🧡 Contributing to LiveStore: Areas for Help & Key Issues

Welcome Contributors!

Thank you for your interest in contributing to LiveStore! This issue serves as an overview of various areas where the project seeks community help and contributions.

Key Areas for Contribution

🔧 Maintenance & Updates

• Examples maintenance - Updating dependencies and best practices across example projects
• Framework integrations - Maintaining Solid integration and potentially adding new ones (Svelte, Vue, etc.)

📚 Documentation & Examples

• Documentation improvements - Enhancing existing docs, fixing gaps, improving clarity
• Pattern documentation - Real-world usage patterns and integration guides
• Example applications - New examples showcasing different use cases and integrations
• Testing documentation - Best practices for testing LiveStore applications

🧪 Testing & Quality Assurance

• Test coverage - Adding test cases for better reliability and edge case handling
• Integration testing - Testing sync providers and real-world scenarios
• Performance testing - Benchmarking and load testing
• Testing infrastructure - Improving test tooling and CI/CD processes

🐛 Bug Fixes & Improvements

• Bug fixes - Addressing reported issues and edge cases
• Error message improvements - Making debugging easier for developers
• Performance optimizations - Benchmarking and performance improvements

🔬 Research & Architecture

• Schema evolution - Safer approaches to evolving event schemas over time
• Incremental view maintenance - Complex SQLite database view optimizations
• New features - Thoughtful additions that align with LiveStore's principles

Highlighted Issues

Here are some key issues where community help would be especially valuable:

1. Enhance authentication/authorization documentation and examples - Improving auth patterns and real-world examples
2. Make query builder pluggable for third-party SQLite drivers - Supporting Drizzle and other popular query builders
3. Set up shiki twoslash for improved code snippets - Better documentation with type-checked code examples
4. Create integration test suite for sync providers - Comprehensive testing infrastructure
5. Allow creating store outside of React context provider - Improving framework flexibility

View all "help wanted" issues →

Exploration Opportunities

Beyond direct contributions, there are many exciting areas ripe for exploration and experimentation. Check out the Requests for Exploration (RFX) which includes:

🔍 Technological Explorations

• Authentication & Security - Auth patterns, authorization, end-to-end encryption
• Server-side Integration - React server rendering, centralized read models
• Advanced Collaboration - CRDTs for text editing, presence features, blob files
• AI Integration - Local RAG, AI agents working with local-first data
• Cross-system Integration - Connecting with existing databases and systems

🚀 Application Ideas

Build the next generation of local-first, open-source, self-hostable apps:

• Collaborative planning tools (Doodle replacement)
• Feature request platforms (Canny alternative)
• Expense sharing apps (Splitwise alternative)
• Task management (Wunderlist successor)
• Developer tools (GitHub clients)
• And many more creative possibilities!

Getting Started

Before Contributing

• Check with maintainers via the #contrib channel on Discord before starting major work
• Read the Contributing Guide for detailed guidelines
• Look for issues labeled with help wanted or good first issue

Guiding Principles

• Keep it as simple as possible
• Reduce surface area
• Make the right thing easy
• Document the "why"

Areas of Focus

✅ Encouraged: Documentation, examples, tests, bug fixes, benchmarking 🤔 Potentially in scope: New features, architectural changes, new integrations ❌ Out of scope: Landing page changes, devtools changes, core rewrites

Community & Support

LiveStore deeply appreciates any help and contributions from the community! The project is sustained through sponsorships and the dedication of contributors like you.

Whether you're fixing a typo, building an experimental app, exploring new patterns, or tackling a complex architectural challenge - every contribution helps make LiveStore better for everyone. 🧡

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💬 Questions? Join the discussion on Discord or comment on this issue!