OpenVeda Playbook: CircuitVerse

Your guide to contributing to a unique, India-born, educational open-source project.

1. The "Why": Mission & Impact

• The Mission: CircuitVerse is a free, open-source digital logic simulator designed to make learning about digital electronics easy and accessible for students everywhere.
• Your Impact: Your code will directly help engineering students across India and the world understand the fundamental principles of computer architecture. The project started as a GSoC project from IIIT-Allahabad and has grown into a global educational tool.
• Why it's great for your career: Contributing to CircuitVerse shows a passion for education and a strong grasp of web technologies. It's a great project to get deep, hands-on experience with Ruby on Rails, a powerful and respected web framework.

2. The "What": Tech Stack

• Core Backend: Ruby using the Ruby on Rails framework.
• Core Frontend: JavaScript, with some parts using jQuery.
• Database: PostgreSQL.
• Key Tools: GitHub and Slack.

3. The "How": Your Onboarding Journey

3.1: Join the Community

• Primary Channel (Slack): The community is very active and student-friendly on Slack. This is the best place to ask for help.
  • Link: Join the CircuitVerse Slack Community
• Your First Action: Join the #introduction channel and introduce yourself.

3.2: The Setup Guide

• Official Guide: Their CONTRIBUTING.md file has a clear, step-by-step guide to get the project running locally.
  • Link: Contributing to CircuitVerse on GitHub
• OpenVeda Pro-Tip: The setup process involves installing Ruby, Rails, and PostgreSQL. Using a version manager for Ruby (like rbenv or RVM) is highly recommended to avoid version conflicts.

3.3: The Contribution Workflow

• The workflow is a standard, beginner-friendly GitHub process, well-detailed in their contributing guide.
• Key Point: They have a strong culture of testing. Make sure to run the tests (bundle exec rspec) before you submit a PR.

4. GSoC History & Focus Areas

• Historical Focus: CircuitVerse is a sub-organization under The IIIT-Allahabad GSoC umbrella. Projects often focus on adding new simulation features, improving the user interface, building a mobile app, and creating new educational content.
• What Mentors Look For: Consistency and a learning mindset. They are very student-focused and value contributors who are eager to learn Rails and contribute regularly, even with small fixes.

5. Key Repositories to Know

• Main Web App: github.com/CircuitVerse/CircuitVerse

6. Find Your First Task Right Now

• The Golden Link: They maintain excellent labels for newcomers.
  • Link: "good first issue" tag
• Hacktoberfest: Look for the hacktoberfest label for great seasonal tasks.

7. The Unwritten Rules (Mentor Insights)

• Be Active on Slack: The fastest way to get help or get a PR reviewed is to ask politely in the relevant Slack channel.
• Tests are Not Optional: A PR without tests for a new feature or bug fix will almost always be asked to add them.
• Embrace the Mission: Show that you care about the educational mission of the project. Your passion for helping students will be highly valued.