Community Contributions

How to Contribute to Solo

This document describes how to set up a local development environment and contribute to the Solo project.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (use the version specified in the repository, if applicable)
• npm
• Docker or Podman
• Kubernetes (local cluster such as kind, k3d, or equivalent)
• task (Taskfile runner)
• Git
• K9s (optional)

Initial setup

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/hiero-ledger/solo.git
   cd solo
   

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Install solo as a local CLI:

   npm link
   

   Notes:

   • This only needs to be done once.
   • If solo already exists in your PATH, remove it first.
   • Alternatively, run commands via npm run solo-test -- <COMMAND> <ARGS>.

4. Run the CLI:

   solo
   

Logs and debugging

• Solo logs are written to:

  $HOME/.solo/logs/solo.log
  

• A common debugging pattern is:

  tail -f $HOME/.solo/logs/solo.log | jq
  

How to Run the Tests

• Unit tests:

  task test
  

• List all integration and E2E tasks:

  task --list-all
  

Code formatting

Before committing any changes, always run:

task format

How to Update Component Versions

• Edit the component’s version inside /version.ts

How to Inspect the Cluster

When debugging, it helps to inspect resources and logs in the Kubernetes cluster.

Kubectl

Common kubectl commands:

• kubectl get pods -A
• kubectl get svc -A
• kubectl get ingress -A
• kubectl describe pod <pod-name> -n <namespace>
• kubectl logs <pod-name> -n <namespace>

Official documentation: kubectl reference

K9s (Recommended)

K9s is the primary tool used by the Solo team to inspect and debug Solo deployments.

Why K9s:

• Terminal UI that makes it faster to navigate Kubernetes resources
• Quickly view logs, events, and descriptions
• Simple and intuitive

Start K9s:

k9s -A

Official documentation: K9s commands

Pull Request Requirements

DCO (Developer Certificate of Origin) and Signed Commits

Two separate requirements are enforced on this repository:

1) DCO Sign-off (required)

Refer to the Hiero Ledger contributing docs under sign-off: CONTRIBUTING.md#sign-off

Optional: configure Git to always add the sign-off automatically:

git config --global format.signoff true

2) Cryptographically Signed Commits (required)

In addition to the DCO sign-off, the repository also enforces a GitHub rule that blocks commits that are not signed and verified.

This means your commits must be cryptographically signed using GPG or SSH and show a Verified badge on GitHub.

If your commits are not signed, they will be rejected even if the DCO check passes.

To enable commit signing, see GitHub documentation:

• GPG signing
• SSH signing

After setup, verify signing is enabled:

git config --global commit.gpgsign true

Both are required:

• DCO sign-off line (-s)
• Cryptographic signature (Verified commit)

Conventional Commit PR titles (required)

Pull request titles must follow Conventional Commits.

Examples:

• feat: add support for grpc-web fqdn endpoints
• fix: correct version resolution for platform components
• docs: update contributing guide
• chore: bump dependency versions

This is required for consistent release notes and changelog generation.

Additional guidelines

• Prefer small, focused PRs that are easy to review.
• If you are unsure where to start, open a draft PR early to get feedback.
• Add description and link all related issues to the PR.