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+# Contributing to coldkey
+
+First off, thank you for considering contributing to coldkey! It's people like you that make open-source software such a great community to learn, inspire, and create.
+
+We welcome all contributions, from bug reports and feature requests to code contributions and documentation improvements.
+
+## Setting Up Your Development Environment
+
+To work on coldkey, you will need:
+
+- **Go**: The project is written in Go. You'll need a recent version installed.
+- **Make/Just**: We use [`just`](https://github.com/casey/just) (a modern `make` alternative) to manage build tasks.
+
+To get started:
+
+1. Fork the repository on GitHub.
+2. Clone your fork locally:
+   ```bash
+   git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/coldkey.git
+   cd coldkey
+   ```
+3. Run the CI pipeline locally to ensure everything works:
+   ```bash
+   just ci
+   ```
+
+## Building Locally
+
+To build the `coldkey` binary locally, run:
+
+```bash
+just build
+```
+
+This will produce the `coldkey` binary in the root directory.
+
+## Running Tests
+
+Testing is a crucial part of the development process. To run the test suite, use:
+
+```bash
+just test
+```
+
+## Code Style Expectations
+
+We follow standard Go formatting conventions and use linters to maintain code quality. Before submitting your code, please ensure it complies with our standards:
+
+- **Formatting**: Run `just fmt` to format your code using `gofumpt`.
+- **Linting**: Run `just lint` to catch common issues using `golangci-lint`.
+- **Vetting**: Run `just vet` for standard Go static analysis.
+
+## Pull Request Process
+
+When you're ready to submit your changes:
+
+1. **Fork and Branch**: Create a new branch for your feature or bug fix (`git checkout -b my-new-feature`).
+2. **Commit Messages**: Write clear, concise, and descriptive commit messages.
+3. **Push**: Push your branch to your fork (`git push origin my-new-feature`).
+4. **Open a PR**: Open a Pull Request against the `main` branch of this repository. Provide a detailed description of your changes and reference any related issues.
+
+## Reporting Issues and Security Vulnerabilities
+
+- **Bug Reports & Feature Requests**: Please use the GitHub Issues tracker to report bugs or request features. Search existing issues first to avoid duplicates.
+- **Security Vulnerabilities**: If you discover a security vulnerability, please do NOT open a public issue. Instead, responsibly disclose it by contacting the project maintainers privately (e.g., via a GitHub security advisory or email if provided).
+
+Thank you again for your time and contributions!