> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.altnautica.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Contributing

> How to land a plugin in the official ADOSExtensions repo, and where to file issues for the host itself.

Anyone can publish a plugin. A subset of plugins ship under the
Altnautica name in the official extensions repo. This page covers
how those two tracks differ.

## Your own repo

The default. Build a plugin, sign it with your own key, publish on
GitHub or anywhere else. Operators install by URL or downloaded
file. Altnautica does not gate distribution; the host gates trust
through the publisher key list.

You decide license, release cadence, supported platforms, and
support policy. The host enforces only the manifest schema and the
permission model.

## Altnautica-published extensions

[`altnautica/ADOSExtensions`](https://github.com/altnautica/ADOSExtensions)
is the public monorepo for first-party extensions Altnautica builds
and signs. Inclusion is by invitation; the bar is:

* **Generic**: useful to most operators, not a niche feature for
  one user.
* **GPL-3.0-or-later**: matches the host license.
* **Tested**: unit tests at minimum, ideally integration tests
  against ArduPilot SITL.
* **Maintained**: the maintainer commits to triaging issues and
  shipping security fixes.
* **Reviewed**: the code passes a review for the operating rules
  the public repo follows (no business content, no upstream
  attribution other than protocol names, no internal planning
  tags).

If you have a candidate, open an issue in `ADOSExtensions` describing
the plugin and link a working repo. We will review and either
upstream it or point you at the registry once it lands.

## Filing host issues

Bugs in the plugin host itself live in the host repos:

* Agent host bugs: [`altnautica/ADOSDroneAgent`](https://github.com/altnautica/ADOSDroneAgent).
* GCS host bugs: [`altnautica/ADOSMissionControl`](https://github.com/altnautica/ADOSMissionControl).

Include a minimal `.adosplug` that reproduces the bug whenever
possible. The host repo CI knows how to run signed archives in a
sandboxed test agent.

## Spec drift

If a manifest field, a capability, or a slot id is documented one
way here and behaves a different way in the host code, the host code
is authoritative. File a docs issue against
[`altnautica/Documentation`](https://github.com/altnautica/Documentation)
and we will reconcile.

## Code of conduct

Both repos follow the contributor covenant. Be useful, be patient,
be specific. Plugins in the official repo additionally follow the
Altnautica content rules: no marketing copy in the source tree, no
named-competitor references, technical scope only.

## Discussion

Discord is the fastest way to ask questions:
[discord.gg/uxbvuD4d5q](https://discord.gg/uxbvuD4d5q). The
`#plugins` channel is for plugin authors specifically; the rest of
the server is for general ADOS questions.