netbox/CONTRIBUTING.md

Looking for help? NetBox has a vast, active community of fellow users that may be able to provide assistance. Just start a discussion right here on GitHub! Or if you'd prefer to chat, join us live in the #netbox channel on the NetDev Community Slack!

🐛 Report a bug · 💡 Suggest a feature · ⤴️ Submit a pull request

🧩 Create a plugin · ⛑️ Become a maintainer · ❤️ Other ideas

ℹ️ Welcome to the Stadium!

In her book Working in Public, Nadia Eghbal defines four production models for open source projects, categorized by contributor and user growth: federations, clubs, toys, and stadiums. The NetBox project fits her definition of a stadium very well:

Stadiums are projects with low contributor growth and high user growth. While they may receive casual contributions, their regular contributor base does not grow proportionately to their users. As a result, they tend to be powered by one or a few developers.

The bulk of NetBox's development is carried out by a handful of core maintainers, with occasional contributions from collaborators in the community. We find the stadium analogy very useful in conveying the roles and obligations of both contributors and users.

If you're a contributor, actively working on the center stage, you have an obligation to produce quality content that will benefit the project as a whole. Conversely, if you're in the audience consuming the work being produced, you have the option of making requests and suggestions, but must also recognize that contributors are under no obligation to act on them.

NetBox users are welcome to participate in either role, on stage or in the crowd. We ask only that you acknowledge the role you've chosen and respect the roles of others.

General Tips for Working on GitHub

• Register for a free GitHub account if you haven't already.
• You can use GitHub Markdown for formatting text and adding images.
• To help mitigate notification spam, please avoid "bumping" issues with no activity. (To vote an issue up or down, use a 👍 or 👎 reaction.)
• Please avoid pinging members with @ unless they've previously expressed interest or involvement with that particular issue.
• Familiarize yourself with this list of discussion anti-patterns and make every effort to avoid them.

🐛 Reporting Bugs

⚠️ Bug reports are used to call attention to some unintended or unexpected behavior in NetBox, such as when an error occurs or when the result of taking some action is inconsistent with the documentation. Bug reports may not be used to suggest new functionality; please see "feature requests" below if that is your goal.

• First, ensure that you're running the latest stable version of NetBox. If you're running an older version, it's likely that the bug has already been fixed.

• Next, search our issues list to see if the bug you've found has already been reported. If you come across a bug report that seems to match, please click "add a reaction" in the top right corner of the issue and add a thumbs up (👍). This will help draw more attention to it. Any comments you can add to provide additional information or context would also be much appreciated.

• If you can't find any existing issues (open or closed) that seem to match yours, you're welcome to submit a new bug report. Be sure to complete the entire report template, including detailed steps that someone triaging your issue can follow to confirm the reported behavior. (If we're not able to replicate the bug based on the information provided, we'll ask for additional detail.)

• Some other tips to keep in mind:

  • Error messages and screenshots are especially helpful.
  • Don't prepend your issue title with a label like [Bug]; the proper label will be assigned automatically.
  • Ensure that your reproduction instructions don't reference data in our demo instance, which gets rebuilt nightly.
  • Verify that you have GitHub notifications enabled and are subscribed to your issue after submitting.
  • We appreciate your patience as bugs are prioritized by their severity, impact, and difficulty to resolve.

• For more information on how bug reports are handled, please see our issue intake policy.

💡 Feature Requests

• First, check the GitHub issues list to see if the feature you have in mind has already been proposed. If you happen to find an open feature request that matches your idea, click "add a reaction" in the top right corner of the issue and add a thumbs up (👍). This ensures that the issue has a better chance of receiving attention. Also feel free to add a comment with any additional justification for the feature.

• If you have a rough idea that's not quite ready for formal submission yet, start a GitHub discussion instead. This is a great way to test the viability and narrow down the scope of a new feature prior to submitting a formal proposal, and can serve to generate interest in your idea from other community members.

• Once you're ready, submit a feature request using this template. Be sure to provide sufficient context and detail to convey exactly what you're proposing and why. The stronger your use case, the better chance your proposal has of being accepted.

• Some other tips to keep in mind:

  • Don't prepend your issue title with a label like [Feature]; the proper label will be assigned automatically.
  • Try to anticipate any likely questions about your proposal and provide that information proactively.
  • Verify that you have GitHub notifications enabled and are subscribed to your issue after submitting.
  • You're welcome to volunteer to implement your FR, but don't submit a pull request until it has been approved.

• For more information on how feature requests are handled, please see our issue intake policy.

⤴️ Submitting Pull Requests

• Pull requests (a feature of GitHub) are used to propose changes to NetBox's code base. Our process generally goes like this:

  • A user opens a new issue (bug report or feature request)
  • A maintainer triages the issue and may mark it as needing an owner
  • The issue's author can volunteer to own it, or someone else can
  • A maintainer assigns the issue to whomever volunteers
  • The issue owner submits a pull request that will resolve the issue
  • A maintainer reviews and merges the pull request, closing the issue

• It's very important that you not submit a pull request until a relevant issue has been opened and assigned to you. Otherwise, you risk wasting time on work that may ultimately not be needed.

• New pull requests should generally be based off of the develop branch, rather than master. The develop branch is used for ongoing development, while master is used for tracking stable releases. (If you're developing for an upcoming minor release, use feature instead.)

• In most cases, it is not necessary to add a changelog entry: A maintainer will take care of this when the PR is merged. (This helps avoid merge conflicts resulting from multiple PRs being submitted simultaneously.)

• All code submissions must meet the following criteria (CI will enforce these checks where feasible):

  • Consist entirely of original work
  • Python syntax is valid
  • All tests pass when run with ./manage.py test
  • PEP 8 compliance is enforced, with the exception that lines may be greater than 80 characters in length

[!CAUTION] Any contributions which include AI-generated or reproduced content will be rejected.

• Some other tips to keep in mind:
  • If you'd like to volunteer for someone else's issue, please post a comment on that issue letting us know. (This will allow the maintainers to assign it to you.)
  • Check out our developer docs for tips on setting up your development environment.
  • All new functionality must include relevant tests where applicable.

🧩 Creating Plugins

Do you have an idea for something you'd like to build in NetBox, but might not be right for the core project? NetBox includes a powerful and extensive plugins framework that enables users to develop their own custom data models and integrations.

Check out our plugin development tutorial to get started!

⛑️ Become a Maintainer

We're always looking for motivated individuals to join the maintainers team and help drive NetBox's long-term development. Some of our most sought-after skills include:

• Python development with a strong focus on the Django framework
• Expertise working with PostgreSQL databases
• Javascript & TypeScript proficiency
• A knack for web application design (HTML & CSS)
• Familiarity with git and software development best practices
• Excellent attention to detail
• Working experience in the field of network operations & engineering

We generally ask that maintainers dedicate around four hours of work to the project each week on average, which includes both hands-on development and project management tasks such as issue triage. Maintainers are also encouraged (but not required) to attend our bi-weekly Zoom call to catch up on recent items.

Interested? You can contact our lead maintainer, Jeremy Stretch, at jeremy@netbox.dev or on the NetDev Community Slack. We'd love to have you on the team!

❤️ Other Ways to Contribute

You don't have to be a developer to contribute to NetBox: There are plenty of other ways you can add value to the community! Below are just a few examples:

• Help answer questions and provide feedback in our GitHub discussions and on Slack.
• Write a blog article or record a YouTube video demonstrating how NetBox is used at your organization.
• Help grow our library of device & module type definitions.