Maestro/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to Maestro

Thank you for your interest in contributing to Maestro! This document provides guidelines, setup instructions, and practical guidance for developers.

For architecture details, see ARCHITECTURE.md. For quick reference while coding, see CLAUDE.md.

Table of Contents

• Development Setup
• Project Structure
• Development Scripts
• Common Development Tasks
• Code Style
• Debugging Guide
• Commit Messages
• Pull Request Process
• Building for Release

Development Setup

Prerequisites

• Node.js 20+
• npm or yarn
• Git

Getting Started

# Fork and clone the repository
git clone <your-fork-url>
cd maestro

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run in development mode with hot reload
npm run dev

Project Structure

maestro/
├── src/
│   ├── main/              # Electron main process (Node.js backend)
│   │   ├── index.ts       # Entry point, IPC handlers
│   │   ├── process-manager.ts
│   │   ├── preload.ts     # Secure IPC bridge
│   │   └── utils/         # Shared utilities
│   ├── renderer/          # React frontend (Desktop UI)
│   │   ├── App.tsx        # Main coordinator
│   │   ├── components/    # React components
│   │   ├── hooks/         # Custom React hooks
│   │   ├── services/      # IPC wrappers (git, process)
│   │   ├── contexts/      # React contexts
│   │   ├── constants/     # Themes, shortcuts, priorities
│   │   ├── types/         # TypeScript definitions
│   │   └── utils/         # Frontend utilities
│   ├── cli/               # CLI tool (maestro-cli)
│   │   ├── index.ts       # CLI entry point
│   │   ├── commands/      # Command implementations
│   │   ├── services/      # CLI services (storage, batch processor)
│   │   └── output/        # Output formatters (human, JSONL)
│   ├── shared/            # Shared code across processes
│   │   ├── theme-types.ts # Theme type definitions
│   │   └── templateVariables.ts # Template variable system
│   └── web/               # Web interface (Remote Control)
│       └── ...            # Mobile-optimized React app
├── build/                 # Application icons
├── .github/workflows/     # CI/CD automation
└── dist/                  # Build output (generated)

Development Scripts

npm run dev            # Start dev server with hot reload
npm run dev:web        # Start web interface dev server
npm run build          # Full production build (main + renderer + web + CLI)
npm run build:main     # Build main process only
npm run build:renderer # Build renderer only
npm run build:web      # Build web interface only
npm run build:cli      # Build CLI tool only
npm start              # Start built application
npm run clean          # Clean build artifacts
npm run package        # Package for all platforms
npm run package:mac    # Package for macOS
npm run package:win    # Package for Windows
npm run package:linux  # Package for Linux

Common Development Tasks

Adding a New UI Feature

1. Plan the state - Determine if it's per-session or global
2. Add state management - In useSettings.ts (global) or session state
3. Create persistence - Use wrapper function pattern for global settings
4. Implement UI - Follow Tailwind + theme color pattern
5. Add keyboard shortcuts - In shortcuts.ts and App.tsx
6. Test focus flow - Ensure Escape key navigation works

Adding a New Modal

1. Create component in src/renderer/components/
2. Add priority in src/renderer/constants/modalPriorities.ts:

   MY_MODAL: 600,
   

3. Register with layer stack (see ARCHITECTURE.md)
4. Use proper ARIA attributes:

   <div role="dialog" aria-modal="true" aria-label="My Modal">
   

Adding Keyboard Shortcuts

1. Add definition in src/renderer/constants/shortcuts.ts:

   myShortcut: { id: 'myShortcut', label: 'My Action', keys: ['Meta', 'k'] },
   

2. Add handler in App.tsx keyboard event listener:

   else if (isShortcut(e, 'myShortcut')) {
     e.preventDefault();
     // Handler code
   }
   

Supported modifiers: Meta (Cmd/Win), Ctrl, Alt, Shift Arrow keys: ArrowLeft, ArrowRight, ArrowUp, ArrowDown

Adding a New Setting

1. Add state in useSettings.ts:

   const [mySetting, setMySettingState] = useState(defaultValue);
   

2. Create wrapper function:

   const setMySetting = (value) => {
     setMySettingState(value);
     window.maestro.settings.set('mySetting', value);
   };
   

3. Load in useEffect:

   const saved = await window.maestro.settings.get('mySetting');
   if (saved !== undefined) setMySettingState(saved);
   

4. Add to return object and export.

Adding a Slash Command

Slash commands are now Custom AI Commands defined in Settings, not in code. They are prompt macros that get substituted and sent to the AI agent.

