson to implement the client.
- `{IntegrationName}EmbeddingStoreIT` should extend from `EmbeddingStoreWithFilteringIT` or `EmbeddingStoreIT` and pass all tests.
- Document the new integration [here](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/blob/main/README.md), [here](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/tree/main/docs/docs/integrations/embedding-stores) and [here](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/blob/main/docs/docs/integrations/embedding-stores/index.md).
- Add an example to the [examples repository](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j-examples), similar to [this](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j-examples/tree/main/chroma-example).
- Add a new module to the appropriate section of the [BOM](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j/blob/main/langchain4j-bom/pom.xml).
- It would be great if you could add a [Spring Boot starter](https://github.com/langchain4j/langchain4j-spring).