Contributing

Thank you for your interest in contributing to mini-causal! Contributions are welcome — whether bug reports, documentation improvements, examples, or code changes.

How to Report an Issue

Search existing issues to avoid duplicates
When filing a new issue, provide a clear title and a short description of the problem or feature request
Include a minimal reproducible example when possible: data sample, code snippet, and any error tracebacks

Development Setup

Create and activate a virtual environment

Windows (PowerShell):

python -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

macOS/Linux (bash):

python -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate

Install the package and project dependencies:

pip install -e .
pip install -r requirements.txt

(Optional) Install example dependencies to run notebooks:
```
pip install jupyter matplotlib seaborn
```

Running Tests

Run the test suite with:

pytest -q

Code Style and Quality

Follow Python 3 style (PEP 8)
Use black and isort to format code
Add or update tests for any bug fixes or new features
Include docstrings for all public functions and classes

Workflow for Contributions

Fork the repository and create a topic branch for your change
Make small, focused commits with clear messages
Ensure tests pass locally and add tests if relevant
Open a pull request against the main branch describing the change and linking any related issues

Pull Request Checklist

[ ] The PR has a descriptive title and summary
[ ] Relevant tests were added or updated
[ ] Code is formatted and linted
[ ] Documentation and examples updated if applicable

Review Process

Maintainers will review PRs and may request changes. Please respond to review comments; maintainers will help guide any required updates.

Acknowledgements

Thanks again for contributing — even small improvements make a big difference!