Contributing

Tow is open source under the MIT License. We welcome contributions of all kinds — code, documentation, bug reports, and feature requests.

Getting Started

1. Fork and Clone

git clone https://github.com/your-username/tow-cli.git
cd tow-cli

2. Install Dependencies

go mod download

3. Build

make build       # Build binary to ./bin/tow
make install     # Install to $GOPATH/bin

4. Test

make test        # Run all tests
make lint        # Run golangci-lint

Project Structure

tow-cli/
├── cmd/tow/            # CLI entry point (Cobra commands)
│   └── main.go
├── internal/
│   ├── config/         # Configuration loading and validation
│   ├── deploy/         # Deployment operations (upload, install, rollback)
│   ├── initializer/    # Project auto-detection and scaffolding
│   ├── logger/         # Colored logging system
│   ├── module/         # Module type handlers (springboot, node, etc.)
│   ├── pipeline/       # Multi-step deployment workflows
│   └── ssh/            # SSH connection management
├── docs/               # GitHub Pages documentation (this site)
├── examples/           # Example configuration files
├── Makefile            # Build automation
└── go.mod              # Go module definition

Development Guidelines

Code Style

• Follow standard Go conventions (gofmt, golangci-lint)
• Keep packages focused — each package has a single responsibility
• Prefer explicit over clever code
• Error messages should be actionable: “SSH key not found at ~/.ssh/deploy.pem” over “key error”

Adding a New Module Type

1. Add the handler in internal/module/handler.go:

func init() {
    Register("mytype", Handler{
        DefaultBuildCmd:    "my-build-command",
        DefaultStartCmd:    "bin/server start",
        DefaultStopCmd:     "bin/server stop",
        DefaultArtifact:    "build/{module}.tar.gz",
        DefaultHealthCheck: config.HealthCheckConfig{Type: "tcp"},
    })
}

2. Add detection logic in internal/initializer/initializer.go
3. Add tests in internal/initializer/initializer_test.go
4. Update documentation

Adding a New Command

1. Add the Cobra command in cmd/tow/main.go
2. Implement the logic in the appropriate internal/ package
3. Add tests
4. Update the Commands documentation

Writing Tests

• Config tests go in internal/config/config_test.go
• Initializer tests go in internal/initializer/initializer_test.go
• Use table-driven tests where appropriate
• Mock SSH connections for deploy tests

Contribution Types

Bug Reports

Open an issue with:

• What you expected to happen
• What actually happened
• Steps to reproduce
• Tow version (tow --version)
• OS and Go version

Feature Requests

Open an issue describing:

• The use case (what are you trying to accomplish?)
• Proposed solution
• Alternatives you’ve considered

Pull Requests

1. Create a feature branch from main
2. Make your changes with tests
3. Ensure make test and make lint pass
4. Write a clear PR description
5. Reference any related issues

Roadmap

We’re building Tow into the go-to deployment tool for teams on bare metal and VMs. Here are areas where contributions are especially welcome:

• Rolling deployment strategy — Deploy to servers one at a time with health check gates
• Blue-green deployment — Switch traffic between two sets of servers
• Plugin system — Allow community-built module handlers
• Web dashboard — Real-time deployment status and history
• Notification integrations — Slack, Discord, Teams, PagerDuty
• Deployment metrics — Track deployment frequency, duration, and failure rate
• Multi-region support — Coordinate deployments across regions
• Config encryption — Encrypt sensitive values in tow.yaml

Community

• GitHub Issues: github.com/neurosamAI/tow-cli/issues
• Discussions: github.com/neurosamAI/tow-cli/discussions

License

Tow is released under the MIT License.