Contribute to the HugeGraph Community

Choose How to Contribute

You can report problems through GitHub Issues, or contribute code, tests, or documentation. Before starting a substantial change, consider opening an issue that explains its scope to avoid duplicated work.

The following example uses apache/hugegraph. The same process applies to other HugeGraph repositories, but follow each repository’s README.md, AGENTS.md, and CI configuration for its build and test commands.

Prepare the Repository

Fork apache/hugegraph on GitHub, then clone your fork:

git clone https://github.com/<your-name>/hugegraph.git
cd hugegraph
git remote add upstream https://github.com/apache/hugegraph.git
git fetch upstream master

Do not develop directly on master. Use a separate branch for each change:

git switch master
git merge --ff-only upstream/master
git switch -c fix/<short-description>

Make and Verify Changes

HugeGraph Server code is under hugegraph-server/. For example, the core module is located at:

hugegraph-server/hugegraph-core/src/main/java/org/apache/hugegraph/

Current top-level Maven modules are listed below. Server’s hugegraph-server/hugegraph-hstore/ storage adapter is distinct from the standalone hugegraph-store/ storage-node project.

These names come from the root and subproject pom.xml files. Use the structure of the branch you are working on.

Run the tests directly related to your change first. Common Server test commands include:

# Core tests with the in-memory backend
mvn test -pl hugegraph-server/hugegraph-test -am -P core-test,memory

# API tests with the RocksDB backend
mvn test -pl hugegraph-server/hugegraph-test -am -P api-test,rocksdb

# Format files and verify compilation
mvn editorconfig:format
mvn clean compile -Dmaven.javadoc.skip=true

GitHub requires a username and token for Git authentication instead of a username and password. Create a personal access token at https://github.com/settings/tokens:

When adding a third-party dependency, also update the license information included in the distribution:

1. Add the dependency’s license file to hugegraph-server/hugegraph-dist/release-docs/licenses/.
2. Update hugegraph-server/hugegraph-dist/release-docs/LICENSE. If the dependency includes a NOTICE file, update NOTICE as well.
3. Run hugegraph-server/hugegraph-dist/scripts/dependency/regenerate_known_dependencies.sh to update the known-dependency list.

Submit a Pull Request

GitHub no longer accepts an account username and password for pushing code. If you need a personal access token, create one with the necessary permissions in token settings.

Make sure the email address used for your commits is associated with your GitHub account. Use email settings:

Use the type(module): message format for commit messages, for example:

git add <changed-files>
git commit -m "fix(core): handle empty vertex query"
git push -u origin fix/<short-description>

Then open a pull request from your fork branch to apache/hugegraph:master. Explain the problem, the implementation, and the validation commands you actually ran. Include screenshots for UI changes.

Address Review Feedback

If CI fails or a reviewer requests changes, continue committing and pushing to the same branch. Rebase when you need to synchronize with upstream:

git fetch upstream master
git rebase upstream/master
git push --force-with-lease

Do not overwrite the remote branch with plain --force. After all CI and review requirements are satisfied, a project maintainer will merge the pull request.

Contributor agreements follow the official ASF process. See the Contributor Agreement.