Getting Started with Contributing¶

Welcome! We are excited that you are interested in contributing to the OpenBao Operator. This section will guide you through setting up your environment and making your first contribution.

Quick Start¶

1. Fork & Clone

Fork the repository on GitHub and clone it locally to start working.

git clone https://github.com/YOUR-USERNAME/openbao-operator.git
cd openbao-operator

2. Setup Environment

Install the necessary tools (Go, Docker, Kind) to run the operator locally.

Setup Guide
3. Create Branch

Create a new feature branch from main for your changes.
```
git checkour -b feature/my-awesome-feature
```
4. Test & Submit

Run the test suite and open a Pull Request.

Testing Guide

Prerequisites¶

Ensure you have the following tools installed before starting:

Go 1.25+

The core language for the operator.
Docker

Required for building container images.
Kind

(Kubernetes in Docker) for running local E2E tests.
kubectl

CLI for interacting with the cluster.

Ways to Contribute¶

We welcome many types of contributions beyond just code:

Type	Description
Bug Fixes	Fix issues found in existing functionality. Check for the `bug` label.
Features	Add new capabilities to the operator. Discuss large changes in an Issue first.
Documentation	Improve guides, fix typos, or add examples to help other users.
Tests	Improve test coverage or add new E2E scenarios.
Refactoring	Improve code quality and maintainability without changing behavior.

First Time?

Look for issues labeled with good first issue on our GitHub Issues page.

Next Steps¶

Development Setup

Step-by-step guide to configuring your local dev environment.

Go to Setup
Coding Standards

Learn about our code style, linting rules, and conventions.

View Standards