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Contributing to Squad

Welcome to Squad development. This guide explains how to build, test, and contribute.

Prerequisites

  • Node.js ≥20.0.0
  • npm ≥10.0.0 (for workspace support)
  • Git with SSH agent (for package resolution)
  • gh CLI (for GitHub integration testing)

Monorepo Structure

Squad is an npm workspace monorepo with two packages:

squad/
├── packages/squad-cli/       # CLI tool (@bradygaster/squad-cli)
├── packages/squad-sdk/       # Runtime SDK (@bradygaster/squad-sdk)
├── src/                      # Legacy CLI code (migrating to packages/)
├── dist/                     # Compiled output
├── .squad/                   # Team state and agent history
├── docs/                     # Documentation and proposals
└── test-fixtures/            # Test data

Package Independence

  • squad-sdk: Core runtime, agent orchestration, tool registry. No CLI dependencies.
  • squad-cli: Command-line interface. Depends on squad-sdk.

Each package has independent versioning via changesets. A change to squad-sdk may bump only squad-sdk; a change to CLI bumps only squad-cli.

Getting Started

1. Clone and Install

Step 1: Fork the repo on GitHub

Go to https://github.com/bradygaster/squad and click "Fork" to create your own copy.

Step 2: Clone your fork

git clone git@github.com:{yourusername}/squad.git
cd squad

Step 3: Add upstream remote

git remote add upstream git@github.com:bradygaster/squad.git

Step 4: Fetch the dev branch

git fetch upstream dev

Step 5: Install dependencies

npm install

npm workspaces automatically links local packages. @bradygaster/squad-cli can import from @bradygaster/squad-sdk without publishing.

2. Build

# Compile TypeScript to dist/
npm run build

# Build + bundle CLI (includes esbuild)
npm run build:cli

# Watch mode (auto-recompile on changes)
npm run dev

3. Test

# Run all tests (Vitest)
npm test

# Watch mode
npm run test:watch

4. Lint

# Type check only (no emit)
npm run lint

5. Keeping Your Fork in Sync

Before opening or updating a PR, rebase your branch on the latest upstream dev:

git fetch upstream
git rebase upstream/dev
git push origin your-branch --force-with-lease

Always rebase before opening or updating a PR to ensure your changes are based on the latest integration branch.

Development Workflow

Creating a Feature Branch

Follow the branch naming convention from .squad/decisions.md:

# For user-facing work, use user_name/issue-number-slug format
git checkout -b bradygaster/217-readme-help-update
# or
git checkout -b keaton/210-resolution-api

# For team-internal work, use agent_name/issue-number-slug
git checkout -b mcmanus/documentation
git checkout -b edie/refactor-router

Before Committing

  1. Compile: npm run build (or npm run dev watch mode)
  2. Test: npm test
  3. Type check: npm run lint

All checks must pass before commit.

Commit Message Format

Keep messages clear and concise. Reference the issue number:

Brief description of change

Longer explanation if needed. Reference #210, #217, etc.

Co-authored-by: Copilot <223556219+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>

The Co-authored-by trailer is required for all commits (added by Copilot CLI).

Pull Request Process

  1. Add a changeset: npx changeset add (required before PR — see Changesets section)
  2. Push your branch: git push origin {yourusername}/217-readme-help-update
  3. Create a PR with explicit base and head: gh pr create --base dev --repo bradygaster/squad --head {yourusername}:your-branch
  4. Link the issue: Add Closes #217 to PR description
  5. Wait for CI checks to pass
  6. Request review from the team (agents will respond via comments)

Code Style & Conventions

Squad follows strict TypeScript conventions:

  • Type Safety: strict: true, noUncheckedIndexedAccess: true
  • No @ts-ignore — if a type error exists, fix the code
  • ESM-only — no CommonJS, no dual-package
  • Async/await — use async iterators for streaming
  • Error handling: Structured errors with fatal(), error(), warn(), info()
  • No hype in docs — factual, substantiated claims only (tone ceiling)

Documentation

  • README.md — User-facing guide, quick start, architecture overview
  • CONTRIBUTING.md — This file
  • docs/proposals/ — Design docs for significant changes (required before code)
  • .squad/agents/[name]/history.md — Agent learnings and project context

All docs in v1 are internal only. No public docs site until v2.

