CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing to camofox-browser

Environment Variable Security

Do not pass the host environment to child processes. This is a hard rule.

When spawning child processes (e.g., the server from the plugin), only pass an explicit whitelist of environment variables. Never use ...process.env or equivalent spreads.

// WRONG — leaks all host secrets to the child process
spawn("node", [serverPath], {
  env: { ...process.env, CAMOFOX_PORT: "9377" },
});

// RIGHT — only what the child actually needs
spawn("node", [serverPath], {
  env: {
    PATH: process.env.PATH,
    HOME: process.env.HOME,
    NODE_ENV: process.env.NODE_ENV,
    CAMOFOX_PORT: "9377",
  },
});

If the child process needs a new env var, add it to the whitelist explicitly in both plugin.ts and tests/helpers/startServer.js.

Do not use dotenv or load .env files. The server reads its configuration from explicitly passed environment variables only. Users running camofox alongside other tools may have .env files with secrets that should never be loaded into this process.

Testing

npm test              # e2e tests
npm run test:live     # live site tests (requires RUN_LIVE_TESTS=1)
npm run test:debug    # with server output (DEBUG_SERVER=1)

Code Style

• No comments explaining what the code does — keep it readable without them
• Use const by default, let only when reassignment is needed
• Error responses: { error: "message" } with appropriate HTTP status codes
• All tab operations require userId for session isolation