Contributing to tidyhte

Thank you for your interest in contributing to tidyhte! We welcome contributions from the community.

Project Vision

tidyhte aims to make modern heterogeneous treatment effect estimation with DR-learner accessible to applied researchers through a user-friendly interface. The focus is on providing reliable implementations with sensible defaults while maintaining flexibility for advanced users. We particularly value contributions that improve usability, add well-tested features, and enhance documentation.

Governance

This project is maintained by Drew Dimmery, who makes decisions about the project direction. Substantial contributors may be invited to join a core development team, with decisions made by consensus among team members.

Versioning

This project uses semantic versioning. The API is stable as of version 1.0.0, and there are no current plans for breaking changes. Patch versions (1.0.x) fix bugs, minor versions (1.x.0) add backwards-compatible features, and major versions (x.0.0) would introduce breaking changes (which are not currently planned).

Code of Conduct

Please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in this project you agree to abide by its terms.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• R (>= 3.5.0)
• RStudio (recommended)
• Familiarity with the tidyverse and R package development

Setting Up Your Development Environment

1. Fork the repository on GitHub

2. Clone your fork locally:

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

3. Install development dependencies:

   install.packages("devtools")
   devtools::install_dev_deps()

4. Load the package for development:

   devtools::load_all()

How to Contribute

Reporting Bugs

If you find a bug, please open an issue with:

• A clear, descriptive title
• A minimal reproducible example (reprex) demonstrating the bug
• Your R version and platform information (sessionInfo())
• What you expected to happen vs. what actually happened

Suggesting Enhancements

Enhancement suggestions are welcome! Please open an issue describing:

• The motivation for the enhancement
• How it would benefit users
• Any implementation ideas you have

Pull Requests

1. Create a new branch for your changes:

   git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name

2. Make your changes, following the coding style guidelines below

3. Add tests for your changes in tests/testthat/

4. Run R CMD check to ensure everything passes:

   devtools::check()

5. Update documentation if needed:

   devtools::document()

6. Commit your changes with a clear commit message

7. Push to your fork and submit a pull request

Coding Style

• Follow the tidyverse style guide
• Use roxygen2 for function documentation
• Keep functions focused and modular
• Write clear, descriptive variable and function names
• Run styler::style_pkg() before committing
• Ensure lintr::lint_package() passes

Testing

• All new functionality should include unit tests
• Tests use the testthat framework
• Run tests with devtools::test()
• Aim to maintain or improve code coverage (current: 80%+)
• Check coverage with covr::package_coverage()

Running Tests Locally

# Run all tests
devtools::test()

# Run tests for a specific file
testthat::test_file("tests/testthat/test-api-mcate.R")

# Check test coverage
covr::package_coverage()

Documentation

• Document all exported functions using roxygen2
• Include @examples for user-facing functions
• Update vignettes if adding major features
• Keep README.md up to date
• Run devtools::document() to regenerate .Rd files

Building Vignettes

When modifying vignettes:

1. Edit the .Rmd source files in vignettes/

2. Rebuild vignettes with:

   devtools::build_vignettes()

Pull Request Checklist

Before submitting a pull request, ensure:

• All tests pass locally (devtools::test())
• R CMD check passes with no errors, warnings, or notes (devtools::check())
• New tests added for new functionality
• Documentation updated (roxygen2, vignettes if needed)
• Code follows tidyverse style guide
• NEWS.md updated with user-facing changes
• Test coverage maintained or improved

Package Building

To build and install the package locally:

devtools::build()
devtools::install()

To check the package as CRAN does:

devtools::check(cran = TRUE)

Version Control

• We use semantic versioning (MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH)
• Update NEWS.md with notable changes
• Only maintainers increment version numbers

Questions?

• Open a GitHub issue for technical questions
• Join the Experimentation Community Discord for real-time discussion (use the #tidyhte channel)
• Email the maintainer at cran@ddimmery.com for other inquiries

Recognition

Contributors will be recognized in the package documentation and may be listed as contributors (ctb) in the DESCRIPTION file for substantial contributions.

License

By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the MIT License that covers this project.