Local Development Versioning

When developing Squad locally, set the package version to {next-version}-preview. For example, if the last published version is 0.8.5.1, the local dev version should be 0.8.6-preview.

This convention makes squad version show the preview tag locally, clearly indicating you're running unreleased source code, not the published npm package. The release agent will bump this to the final version at publish time, then immediately back to the next preview version for continued development.

Making the squad Command Use Your Local Build

To make the squad CLI command globally available and pointing to your local development build:

npm run build -w packages/squad-sdk && npm run build -w packages/squad-cli
npm link -w packages/squad-cli

After this, squad version will show 0.8.6-preview (or the current preview version). When you make code changes and rebuild, the squad command automatically picks up the changes—no need to reinstall. To verify your local build is active, the version output should include the -preview tag.

To revert back to the globally installed npm package version, run:

npm unlink -w packages/squad-cli

Changesets: Independent Versioning

Squad uses @changesets/cli for independent package versioning.

Adding a Changeset

Before your PR is merged, add a changeset describing your changes:

npx changeset add

This prompts:

  1. Which packages changed? (squad-sdk, squad-cli, both)
  2. What type? (patch, minor, major)
  3. Brief summary of changes

Creates a file in .changeset/ that's merged with your PR.

Example Changeset

---
"@bradygaster/squad-sdk": patch
"@bradygaster/squad-cli": patch
---

Update help text and README for npm distribution. Add squad status command to docs.

Release Workflow

The team runs changesets on the main branch (via GitHub Actions):

npx changeset publish

This:

  1. Bumps versions in package.json
  2. Generates CHANGELOG.md entries
  3. Publishes to npm
  4. Creates GitHub releases

You don't need to manually version — changesets handle it.

Branch Strategy

  • main — Stable, published releases. All merges include changesets.
  • insider — Pre-release features, edge cases. Tag releases as @insider.
  • bradygaster/dev — Integration branch. All PRs from forks must target this branch, not main.
  • user/issue-slug — Feature branches from users or agents.

Continuous Integration

GitHub Actions runs on every push:

  1. Build: npm run build and npm run build:cli
  2. Test: npm test
  3. Lint: npm run lint
  4. Changeset status: npm run changeset:check (ensures PRs include a changeset)

All checks must pass before merge.

Common Tasks

Add a CLI Command

  1. Create the command file in src/cli/commands/[name].js
  2. Add the route in src/index.ts (the main() function)
  3. Update help text in the --help handler
  4. Add tests in test/cli/commands/[name].test.ts
  5. Document in README.md

Add an SDK Export

  1. Implement the feature in src/[module]/
  2. Export from src/index.ts
  3. Add tests
  4. Document in README.md SDK section

Migrate Legacy Code

The src/ directory contains legacy code migrating to packages/squad-cli/ and packages/squad-sdk/. When moving code:

  1. Create the new file in the target package
  2. Update imports in both locations
  3. Ensure tests follow the file
  4. Delete the old src/ file once all references are updated
  5. Document the migration in .squad/agents/[name]/history.md

Key Files

  • src/index.ts — CLI entry point and routing
  • src/resolution.ts — Squad path resolution (repo vs. global)
  • .squad/decisions.md — Team decisions and conventions
  • .squad/agents/[name]/charter.md — Agent identity and expertise
  • package.json — Workspace and script definitions

Questions?

Open an issue or ask in .squad/ discussion channels. The team is here to help.

License

All contributions are MIT-licensed. By submitting a PR, you agree to this license.