---
title: Development
description: Contributor workflow: install, format, lint, test, and locales.
---

Contributor workflow: install, format, lint, test, version bumps, and adding locales. Runtime install paths are in **Installation and setup**. Packaging is in **Building from source and packaging**.

## Branches

| Branch | Purpose                                            |
| ------ | -------------------------------------------------- |
| master | Stable releases                                    |
| dev    | Active development. May be incomplete or breaking. |

## Daily commands

```bash
task install
task hooks:install   # pre-commit format/lint + commitlint (once per clone)
task format
task lint
task test
task build
```

Makefile targets call the same Taskfile commands:

| Command              | Delegates to       | Description                                                 |
| -------------------- | ------------------ | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| make install         | task install       | Install pnpm and UV dependencies                            |
| make run             | task run           | Run MeshChatX via UV                                        |
| make build           | task build         | Build frontend and backend artifacts                        |
| make format          | task format        | Format frontend and backend                                 |
| make lint            | task lint          | ESLint, vue-tsc, knip, Ruff, basedpyright                   |
| make test            | task test          | Frontend and backend tests                                  |
| make clean           | task clean         | Remove build artifacts and node_modules                     |
| make tree-rsm-verify | (shell)            | Verify meshchatx.rsm signature and hashes                   |
| make tree-rsm-sign   | (shell)            | Sign tree inventory (needs RNS_ID_PATH)                     |
| make hooks-install   | task hooks:install | Git hooks: format/lint staged files, commitlint, RSM resign |

For a Vite HMR loop, use task dev as described in **Installation and setup**.

## Lockfiles and install scripts

From a clean clone:

```bash
git clone https://github.com/Quad4-Software/MeshChatX.git
cd MeshChatX
corepack enable
pnpm config set verify-store-integrity true
pnpm install --frozen-lockfile
pip install "uv==0.11.15"
uv lock --check
uv sync --group dev
pnpm run build-frontend
uv run python -m meshchatx.meshchat --headless --host 127.0.0.1
```

pnpm install --frozen-lockfile fails if pnpm-lock.yaml does not match package.json, so an unexpected upstream version cannot land silently. Store integrity is also on in pnpm-workspace.yaml. The extra pnpm config set line hardens the user-level config too.

pnpm v11+ blocks lifecycle scripts by default. Only packages listed under allowBuilds in pnpm-workspace.yaml may run install scripts (electron, electron-winstaller, esbuild). uv lock --check fails if uv.lock is out of date with pyproject.toml. uv sync then installs from the lockfile only. Pin UV with pip install "uv==0.11.15" to match CI.

To update dependencies on purpose, run pnpm update or uv lock in its own commit and read the lockfile diff before you push.

## Versioning

Edit the version field in package.json, then run pnpm run version:sync (also the first step of pnpm run build). That copies the number into pyproject.toml, the Python version modules, Android Gradle, electron/app-version.json, the README and translated READMEs, the Raspberry Pi pipx example, Arch PKGBUILD helpers, third-party notices, and GitHub issue-template placeholders.

Changelog entries are still written by hand when you cut a release. meshchatx.__version__ is read from meshchatx/src/version.py without importing meshchatx.src, so import meshchatx stays lightweight.

## Adding a language

Locale discovery is automatic. Add a file under meshchatx/src/frontend/locales/ (for example xx.json) with the same keys as en.json and a top-level _languageName string for the selector label. Copy en.json and translate the values. Machine-assisted generation is optional.

For a machine-generated first draft from en.json, use scripts/argos_translate.py. It keeps interpolation variables such as {count} intact.

```bash
pipx install argostranslate
python scripts/argos_translate.py --from en --to xx --input meshchatx/src/frontend/locales/en.json --output meshchatx/src/frontend/locales/xx.json --name "Your Language Name"
```

After a machine pass, have an LLM or a human check grammar, context, and tone.

```bash
pnpm test -- tests/frontend/i18n.test.js --run
```

That checks key parity with en.json. No other code changes. The app, language selector, and tests pick up locales from meshchatx/src/frontend/locales/ at build time.

Translation fixes are welcome via LXMF (f489752fbef161c64d65e385a4e9fc74) or a pull request.

In-app MeshChatX guides under docs/en/ are English today. Localized landing pages exist for the Reticulum manual tab.

## See also

- **Architecture and design** for process layout and managers
- **Building from source and packaging** for offline and APK builds