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Contributing to MarkFlowy

Welcome, and thank you for your interest in contributing to MarkFlowy!

How to Contribute Code

Prerequisites

In order to download necessary tools, clone the repository, and install dependencies via yarn, you need network access.

You'll need the following tools:

  • Git
  • Node.js 24, as declared in .node-version.
  • Yarn 4.8.0, selected by the root packageManager field through Corepack.
  • Rust 1.96, selected by rust-toolchain.toml through rustup.
  • The Tauri platform prerequisites for your operating system.

Table of Contents

Contribute multilingual translations steps

For some users who don't want to go through the complicated project startup steps and just want to participate in the translation work, you can check the following steps.

Fork

Fork MarkFlowy and git clone

Translation file

Add a new language

Desktop translations live in the root locales directory; shared editor translations are in locales/editor, and website translations in locales/web. Start from the English resource for the relevant surface. A new language also needs registration in that surface's locale list. Run yarn translate:check after editing translations; this check does not require the private runtime.

Modify an existing language

Modifying the existing language may not be particularly easy to find the corresponding key. If you do not find it in the locales file, you can mention the issue, and I will help you find the corresponding place to modify.

Development work steps

Fork

Fork MarkFlowy and git clone

Dependency installation

Execute the following command to install related dependencies.

corepack enable
yarn install --immutable

No GitHub Packages token is needed for the public dependency install. Keep the tracked lockfile and the dependency source patches applied by postinstall.

Startup MarkFlowy

Prepare Desktop's workspace dependencies once, then start the development runner:

yarn turbo run build --filter='@markflowy/desktop^...' --concurrency=2
yarn dev:desktop

The runner checks the Rust toolchain, starts dependency watchers, waits for their outputs and launches Tauri. It compiles development code; the commands above are setup instructions, not evidence that a native build has been validated for a particular change. You do not need cargo install to launch this checkout.

Public checkout and private editor runtime

The public checkout supports Markdown source and reading modes without Capricorn. The live editing mode requires @drl990114/capricorn-runtime, a private package whose manifest is marked UNLICENSED. It is not included in the public repository. RME and its ProseMirror/CodeMirror integration remain in packages/editor; Capricorn is a separate runtime, not an RME source update.

Maintainers with package access can provide GITHUB_PACKAGES_TOKEN or NODE_AUTH_TOKEN through their local environment or ignored root .env, then run:

yarn install:capricorn-runtime

The installer uses the exact version and tarball SHA-256 pinned in scripts/install-capricorn-runtime.mjs, writes to the ignored .private-runtime directory, and validates package identity. Restart the development server after installation. Do not commit tokens, runtime files or generated declarations. Fork pull requests do not receive the private package credential.

Validation before a pull request

Use focused tests for the changed behavior and Desktop's build:types script (tsc --noEmit). The full Desktop suite and test:capricorn-published include runtime integration checks; maintainers run these with the pinned runtime installed. The latter is required by the release workflow. A public checkout's fallback cannot establish parity with the private runtime.

yarn workspace @markflowy/desktop build:types
yarn workspace @markflowy/desktop test <path-to-test>
# Maintainers with the pinned runtime:
yarn workspace @markflowy/desktop test:capricorn-published

For changed TypeScript files, use the existing ESLint 8 runner without --fix:

node node_modules/@umijs/fabric/node_modules/eslint/bin/eslint.js \
  --resolve-plugins-relative-to node_modules/@umijs/fabric <changed-files>

Run affected Rust unit tests when native code changes. Record which checks passed and which native scenarios were not exercised; unit tests do not verify OS input methods, installer signing or upgrade behavior.

How to Submit Themes to the Theme Store

MarkFlowy has a built-in theme store feature where users can browse, download, and install community-created themes. If you want to submit your own theme to the theme store for other users, please refer to the "Sharing Your Theme" section in the Custom Theme Documentation, which details the complete process for theme creation and submission to the theme store.

Thank You!

Your contributions to open source, large or small, make the project better. Thank you for taking the time to contribute.