Contributing Guide

We welcome contributions to the Rune interpreter, VS Code extension, and website!

Development Setup

If you want to modify the language core or build runtime tools, you can run the interpreter directly from the Python source files.

Prerequisites

Rune requires Python 3.10 or later. Verify your installation:

python --version

Steps

1. Clone the Repository

   Clone the Rune Core repository:

   git clone https://github.com/lang-rune/rune.git
   cd rune

2. Verify Setup

   Run the interpreter's unit tests to verify your environment setup:

   python -m unittest rune.tests.test_interpreter -v

3. Running the Interpreter

   You can execute a local .rn file or start the REPL directly using:

   # Run a script file:
   python -m rune.cli.main path/to/file.rn
   
   # Launch the REPL:
   python -m rune.cli.main

Code Style

• Python Core — Standard PEP 8 formatting. Relative imports must be preserved to prevent stdlib ast namespace collisions.
• VS Code Extension — TypeScript command/service architecture.
• Website — Next.js 15, Tailwind v4, HSL design tokens matching DESIGN.md.

Running the Core Tests

Before submitting changes, make sure the integration test suite passes:

# Run from the root workspace directory:
python -m unittest rune.tests.test_interpreter -v

Tests cover number math, variables hoisting, spells recursion, loops skip/stop control signals, and condition chains.

Submitting Pull Requests

1. Fork the target repository (lang-rune/rune, lang-rune/website, or lang-rune/vscode).
2. Create a feature branch.
3. Write clear, documented code. Include test cases in test_interpreter.py if changing the language core.
4. Verify tests pass.
5. Open a Pull Request on GitHub.