Contributing

Thank you for your interest in Universal Ontology Definition! We welcome contributions of all kinds.

Contribution Types

Type	Description	Difficulty
Bug Report	Definition errors, missing relations, JSON format issues	⭐
Suggestion	Improvement proposals for Core Ontology	⭐
Documentation	Improve docs, fix translations, add examples	⭐⭐
Industry and Domain Extension	Contribute new industry domain packages	⭐⭐⭐
Core Modification	Structural changes to L1 core layer	⭐⭐⭐⭐

Code of Conduct

All participants must follow our Code of Conduct.

Modifying Core Ontology (L1)

Core Ontology is the foundation of the entire framework. Changes require careful review.

Principles

1. Stability First — L1 only accepts cross-industry, cross-enterprise universal abstractions
2. Non-destructive — Addition preferred over modification; modification preferred over deletion
3. Well-reasoned — Must explain rationale and impact scope

Process

1. Submit an Issue to discuss your proposal
2. After maintainer agreement, fork the repository
3. Make changes in the core/ directory
4. Validate against schema/core_schema.json
5. Explain rationale and impact analysis in the PR description
6. Wait for at least 2 maintainer approvals

Contributing Industry and Domain Extension (L2)

We highly welcome new Industry and Domain Extension!

1. Copy extensions/_template/ to extensions/your-industry/
2. Follow naming convention: lowercase + hyphens (e.g., financial-services)
3. All classes must inherit from L1 via parent field
4. Include at least 10 classes, 5 relations, 5 sample instances
5. Write a complete README
6. Validate against schema/extension_schema.json
7. Submit a PR

See the detailed Extension Development Guide.

Pull Request Workflow

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature/your-feature-name
3. Commit: git commit -m "feat: add healthcare Industry and Domain Extension"
4. Push: git push origin feature/your-feature-name
5. Create a Pull Request using the project's template

Commit Message Convention

Follow Conventional Commits:

feat: add healthcare Industry and Domain Extension
fix: correct relationship domain in consulting extension
docs: improve extension development guide
refactor: reorganize core ontology class hierarchy