Development Documentation

This directory contains documentation for developers contributing to TNH Scholar.

Contents

• contributing-prototype-phase.md - Contributing guidelines for the prototype phase
• design-principles.md - Core design principles and patterns
• fine-tuning-strategy.md - Strategy for fine-tuning AI models
• git-workflow.md - Safe git practices and workflow guidelines
• human-ai-software-engineering-principles.md - Principles for human-AI collaborative development
• improvements-initial-structure.md - Initial structural improvements and refactoring notes
• style-guide.md - Code style guide and conventions
• system-design.md - Overall system design and architecture

Important: Rapid Prototype Phase (0.x)

TNH Scholar is in rapid prototype phase. Breaking changes may occur in ANY 0.x release (including patches). See ADR-PP01: Rapid Prototype Versioning for full policy.

Key Implications for Contributors:

• No backward compatibility guarantees during 0.x
• Breaking changes acceptable in patch releases (0.1.3 → 0.1.4)
• When refactoring core systems, update ALL dependents in same PR
• No compatibility shims or legacy code maintenance
• Clean breaks over gradual migrations

Getting Started as a Contributor

1. Set up your development environment - See DEV_SETUP.md for Python, Poetry, and dependency installation
2. Read contributing-prototype-phase.md for contribution guidelines
3. Understand versioning policy - Review ADR-PP01 for breaking change expectations
4. Review design-principles.md to understand our approach
5. Follow the style-guide.md for code consistency

Development Philosophy

TNH Scholar embraces human-AI collaborative development. See human-ai-software-engineering-principles.md for our approach to working with AI assistants.

Related Documentation

• Project Vision & Philosophy - Project goals and philosophy
• Architecture - Technical architecture documentation
• Docs Operations - Documentation standards and templates