Contributing

The Reast engine is developed in the open. The most useful contributions right now are the ones that need no repository access at all.

Report what breaks

A story that renders wrongly is the most valuable bug report there is. Include the smallest .rea snippet that reproduces it, what you expected, and what you saw. If it only happens in a package, say which archive layout you used.

Open issues on the engine repository: github.com/atiris/reast-engine.

Argue with the specification

The specification is the contract every implementation is measured against, so an ambiguity in it is a defect. If a section can be read two ways, or contradicts another section, that is worth reporting exactly like a bug.

The feature index tells you where a feature stands. A draft feature is the one most open to being reshaped — its design is written down precisely so it can be argued with before anyone builds it.

Build a second implementation

Rea defines three conformance levels so that a partial implementation can be honest about what it supports. The .reast package format reference documents the archive layout and manifest schema in full, so a packager, validator or alternative player can be written without reading the engine's source.

If you build one, tell us — the specification improves fastest when something other than the reference engine has to follow it.

Code

Engine pull requests are welcome. Two things to know before you start:

• Match the module you are in. The engine is TypeScript strict + ESM throughout, and each part (parser, runtime, loader, player) has its own established patterns.
• Tests come with the change. A parser or runtime change without a test that fails before it and passes after will be sent back.