Contributing

Branch model

feature/*  ──►  testing  ──►  main
hotfix/*   ──────────────────►  main

Branch	Purpose	Deploys to
main	Production-ready code	Production (Docker :latest on v* tag)
testing	Integration gate before production	Test environment (Docker :testing)
feature/*	Individual work items	—
hotfix/*	Urgent production fixes	—

Feature workflow

1. Branch from testing:

   git checkout testing && git pull
   git checkout -b feature/my-thing
   

2. Develop, commit locally.
3. Open a PR targeting testing. CI runs build + tests; no image is published.
4. Merge the PR into testing. CI publishes bidparser:testing to GHCR and a BidParserLite-testing-win-x64.exe artifact in the Actions tab — use these to validate on the test environment.
5. Once testing is stable, open a PR from testing into main.
6. Merge and tag:

   git checkout main && git pull
   git tag v1.2.3
   git push origin v1.2.3
   

   The v* tag triggers the release pipeline: Docker :<version> + :latest to GHCR, Windows exe to GitHub Releases.

Hotfix procedure

For urgent fixes that cannot wait for the normal testing → main flow:

1. Branch from main:

   git checkout main && git pull
   git checkout -b hotfix/description
   

2. Fix, commit, open a PR targeting main. Merge when CI is green.
3. Tag the fix immediately:

   git checkout main && git pull
   git tag v1.2.4
   git push origin v1.2.4
   

4. Resync testing with main so the fix is not lost:

   git checkout testing && git pull
   git merge main
   git push origin testing
   

CI image tag reference

Event	Docker tags	Windows exe
Push to testing	:testing, sha-<hash>	Actions artifact (BidParserLite-testing-win-x64.exe)
Push to main (no tag)	(tests only — no image)	(no build)
v* tag	:<version>, :latest	GitHub Release asset
PR into testing/main	(tests only)	(no build)