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Welcome contributors, here's how to get involved #287

@Agentscreator

Description

@Agentscreator

Why contribute to Engram

Shared agent memory is an open problem. Individual agent memory is
solved — every major IDE and framework handles session context.
What happens when two agents on the same team develop
contradictory beliefs? What happens when a session ends and the
next agent starts from zero, re-discovering decisions that were
already made and settled? That's what Engram is built to fix.

Strong contributors receive paid contract offers ($125–185/hour,
weekly pay, 1099). See ./HIRING.md.


Where to start

Three tiers depending on how much design work you want to do
before writing code.

Tier 1: Claim a pre-scoped task (easiest path)

These are already specified. Comment on the issue to claim it,
build it, open a PR.

  • Add a quickstart guide for an unsupported IDE — we have Claude
    Code, Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code Copilot, and Zed. Any AI coding
    environment without a guide in docs/quickstart/ is fair game.
  • Improve a vague error message — identify one, trace it to its
    source, make it actionable.
  • Add test coverage for an edge case you noticed while reading the
    code.

Browse the https://github.com/Agentscreator/Engram/labels/good%20first%20issue label for what's currently open.

Tier 2: Pick a small feature or roadmap item

These are defined in the README roadmap and the issue tracker.
Still pre-scoped, slightly bigger surface:

  • Conflict detection quality — the detection pipeline is 5-tier
    and working, but precision on semantic contradictions has room to
    improve. NLP background is useful here.
  • Fact lineage UI — the engine tracks full fact provenance; the
    dashboard doesn't expose it yet.
  • Performance under load — indexing and query planning for
    workspaces with tens of thousands of facts.

Browse https://github.com/Agentscreator/Engram/labels/good%20first%20issue or https://github.com/Agentscreator/Engram/labels/P2 for
what's open.

Tier 3: Propose a domain integration or vertical use case (highest
leverage)

If you have real depth in a domain — legal, medical, fintech,
education, game dev, security research — and want a signature
contribution with your name on it, propose a vertical integration
or example that shows Engram working in your context.

This path requires a written proposal and design discussion before
code. Higher bar than Tiers 1 and 2, higher payoff: the kind of
contribution you can walk a hiring manager through, and one that
can live in the README under your name.


Bigger ideas

Open an issue with a short design note first. We prefer to align
on scope before you write code. If you've built something real on
top of Engram and want to contribute a sanitized version, open a
discussion — we'll find the right home for it.


How we review

Read ./CONTRIBUTING.md before opening a PR. Every PR needs:
passing tests (pytest tests/ -x), Ruff clean (uv run ruff check),
and a short PR body covering what changed and why. Small, focused
PRs move fast. Large refactors or core API changes go through
design discussion first.


What we won't merge

  • AI-generated filler: reformatting PRs, content without real
    substance
  • New runtime dependencies without a compelling reason — we hold
    to three
  • Duplicates: search open issues and PRs before starting
  • Changes to the core API surface without a prior discussion
  • PRs without a description

Credit

Every merged contributor is listed in release notes with handle
and PR link. Sustained contributions can lead to co-maintaining a
module and to paid contract work. See ./HIRING.md for how that
path works.


Getting help

Use https://github.com/Agentscreator/Engram/discussions for
questions. Comment on the issue if you're unsure what to pick up.
If you're stuck mid-PR, tag @Agentscreator in a comment — blockers
don't age well.

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