docs: add co-author attribution instructions for external contributors#423
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docs: add co-author attribution instructions for external contributors#423
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Add instructions to CLAUDE.md's Source Control & Pull Requests section that encode the co-author policy from CONTRIBUTING.md. When a PR fixes a GitHub issue filed by an external contributor (not a repo collaborator), the commit should include a Co-authored-by trailer crediting them. The instructions tell Claude to check repo collaborators via the GitHub API to distinguish team members from external contributors, look up the contributor's name, and use their GitHub noreply email as a fallback. This ensures we honor the attribution promise in CONTRIBUTING.md automatically as part of the normal PR workflow.
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Review: Approved ✅
This is a clean documentation-only PR that adds co-author attribution instructions to CLAUDE.md.
What I Verified
- Consistency: The new instructions correctly encode the attribution policy from CONTRIBUTING.md (lines 29-32)
- Accuracy: The
gh apicommands are valid and will work as expected - Format: The
Co-authored-bytrailer format and fallback email format (<username>@users.noreply.github.com) follow GitHub standards - Clarity: The instructions are clear and actionable
No Blocking Issues
This is a straightforward documentation improvement that ensures Claude automatically follows the project's attribution policy for external contributors.
Reviewed with the DDD skill (not applicable to documentation changes)
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Summary
Source Control & Pull Requestssectionencoding the co-author attribution policy from CONTRIBUTING.md
collaborator), the commit should include a
Co-authored-bytrailergh api /repos/systeminit/swamp/collaboratorsto distinguishteam members from external contributors before adding the trailer
gh api /users/<username>to look up the contributor's name and fallsback to
<username>@users.noreply.github.comfor the emailWhy
Our CONTRIBUTING.md promises external
contributors who file issues that we will include them as a co-author on
the resulting PR. This change encodes that promise directly into Claude's
workflow instructions so it happens automatically — no manual reminder
needed.
Test plan
deno fmtpasses (no code changes, only markdown)diff in CLAUDE.md
🤖 Generated with Claude Code