CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to HintCode

Thank you for your interest in contributing! This guide will help you get started.

Quick Start

1. Fork the repo and clone it
2. Load the extension in Chrome (chrome://extensions/ → Developer mode → Load unpacked)
3. Make your changes
4. Test on actual coding platform pages
5. Submit a pull request

Adding a New Platform

This is the most common contribution. Each platform is a single file in content-scripts/platforms/.

Steps:

1. Create content-scripts/platforms/yourplatform.js
2. Implement the platform object with these methods:

const YourPlatform = {
  detect() {
    // Return true if current page is this platform's problem page
    return window.location.hostname.includes('yourplatform.com');
  },

  getProblemTitle() {
    // Return the problem title as a string, or null
  },

  getProblemStatement() {
    // Return the problem description text (max 3000 chars), or null
  },

  getUserCode() {
    // Return the user's code from the editor, or null
  },

  getLanguage() {
    // Return the selected programming language, or null
  },

  getDifficulty() {
    // Return difficulty level if available, or null
  },
};

3. Add the platform to lib/constants.js in the PLATFORMS object
4. Register it in content-scripts/detector.js in the _platforms array
5. Add URL patterns to manifest.json (content_scripts matches + host_permissions)
6. Test on real problem pages

Tips for Writing Selectors

• Always provide multiple fallback selectors — platforms change their DOM frequently
• Use data-* attributes when available (more stable than class names)
• Test with at least 3 different problems
• Include a URL-based fallback for getProblemTitle()

Code Style

• Vanilla JavaScript (no TypeScript, no JSX)
• No build step required for development
• Use const/let, never var
• Descriptive function and variable names
• Comments only where the logic isn't self-evident

Pull Request Process

1. Create a feature branch from main
2. Make focused, single-purpose commits
3. Test your changes on real coding platform pages
4. Fill out the PR template
5. Wait for review

Reporting Bugs

Use the bug report template. Include:

• Which platform and problem URL
• What you expected vs. what happened
• Browser version
• Console errors (if any)

Code of Conduct

Please read our Code of Conduct.