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Thagore Developer Docs

Contributing — First PR

Contributing — Your First PR

Getting Started

1. Fork and Clone

Terminal window
git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/thagore.git
cd thagore

2. Set Up Prerequisites

Ensure you have:

  • LLVM 21.x — installed and on PATH
  • Stage1 seed — downloaded from the latest release
  • Python 3.x — for build scripts (optional)

See Prerequisites for detailed installation instructions.

3. Bootstrap the Compiler

Terminal window
# Windows
cmd /c scripts\bootstrap.bat


# Linux/macOS
bash scripts/bootstrap.sh

4. Verify Your Setup

Terminal window
stage2.exe build examples/hello.tg -o hello.exe
.\hello.exe
# Should output: Hello Self-Hosted World!

Making Changes

Source Code Structure

DirectoryContains
src/Compiler source code (Thagore .tg files)
lib/Standard library modules
std/Core primitives and data structures
examples/Example programs
tests/Test suite
scripts/Build and automation scripts
docs/Documentation

Development Workflow

  1. Create a feature branch:

    Terminal window
    git checkout -b feature/my-change

  2. Make your changes to the .tg source files

  3. Self-host test — verify the compiler can still compile itself:

    Terminal window
    stage2.exe build src/thagore.tg -o stage2b.exe

  4. Run tests:

    Terminal window
    stage2.exe test --workspace

  5. Build sample programs to verify nothing is broken:

    Terminal window
    stage2.exe build examples/hello.tg -o hello.exe
    stage2.exe build examples/fib.tg -o fib.exe

Code Style Guidelines

  1. Indentation: Use 4 spaces (no tabs)
  2. Line endings: Unix-style LF (not CRLF)
  3. File encoding: UTF-8
  4. Naming conventions:
    • Functions: snake_case — parse_enum_name, validate_source
    • Structs: PascalCase — ProgramAstNative, CoreProgram
    • Constants: UPPER_SNAKE_CASE (when applicable)
    • Private/internal functions: prefix with _ — _trim, _next_line_pos
  5. Comments: Use # for comments, // is also supported
  6. Function signatures: Always include explicit return type

Example

good_style.tg
# Calculate the dot product of two 2D vectors
func dot_product(ax: i32, ay: i32, bx: i32, by: i32) -> i32:
    return ax * bx + ay * by


func _validate_input(n: i32) -> i32:
    if (n < 0):
        return 1
    return 0

Submitting a PR

PR Checklist

Before submitting:

  • Code compiles successfully
  • Self-host test passes (stage2 → stage2b)
  • Existing tests still pass
  • New tests added for new functionality
  • No C++ fallback introduced
  • Code follows style guidelines

CI Requirements

Your PR must pass all three CI pipelines with 3 consecutive green runs:

  1. ✅ CI — build and test
  2. ✅ Selfhost Matrix — self-hosting on all platforms
  3. ✅ Release (dry-run) — release artifact generation

Where to Contribute

Good First Issues

  • Add new examples to examples/
  • Improve documentation in docs/starlight/
  • Add test cases to tests/
  • Improve error messages in the compiler

Intermediate

  • Add new standard library functions to lib/
  • Improve the autofix engine rules
  • Enhance the CLI with new commands

Advanced

  • Work on the lowering pipeline
  • Implement new language features (tracked by feature counters)
  • Optimize the LLVM IR emission
  • Port to new platforms