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title: Developer Guide

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nav_order: 2

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Tc9d1d9---

Tc9d1d9# Developer Guide

Technical documentation for contributing to the Meshtastic Android and Desktop app.

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Tc9d1d9## Before You Open a PR

Things that trip up first-time contributors — check these before requesting review:

Tff7b72- **Formatting passes** — run Ta5d6ff`./gradlew spotlessApply` to auto-format, then verify with Ta5d6ff`spotlessCheck`

Tff7b72- **Detekt passes** — run Ta5d6ff`./gradlew detekt` and fix all reported issues

Tff7b72- **All tests pass** — run Ta5d6ff`./gradlew test allTests` (both are needed: Ta5d6ff`test` covers Android-only modules, Ta5d6ff`allTests` covers KMP)

Tff7b72- **Screenshot tests pass** — if you touched any Compose UI, run Ta5d6ff`./gradlew :screenshot-tests:validateFdroidDebugScreenshotTest` and update reference images if needed

Tff7b72- **Proto submodule unchanged** — Ta5d6ff`core/proto/` is a read-only git submodule. Never modify proto files directly

Tff7b72- **Docs updated** — if you changed user-visible UI, update the corresponding page under Ta5d6ff`docs/user/`. The Ta5d6ff`UI & Docs Governance` CI workflow will flag the PR if you didn't. Add the Ta5d6ff`skip-docs-check` label if it genuinely isn't needed

Tff7b72- **Previews updated** — if you changed UI composables, update the corresponding Ta5d6ff`*Previews.kt` file and screenshot tests. The governance workflow will post an advisory. Add Ta5d6ff`skip-preview-check` to dismiss

Tff7b72- **Branch naming** — branches must start with Ta5d6ff`feat/`, Ta5d6ff`fix/`, Ta5d6ff`chore/`, Ta5d6ff`docs/`, Ta5d6ff`build/`, Ta5d6ff`ci/`, Ta5d6ff`refactor/`, Ta5d6ff`test/`, or Ta5d6ff`deps/`

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Tc9d1d9## What's New for Developers

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**Month YYYY** — [Tff7b72Page or area](Te6edf3relative/path) — One sentence on what changed architecturally or procedurally.

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**May 2026** — [Tff7b72Measurement & Formatting](Te6edf3developer/measurement) — New page documenting the Ta5d6ff`MetricFormatter` API, locale-aware unit conversion patterns, and how to add new measurement types.

**May 2026** — [Tff7b72Testing](Te6edf3developer/testing) — Compose Preview Screenshot Testing (CST) integrated: Ta5d6ff`screenshot-tests/` module, Ta5d6ff`@PreviewTest` wrappers, CI validation, docs asset pipeline.

**May 2026** — In-app documentation system added: markdown source under Ta5d6ff`docs/user/` and Ta5d6ff`docs/developer/` is bundled as Compose Resources and rendered via Ta5d6ff`multiplatform-markdown-renderer-m3`.

**May 2026** — [Tff7b72Architecture](Te6edf3developer/architecture) — Documented KMP module layering, Navigation 3 patterns, and feature module conventions.

**May 2026** — [Tff7b72Contributing](Te6edf3developer/contributing) — Established docs governance CI workflow for PRs that change UI without updating docs.

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