contribution guideines

CONTRIBUTING.md

+# Contributing
+
+## Creating merge requests
+
+Any contributions to this project must happen through GitLab merge requests to the main development
+repository (currently [i10git.cs.fau.de/da15siwa/pystencils-sfg](https://i10git.cs.fau.de/da15siwa/pystencils-sfg)).
+For a merge request to be accepted, it needs to both pass the continous integration pipeline and be approved by a project maintainer.
+
+## Free Software
+
+This project is free software under the GNU General Public Licence v3.
+As such, any submission of contributions via merge requests is considered as agreement to this licence.
+
+## Developing `pystencils-sfg`
+
+### Fork and Clone
+
+To work within the `pystencils-sfg` source tree, first create a *fork* of this repository on GitLab and create
+a local clone of your fork.
+
+### Set up your dev environment
+
+`pystencils-sfg` uses [`pdm`](https://pdm-project.org) for managing a virtual development environment.
+Install `pdm` through your system's package manager and run `pdm sync` in your cloned project directory.
+It will set up a virtual environment in the subfolder `.venv`, installing all project dependencies into it.
+The `pystencils-sfg` package itself is also installed in editable mode.
+You can activate the virtual environment using `eval $(pdm venv activate)`.
+
+### Code Style and Type Checking
+
+To contribute, please adhere to the Python code style set by [PEP 8](https://peps.python.org/pep-0008/).
+It is recommended that you use the [black](https://pypi.org/project/black/) formatter to format your source files.
+Use flake8 (installed in the `pdm` virtual environment) to check your code style:
+
+```shell
+pdm run flake8 src/pystencilssfg
+# or, if .venv is activated
+flake8 src/pystencilssfg
+```
+
+Further, `pystencils-sfg` takes a rigorous approach to correct static typing.
+All submitted code should contain type annotations ([PEP 484](https://peps.python.org/pep-0484/)) and must be
+correctly statically typed.
+To check types, we use [MyPy](https://www.mypy-lang.org/), which is automatically installed in the dev environment
+and can be invoked as
+
+```shell
+pdm run mypy src/pystencilssfg
+# or, if .venv is activated
+mypy src/pystencilssfg
+```
+
+Both `flake8` and `mypy` are also run in the integration pipeline.
+It is furthermore recommended to run both checkers as a git pre-commit hook.
+Such a hook can be installed using the [`install_git_hooks.sh`][install_git_hooks.sh] script located at the project root.
+

README.md

@@ -5,3 +5,8 @@
 A bridge over the semantic gap between code emitted by pystencils and your C/C++/Cuda/HIP framework.
 This project is still in an early stage of development.
 
+## Contribute
+
+Contributions, be they bugfixes, documentation, or entirely new features, are always welcome.
+Before submitting your code, please read the [contribution guidelines][CONTRIBUTING.md].
+