Contributing guides and codes of conduct

CONTRIBUTING.md is the contributing guide: the project's instructions to you. It explains how to set up the code and run the tests, how to name branches and write commits, and which issues are open to newcomers. It also says whether to discuss a change before you code it.

Most rejected first pull requests ignore something written there, so read it fully before your first comment. The code of conduct, often the Contributor Covenant, sets the behaviour expected in issues, reviews and chat. It also says how to report problems.

Look in the .github folder too, for pull request templates, and for style guides and rules about the changelog (the list of changes in each release). If the guide says to open an issue before a new feature, a surprise pull request will likely be closed, however good it is.