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Contributing

We welcome contributions to XAct.jl (the Julia core) and the sxact verification framework.

Getting Started

Please see the root CONTRIBUTING.md for full details on environment setup, code style, and workflow.

Quick Setup

# 1. Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/sashakile/XAct.jl.git
cd sxAct

# 2. Install Python dependencies
uv sync --extra dev

# 3. Run Julia tests
julia --project=. test/runtests.jl

# 4. Run Python tests
uv run pytest

Contribution Areas

1. Mathematical Implementation (Julia)

  • Adding new xAct-compatible functions (e.g., LieD, exterior calculus, spinors).
  • Optimizing permutation group algorithms in XPerm.jl.
  • Implementing the multi-term symmetry engine (Invar).
  • Extending xCoba coordinate component support in XTensor.jl.

2. Verification & Tooling (Python)

  • Adding new TOML test cases for existing operations.
  • Improving the normalization pipeline (regex and AST-based).
  • Expanding the property-based test catalog.
  • Improving oracle snapshot tooling.

3. Documentation & Tutorials

  • Writing new Literate.jl tutorials in docs/examples/.
  • Improving the differential geometry primer.
  • Adding worked examples for general relativity use-cases.

Testing Your Changes

Before submitting a PR, please ensure:

  1. julia --project=. test/runtests.jl passes.
  2. uv run pytest passes.
  3. just docs builds the documentation without errors.