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docs: Add contributing guide and improve community documentation#2162

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dsp-ant merged 15 commits into
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docs/contributing-to-protocol
Jan 30, 2026
Merged

docs: Add contributing guide and improve community documentation#2162
dsp-ant merged 15 commits into
mainfrom
docs/contributing-to-protocol

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@dsp-ant dsp-ant commented Jan 28, 2026

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Summary

This PR adds a comprehensive contributing guide and improves the overall quality and usability of the community documentation.

Requesting review from @modelcontextprotocol/docs-maintainers

Changes

New Content

  • Contributing Guide (docs/community/contributing.mdx): A comprehensive guide for new contributors covering:
    • Prerequisites and environment setup
    • Repository structure explanation
    • Step-by-step first contribution guide
    • Types of contributions (small vs. major/SEP-required)
    • SDK contribution guidance
    • Getting help and finding sponsors
    • Troubleshooting common issues
    • AI contribution disclosure policy

Improved Formatting

  • Added tables throughout for better scannability
  • Added ASCII diagrams for governance hierarchy and SEP workflow
  • Better section organization with clearer heading hierarchy
  • Consistent terminology (Core Maintainers, Lead Maintainers capitalized)

Content Improvements

  • Antitrust policy: Added clarifying note that policy applies to group discussions, not day-to-day individual contributor work
  • SEP guidelines: Added prototype requirements section, dormant vs. rejected clarification, after-rejection guidance
  • Working/Interest Groups: Added "Quick Reference" comparison table, "When to Use Which" section, expanded FAQ
  • SEPs index: Simplified by removing redundant status definitions (now references SEP guidelines)

Navigation Updates

  • Added contributing page to community section sidebar
  • Updated all specification index pages to link to new contributing page
  • Updated redirect from /development/contributing to /community/contributing

Validation

  • npm run check:docs passes
  • All links validated
  • Formatting checked with Prettier

@dsp-ant dsp-ant requested a review from a team as a code owner January 28, 2026 15:58
@localden localden added the documentation Improvements or additions to documentation label Jan 29, 2026
localden
localden previously approved these changes Jan 29, 2026
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jonathanhefner
jonathanhefner reviewed Jan 29, 2026
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@jonathanhefner jonathanhefner left a comment

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Overall looks good! I really like the simplified language!

Comment thread docs/community/communication.mdx Outdated
Comment thread docs/community/communication.mdx Outdated
Comment thread docs/community/contributing.mdx Outdated
Comment thread docs/community/contributing.mdx Outdated
Comment thread docs/community/contributing.mdx Outdated
Comment thread docs/community/contributing.mdx Outdated
Comment thread docs/community/sep-guidelines.mdx Outdated
Comment thread docs/community/sep-guidelines.mdx
Comment thread docs/community/sep-guidelines.mdx Outdated
Comment thread docs/community/sep-guidelines.mdx Outdated
jonathanhefner
jonathanhefner reviewed Jan 29, 2026
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Comment thread docs/community/communication.mdx Outdated
dsp-ant and others added 2 commits January 29, 2026 15:08
@dsp-ant
docs: Add contributing guide and improve community documentation
018de61 
- Add comprehensive contributing guide (docs/community/contributing.mdx)
  covering prerequisites, setup, types of contributions, and troubleshooting

- Improve formatting across community docs with tables and ASCII diagrams
  for better scannability

- Add clarifying note to antitrust policy about when it applies

- Enhance SEP guidelines with workflow diagram, status table, and
  prototype requirements section

