Contributing to optimal2050

This is the org-wide default. GitHub serves it for any optimal2050 repository that carries no CONTRIBUTING.md of its own; repositories that do have one add their specifics on top of what is written here.

Thanks for your interest. optimal2050 is a stack of R packages for energy system modeling — the time and space dimensions (timescales, geoscales), the model hubs (energyRt, multimod), applied models (IDEEA), and supporting packages (energypal).

Read this first

CONVENTIONS.md is the authoritative reference for the whole stack: naming, code style, API design principles, testing, documentation, git policy, and the terms on which AI assistance is used. Whatever you are about to change, the rule for it is most likely already written there.

Each package then adds a CONTRIBUTING.md of its own covering what only that repository knows: its layout, build and test commands, default branch, and license.

Issues and pull requests

• Open an issue before starting anything large. The packages are pre-1.0 and APIs still move; a five-minute conversation can save a rewrite.
• Fork, branch, and open the PR against the repository's default branch — it is not main everywhere (energyRt uses dev, multimod uses R6S7). The package's own CONTRIBUTING.md names it.
• Conventional Commits (feat:, fix:, docs:, ...) are encouraged, not enforced.
• CI must pass.
• When a change spans two packages, open both PRs and cross-reference them. The dependency direction is one-way and load-bearing — see CONVENTIONS.md.

Licenses differ between packages

timescales, geoscales and energypal are Apache-2.0; multimod is MIT; energyRt and IDEEA are AGPL-3. Do not copy code or data across that boundary without an explicit maintainer decision. By contributing you agree your contribution is licensed under the license of the repository you are contributing to.

AI assistance is welcome

Using an LLM to write code, tests, or documentation is encouraged. Disclose it with a Co-authored-by: / Assisted-by: trailer, review what it produced — you are responsible for it — and read the repository's .claude/CLAUDE.md first, which records the traps that fail silently in that codebase. AI tools are never listed as package authors. Full terms in CONVENTIONS.md.

Code of Conduct

Please note that this project is released with a Contributor Code of Conduct. By participating in it you agree to abide by its terms.

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Maintainer: Oleg Lugovoy (@olugovoy)