AXL / CONTRIBUTE

Contribute to AXL Protocol

Code, RFCs, experiments, sponsorship - all welcome under Apache 2.0. No CLA required.

01 - Decision tree

Where your contribution lands depends on what it is.

If you have a...	Go here	Format
Bug in a specific repo	Issue in that repo	Minimal reproduction, expected vs actual, env
Feature request or usage question	Discussion (Q&A or Show & Tell)	User story, proposed solution, whether you can implement
Minor addition or editorial fix	PR direct	Short summary line, body explains why
Breaking change or governance change	RFC (Discussion, RFC label)	Motivation, proposal, alternatives, drawbacks, migration path
Experiment result or demo	Discussion (Show & Tell)	First-person post, link the artifact

02 - Where to discuss

axlprotocol/community

The canonical conversation venue. Six categories: Announcements, RFCs, Q&A, Working Groups, Show & Tell, Polls. This is the one URL to bookmark.

Open Discussions

Org-level page

Cross-repo discoverability. Surfaces threads from all axlprotocol repos in one feed - useful for tracking activity across the ecosystem.

Org Discussions

The website portal at /community/ links into the same conversation with category cards and a governance summary.

03 - Bug reports

File in the repo where the bug lives, using the bug-report issue form. Include:

A minimal reproduction - commands, code, input
Expected behavior vs actual behavior
Environment: OS, Python version, package version, LLM if relevant
Logs or output if available

Key repos:

axl-core - CLI, compressor, protocol implementation
axl-mcp-tools - MCP server tools
community - venue tooling, website community portal issues

Security vulnerabilities: do not file publicly. See SECURITY.md.

04 - How to RFC

RFCs are required for breaking changes (kernel grammar, packet format, semantic operation set) and governance changes. See /governance/ for the full decision matrix and comment windows.

RFC format:

Title: RFC-NNNN: short description
Motivation - what problem does this solve?
Proposal - what do you want to change?
Alternatives considered
Drawbacks
Migration path for existing users
Unresolved questions

File the RFC as a Discussion in the axlprotocol/community venue with the RFC label. The 14-day or 30-day comment window starts when it is marked RFC: open.

05 - License

Apache 2.0 inbound = outbound

By submitting a contribution you agree your work is licensed under Apache 2.0 to the project and to anyone who receives the project under that license. There is no CLA to sign. There is no relicensing path that would let the project strip the Apache 2.0 grant from your contribution.

If you are contributing on behalf of an employer, verify you have authority under your employment agreement. Contributions under aliases are accepted.

06 - Funding and sponsorship

AXL Protocol is free and open forever. No features gated on payment. No dual-license.

Sponsorship works through compress.axlprotocol.org - the hosted compression service. Revenue goes into a community pool that rewards contributors who crack milestones (compression targets, test coverage gates, new Rosetta module validation). See /funding/ for the pool model and current milestone list.

If you are an organization that depends on AXL, email admin@axlprotocol.org to discuss a sponsorship arrangement directly.

07 - Get started

Install axl-core pip install axl-core - brings the CLI, the compressor, and the protocol spec. Python 3.9+.
Read the FAQ docs.axlprotocol.org covers installation, first compression, API reference, and the v3.1 vs v4 choice matrix.
Pick your contribution type Use the decision tree above. Bug fix: find the repo, open an issue. New feature: open a Discussion first. Breaking change: write an RFC.
Join the conversation Introduce yourself at axlprotocol/community/discussions. Show & Tell is the right category for first experiments.

Canonical source: github.com/axlprotocol/.github/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md