# Contributing

## Raising issues

Before raising an issue, make sure you have checked the open and closed issues to see if an answer is provided there.
There may also be an answer to your question on [stackoverflow].

Please provide the following information with your issue to enable us to respond as quickly as possible.

* The relevant versions of the packages you are using.
* The steps to recreate your issue.
* An executable code example where possible. You can fork this repository and use one of the [examples] to quickly recreate your issue.

### Commit messages

Pact Standalone has recently migrated to the [Conventional Changelog](https://github.com/bcoe/conventional-changelog-standard/blob/master/convention.md)
commit message conventions to simplify automation process. Please ensure you follow the guidelines.

Take a look at the git history (`git log`) to get the gist of it.

## Pull requests

* Write tests for any changes
* Follow existing code style and conventions
* Separate unrelated changes into multiple pull requests
* For bigger changes, make sure you start a discussion first by creating an issue and explaining the intended change

[stackoverflow]: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/pact
