Contributing to EmDash | EmDash CMS Everything

EmDash is a pnpm monorepo. The main package is packages/core, published as emdash; it contains the Astro integration, REST API, database layer, schema management, and plugin system. The React admin UI lives in packages/admin.

This page gives you the quickest path to a working development environment. CONTRIBUTING.md is the canonical source for prerequisites, repository layout, contribution policy, required checks, changesets, and pull request requirements.

Local setup

Clone, install, and build the workspace.

git clone https://github.com/emdash-cms/emdash.git
cd emdash
pnpm install
pnpm build

Start the primary development demo.
```
cd demos/simple
pnpm dev
```
The demo runs on Node.js with SQLite at http://localhost:4321. On the first request, it applies the schema from seed/seed.json; the development bypass in the next step also adds its sample content.
Open the admin panel.

For the fastest local setup, open the development bypass. It runs migrations, creates a development administrator, signs you in, and redirects to the admin panel.

To test the passkey setup flow instead, open the admin panel. The setup wizard creates the database, runs migrations, and prompts you to create an administrator account.

Development workflow

Watch mode

When you change packages/core while running the demo, use two terminals so the package rebuilds automatically:

# Terminal 1 — rebuild packages/core on change
cd packages/core && pnpm dev

# Terminal 2 — run the demo
cd demos/simple && pnpm dev

Checks

Run the required checks from the repository root before you commit:

pnpm typecheck    # TypeScript
pnpm lint         # full type-aware lint
pnpm format       # auto-format with oxfmt and Prettier

Tests

All tests

pnpm test

Core only

cd packages/core && pnpm test

Watch mode

cd packages/core && pnpm test --watch

E2E

pnpm test:e2e    # starts its own server

Tests use real in-memory SQLite databases instead of database mocks. Each test gets a fresh database.

Choose a contribution path

Bug fixes, documentation, tests, translations, chores, and behavior-preserving refactors or performance changes can go directly to an implementation pull request. A feature needs an accepted feature plan or RFC before implementation. Read the full contribution policy before starting work so you know which path applies.

CONTRIBUTING.md also links the canonical governance, roadmap, triage, review, proposal, and AI policies.

Documentation changes must also follow the documentation style guide.

For the main execution paths through EmDash, read Architecture (internals). Code-level patterns and invariants are documented in AGENTS.md.