To add a built-in slash command that users see by default, add it to the Custom AI Commands default list in useSettings.ts. Each command needs:

{
  command: '/mycommand',
  description: 'Does something useful',
  prompt: 'The prompt text with {{TEMPLATE_VARIABLES}}',
}

For commands that need programmatic behavior (not just prompts), handle them in App.tsx where slash commands are processed before being sent to the agent.

Adding a New Theme

Maestro has 16 themes across 3 modes: dark, light, and vibe.

Add to src/renderer/constants/themes.ts:

'my-theme': {
  id: 'my-theme',
  name: 'My Theme',
  mode: 'dark',  // 'dark', 'light', or 'vibe'
  colors: {
    bgMain: '#...',           // Main background
    bgSidebar: '#...',        // Sidebar background
    bgActivity: '#...',       // Activity/hover background
    border: '#...',           // Border color
    textMain: '#...',         // Primary text
    textDim: '#...',          // Secondary/dimmed text
    accent: '#...',           // Accent color
    accentDim: 'rgba(...)',   // Dimmed accent (with alpha)
    accentText: '#...',       // Text in accent contexts
    accentForeground: '#...', // Text ON accent backgrounds (contrast)
    success: '#...',          // Success state (green)
    warning: '#...',          // Warning state (yellow/orange)
    error: '#...',            // Error state (red)
  }
}

Then add the ID to ThemeId type in src/shared/theme-types.ts and to the isValidThemeId function.

Adding an IPC Handler

1. Add handler in src/main/index.ts:

   ipcMain.handle('myNamespace:myAction', async (_, arg1, arg2) => {
     // Implementation
     return result;
   });
   

2. Expose in src/main/preload.ts:

   myNamespace: {
     myAction: (arg1, arg2) => ipcRenderer.invoke('myNamespace:myAction', arg1, arg2),
   },
   

3. Add types to MaestroAPI interface in preload.ts.

Code Style

TypeScript

• Strict mode enabled
• Interface definitions for all data structures
• Export types via preload.ts for renderer

React Components

• Functional components with hooks
• Keep components focused and small
• Use Tailwind for layout, inline styles for theme colors
• Maintain keyboard accessibility
• Use tabIndex={-1} + outline-none for programmatic focus

Security

• Always use execFileNoThrow for external commands (never shell-based execution)
• Keep context isolation enabled
• Use preload script for all IPC
• Sanitize all user inputs
• Use spawn() with shell: false

Debugging Guide

Focus Not Working

1. Add tabIndex={0} or tabIndex={-1} to element
2. Add outline-none class to hide focus ring
3. Use ref={(el) => el?.focus()} for auto-focus
4. Check for e.stopPropagation() blocking events

Settings Not Persisting

1. Ensure wrapper function calls window.maestro.settings.set()
2. Check loading code in useSettings.ts useEffect
3. Verify the key name matches in both save and load

Modal Escape Not Working

1. Register modal with layer stack (don't handle Escape locally)
2. Check priority in modalPriorities.ts
3. Use ref pattern to avoid re-registration:

   const onCloseRef = useRef(onClose);
   onCloseRef.current = onClose;
   

Theme Colors Not Applying

1. Use style={{ color: theme.colors.textMain }} instead of Tailwind color classes
2. Check theme prop is passed to component
3. Never use hardcoded hex colors for themed elements

Process Output Not Showing

1. Check session ID matches (with -ai or -terminal suffix)
2. Verify onData listener is registered
3. Check process spawned successfully (check pid > 0)
4. Look for errors in DevTools console

DevTools

Open via Quick Actions (Cmd+K → "Toggle DevTools") or set DEBUG=true env var.

Commit Messages

Use conventional commits:

feat: new feature
fix: bug fix
docs: documentation changes
refactor: code refactoring
test: test additions/changes
chore: build process or tooling changes

Example: feat: add context usage visualization

Pull Request Process

1. Create a feature branch from main
2. Make your changes following the code style
3. Test thoroughly (keyboard navigation, themes, focus)
4. Update documentation if needed
5. Submit PR with clear description
6. Wait for review

Building for Release

1. Prepare Icons

Place icons in build/ directory:

• icon.icns - macOS (512x512 or 1024x1024)
• icon.ico - Windows (256x256)
• icon.png - Linux (512x512)

2. Update Version

Update in package.json:

{
  "version": "0.1.0"
}

3. Build Distributables

npm run package           # All platforms
npm run package:mac       # macOS (.dmg, .zip)
npm run package:win       # Windows (.exe)
npm run package:linux     # Linux (.AppImage, .deb, .rpm)

Output in release/ directory.

GitHub Actions

Create a release tag to trigger automated builds:

git tag v0.1.0
git push origin v0.1.0

GitHub Actions will build for all platforms and create a release.

Questions?

Open a GitHub Discussion or create an Issue.