- Add 'When to Use Which' section and FAQ to Working/Interest Groups

- Update navigation to include contributing page and fix links

- Remove redundant status definitions from SEP index (now references
  SEP guidelines)
@localden @dsp-ant
Update SEP generation
4b89da7 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
localden and others added 11 commits January 29, 2026 15:08
@localden @dsp-ant
Guide update.
c6a4df9 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
@localden @dsp-ant
Add line length limits.
adc0bb5 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
@localden @dsp-ant
Prettier fix
1041554 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
@localden @dsp-ant
Update communication guidance.
aac05be 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
@localden @dsp-ant
Fix broken code blocks.
8b34ea6 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
@localden @dsp-ant
Add short explainers.
c245111 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
@localden @dsp-ant
Improve step explainers.
159cd74 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
@localden @dsp-ant
Update for brevity
da18627 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
@localden @dsp-ant
Fix explainers
0db13a2 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
@localden @dsp-ant
Prettier is no longer yelling at me and breaking code blocks.
681d61c 
🏠 Remote-Dev: homespace
@dsp-ant
Address PR review feedback from jonathanhefner
7009582 
- Direct feature requests to GitHub Discussions, not Issues
- Add Live calls row to communication channels table
- Rename SECURITY.md to Vulnerability reports in table
- Update Node.js version requirements to 24+
- Update npm version to 11.x
- Remove redundant table row about testing
- Add @example to @includecode JSDoc reference
- Add Mintlify components documentation link
- Point to MCP Registry instead of deprecated servers list
- Replace ASCII art with Mermaid diagram in SEP workflow
- Change bi-weekly to every two weeks for clarity
@dsp-ant dsp-ant force-pushed the docs/contributing-to-protocol branch from ee35aba to 7009582 Compare January 29, 2026 19:34
@dsp-ant dsp-ant requested a review from dsp January 30, 2026 11:48
@dsp-ant dsp-ant merged commit 6c4c6f1 into main Jan 30, 2026
7 checks passed
@dsp-ant dsp-ant deleted the docs/contributing-to-protocol branch January 30, 2026 11:53
shivankgoel pushed a commit to shivankgoel/modelcontextprotocol that referenced this pull request Feb 16, 2026
@dsp-ant @localden @shivankgoel
docs: Add contributing guide and improve community documentation (mod…
0d3e518 
…elcontextprotocol#2162)

* docs: Add contributing guide and improve community documentation

- Add comprehensive contributing guide (docs/community/contributing.mdx)
  covering prerequisites, setup, types of contributions, and troubleshooting

- Improve formatting across community docs with tables and ASCII diagrams
  for better scannability

- Add clarifying note to antitrust policy about when it applies

- Enhance SEP guidelines with workflow diagram, status table, and
  prototype requirements section

- Add 'When to Use Which' section and FAQ to Working/Interest Groups

- Update navigation to include contributing page and fix links

- Remove redundant status definitions from SEP index (now references
  SEP guidelines)

* Update SEP generation

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Guide update.

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Add line length limits.

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Prettier fix

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Update communication guidance.

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Fix broken code blocks.

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Add short explainers.

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Improve step explainers.

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Update for brevity

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Fix explainers

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Prettier is no longer yelling at me and breaking code blocks.

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

* Address PR review feedback from jonathanhefner

- Direct feature requests to GitHub Discussions, not Issues
- Add Live calls row to communication channels table
- Rename SECURITY.md to Vulnerability reports in table
- Update Node.js version requirements to 24+
- Update npm version to 11.x
- Remove redundant table row about testing
- Add @example to @includecode JSDoc reference
- Add Mintlify components documentation link
- Point to MCP Registry instead of deprecated servers list
- Replace ASCII art with Mermaid diagram in SEP workflow
- Change bi-weekly to every two weeks for clarity

* Add note about source access

:house: Remote-Dev: homespace

---------

Co-authored-by: Den Delimarsky <den@anthropic.com>
Co-authored-by: Den Delimarsky <53200638+localden@users.noreply.github.com>
@maxisbey maxisbey mentioned this pull request Jun 16, 2026
Merged
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@jonathanhefner jonathanhefner jonathanhefner left review comments
@localden localden localden approved these changes
@dsp dsp Awaiting requested review from dsp

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@dsp-ant @jonathanhefner @localden