Development Index

Purpose

Central hub for ShadowHound development policies, workflows, and contributor guidelines. This index covers git workflows, DIMOS integration, documentation standards, and development tracking.

Prerequisites

• Familiarity with git and ROS 2 development workflows
• Access to the ShadowHound repository
• Understanding of the project architecture (see Architecture Index)

Active Policies & Workflows

Collaboration & Velocity

• Cloud Agent Workflow — ⭐ High-velocity development with GitHub Copilot cloud agents
• Merge Checklist — Template and example for feature branch merges

Git & Submodule Management

• Git Submodule Policy — Standard git workflow for submodules (not vcstool)
• DIMOS Development Policy — Never edit DIMOS in submodule directory; principled workflow
• DIMOS Branch Consolidation — Plan for consolidating divergent branches

Documentation Standards

• Per-Directory Review Plan — Systematic documentation cleanup with Obsidian graph optimization
• Documentation Cleanup Plan — Master plan for docs organization and GitHub Wiki
• PR Checklist: Docs — Pull request checklist for documentation changes

Development Tracking

• TODO List — Active development tasks and priorities

Completed Work

Cleanup Inventories

• Docs Root Cleanup — Completed inventory and organization (October 2025)
• Project Root Cleanup — Completed inventory and organization (October 2025)

Key Principles

DIMOS Development

CRITICAL: Never edit DIMOS files in the ShadowHound submodule directory (src/dimos-unitree/). All DIMOS development must happen in a separate clone. See DIMOS Development Policy.

Documentation Standards

• Use Obsidian-style wikilinks for internal references
• Include front-matter on all Markdown files (tags, status, related, summary)
• Follow section structure: Purpose, Prerequisites, Steps, Validation, References
• Apply hierarchical tags (e.g., development/policy, development/process)
• Populate "related" fields with 2-5 connected documents
• Add "See Also" sections for horizontal navigation

Git Workflow

• Feature branches from dev branch
• Descriptive commit messages with docs(<area>):, feat(<scope>):, fix(<scope>): prefixes
• Submodules managed with standard git (not vcstool)
• Recursive submodule updates: git submodule update --init --recursive

Common Tasks

Setting Up Development Environment

1. Clone repository with submodules: bash git clone --recursive https://github.com/danmartinez78/shadowhound.git

2. Update submodules (if already cloned): bash git submodule update --init --recursive

3. Follow platform-specific setup guides:

4. ROS 2 Setup
5. DIMOS Quick Start

Contributing Documentation

1. Create feature branch: git checkout -b docs/<description>
2. Follow review plan guidelines
3. Use PR checklist before submitting
4. Validate wikilinks: python tools/validate_wikilinks.py --docs docs

Working with DIMOS

1. Clone DIMOS separately: git clone git@github.com:danmartinez78/dimos-unitree.git
2. Make changes in separate DIMOS clone
3. Push changes and create PR in dimos-unitree repo
4. Update submodule pointer in ShadowHound after merge
5. See full policy for details

Validation

• [ ] All active policies reviewed and up-to-date
• [ ] Documentation standards consistently applied
• [ ] Git workflows documented and validated
• [ ] Legacy content archived appropriately

See Also

• Architecture Documentation — System design and components
• Software Documentation — ROS 2 packages and configuration
• Project Overview — Planning, status, and quick-start guides
• Documentation Root — Complete documentation map

References

• Documentation Root
• Git Submodules Documentation: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Git-Tools-Submodules
• Obsidian Documentation: https://help.obsidian.md/
• GitHub Wiki Best Practices