Contributing

This repository is one layer of Repository Standards: the Node and TypeScript picks, the reasoning behind them, and a starter that is verified by being booted rather than by being described. The method itself lives in the core - a change to how the standard works belongs there, not here.

What belongs here

A pick that is wrong for a real repository. The most valuable contribution: name the repository shape it fails on, not the preference. Every decision carries an escape hatch for exactly this reason, and an escape hatch that nobody has needed is a hypothesis.
A default that is unsafe once copied. See SECURITY.md - report it privately if it is exploitable.
An adapting note that does not survive contact with a brownfield repository. The notes in ADAPTING.md are the half that decides whether this is adoptable; a note that assumes a clean tree is worth less than no note.

What does not

A pick swapped for a preference. Each one is recorded with what it was chosen against; reopening it means engaging with that, not restating the alternative.
A dependency added without a decision. Every pick that survives is in DECISIONS.md, and the escape hatch is part of the entry.

The bar

A change to what the tree ships moves the version and the boot pulse must stay green - that run is what makes "boot-verified" a fact rather than a slogan. If your change cannot be proven by it, say what would prove it instead.

Pull requests sit on main and land by rebase, so each commit is published on its own and needs a message that stands alone.