Contribution Standards

Overview

This document defines the quality bar and submission process for contributing to the aDNA ecosystem. Whether you’re submitting a glossary correction or a new ontology extension, these standards apply.

Naming Conventions

All content files use the same naming pattern:

type_descriptive_name.md

• Always underscores, never hyphens in vault filenames
• Type prefix matches the entity type: concept_, tutorial_, pattern_, glossary_, etc.
• Lowercase throughout
• Descriptive — a reader should guess the file’s content from its name

Quality Gates

Every contribution must pass these checks:

1. Frontmatter complete — all required fields populated per the relevant template in how/templates/
2. Dual-audience test — legible to both developers and non-developers
3. Self-reference check — cites a concrete vault example when explaining aDNA concepts
4. Spec citation — normative claims reference adna_standard.md with section numbers
5. Cross-linking — minimum 2 wikilinks to related files

Submission Workflows

Vault Contribution (Your Own Project)

Create and customize content in your own vault. No review required — your vault, your rules.

Upstream Contribution (To the Standard)

1. Agent surfaces a framework-level improvement during normal work
2. You approve filing it as how/backlog/idea_upstream_{slug}.md
3. Optionally open a GitHub issue on LatticeProtocol/Agentic-DNA
4. Maintainers and Stewards review
5. Accepted improvements merge into the next standard version

Side-Quest Submission

1. Run the quest procedure in your vault
2. Record results in the specified format
3. Submit as a PR to the quest’s results/ directory
4. Results are aggregated across participants

Participation Level Mapping

Related

• Community Roles — the participation ladder
• Community Processes — detailed workflow steps
• Conformance Level — Starter/Standard/Full compliance tiers