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External Contribution Workflow for Modular Repo

We welcome and value contributions from the community! This document explains the lifecycle of a pull request (PR) in the Modular repository, from submission through review and final merge.

If you're looking for guidance on how to contribute, please refer to the CONTRIBUTING guide for the Mojo standard library.

The MAX Kernel Library will also be open for contributions soon. For details on contributing to this component, please see its dedicated CONTRIBUTING guide.

🧭 Overview of the Contribution Process

Step 1: PR Triage and Initial Review

When a new pull request is opened by an external contributor, a Modular team member will take an initial look and determine how to proceed. This may include:

  • Leaving the PR as-is (e.g. if it's a draft).
  • Reviewing the PR directly, especially if the changes are straightforward.
  • Assigning the PR to a subject-matter expert on the appropriate team (Libraries, Kernels, Documentation etc.) for deeper review.

We aim to respond in a timely manner based on the time tables in the CONTRIBUTING guide.

Step 2: Internal Review and Syncing

Once a PR passes initial review and is progressing toward approval, a Modular team member will sync it to our internal repository for further validation and integration. This is done using an automated tool that mirrors your changes into our internal environment.

💡 Note: This process is transparent to you as a contributor. You'll see a bot (Modularbot) comment on your PR with status updates like:

  • Synced internally - when your change has been synced internally into our repository
  • Merged internally - when your change has been merged internally into our repository
  • Merged externally - when your change has gone out with the latest nightly and is now available upstream in the main branch.

These messages help track the lifecycle of your contribution across our systems.

Step 3: Review Feedback and Iteration

All feedback intended for you will be posted directly on the external pull request. Internal discussions (e.g. security/privacy reviews or cross-team coordination) may happen privately but won't affect your ability to contribute. If we need changes from you, we'll leave clear comments with action items.

Once everything is approved and CI checks pass, we'll take care of the final steps to get your PR merged.

🛠️ Behind the Scenes (FYI)

Here are a few implementation details that help us keep things running smoothly:

  • We use a tool called Copybara to sync changes between internal and external repos.

  • Your GitHub username and PR number are automatically preserved via commit metadata like:

    ORIGINAL_AUTHOR=username 12345678+username@users.noreply.github.com
PUBLIC_PR_LINK=modularml/mojo#2439

🌙 Nightly Builds

The Modular repository is synced nightly around 2 am ET. This means the main branch may lag slightly behind our internal repository by up to 24 hours. At times, it may be longer in case of a (blocking) release failure in our internal CI release workflows.

🙌 Thanks for Contributing

We deeply appreciate your interest in improving the Modular ecosystem. Whether you're fixing typos, improving docs, or contributing core library features, your input makes a difference.

If you have questions or need help, feel free to:

  • Leave a comment on your pull request
  • Join our community forum and post a question

Let's build something great together!