awesome-quant/CONTRIBUTING.md

Contributing

Your contributions are always welcome! Please ensure your pull request meets the following guidelines.

Entry Format

Each non-commercial entry must include one or more backtick-delimited tags and follow one of these formats. Tags work like a compact tag cloud: use concise terms that help readers understand the project, such as programming languages, runtimes, protocols, interfaces, data types, or domains.

Single tag

- [Project Name](https://github.com/owner/repo) - `Python` - Short description ending with a period.

Tags are not limited to programming languages. For example:

- [Project Name](https://github.com/owner/repo) - `MCP` - Short description ending with a period.

Multiple tags

List each tag separately in adjacent backticks:

- [Project Name](https://github.com/owner/repo) - `Python` `Rust` `MCP` - Short description ending with a period.

Project with website and GitHub repo

For projects that have a dedicated website, link to the site and append the GitHub repo in the description:

- [Project Name](https://project-site.com) - `Python` - Short description ending with a period. [GitHub](https://github.com/owner/repo)

CRAN project

Link to the CRAN package page. If the project has a GitHub repo, append it after the description:

- [Package Name](https://cran.r-project.org/package=pkgname) - `R` - Short description ending with a period.
- [Package Name](https://cran.r-project.org/package=pkgname) - `R` - Short description ending with a period. [GitHub](https://github.com/owner/repo)

PyPI project

Link to the PyPI package page. If the project has a GitHub repo, append it after the description:

- [package-name](https://pypi.org/project/package-name/) - `Python` - Short description ending with a period.
- [package-name](https://pypi.org/project/package-name/) - `Python` - Short description ending with a period. [GitHub](https://github.com/owner/repo)

General rules

• Use https:// URLs only.
• GitHub repository URLs are strongly preferred and are a major positive relevance signal. Projects with a verifiable GitHub repository are easier to evaluate for source availability, documentation, activity, maintenance, and community adoption, and they receive automated tracking of stars, activity, and archive status on the awesome-quant site.
• A public GitHub repository containing the substantive implementation is preferred. Use it as the main URL, or append the exact [GitHub](https://github.com/owner/repo) suffix when the project has a separate website. Repository-less commercial services are considered only under the eligibility rules below. A valid GitHub repository mentioned in either place receives the same relevance consideration.
• Use short, meaningful tags. Each concept must have its own backtick pair; for example, use `Python` `C++` rather than `Python, C++`.
• The description must end with a period (before the [GitHub] link, if present).
• Keep descriptions concise — one sentence.

Quality Requirements

• Active source-backed projects: Projects backed by substantive source in the active categories must show recent repository activity (commits within the last 12 months) and provide a clear README with usage examples.
• Historical & Archived Projects: This category is the narrow exception to the active activity and archive-state requirements. An entry must use Historical plus a language or runtime tag, link to reachable substantive source or documentation, state a specific historical, educational, or foundational reason to retain the project, and clearly disclose that it is archived or unmaintained. It is not for thin wrappers, tutorials, generated data, marketing material, unsupported SDKs, or duplicate implementations.
• Repository-less commercial services: See the permanent-free-tier, public-documentation, and transparency rules in the commercial section below.

Commercial & Proprietary Projects

Public repositories containing substantive implementation remain preferred. A commercial or proprietary project without such a repository qualifies only when it has a meaningful permanent free tier that provides useful quantitative-finance functionality without requiring payment information. Trials, demos, waitlists, and paid-only products do not qualify.

Commercial services without substantive public source—including those with only a thin SDK, integration, examples, generated-data, or marketing repository—are repository-less for every eligibility check. They must publish pricing and free-tier limits, as well as public documentation, methodology, or usage examples. Their entries must use a stable HTTPS URL without affiliate or tracking parameters, have a concise, factual, non-promotional description, and be placed in the Commercial & Proprietary Services section. Backtick tags are optional in that section. For example:

- [Project Name](https://project.example) - Concise factual description ending with a period.

Only a repository containing substantive implementation supports placement in a functional section. Commercial submissions without a qualifying permanent free tier—including paid-only, trial-only, demo-only, and waitlist-only offerings—are REJECT. Reserve NEEDS CHANGES for correctable evidence or disclosure, wording, URL, documentation, or placement defects when the underlying offering can qualify.

Section Placement

The README is organized by category (not by language). Add your entry under the appropriate category heading (##). The available categories are:

• Numerical Libraries & Data Structures
• Financial Instruments & Pricing
• Technical Indicators
• Trading & Backtesting
• Portfolio Optimization & Risk Analysis
• Factor Analysis
• Sentiment Analysis & Alternative Data
• Time Series Analysis
• Market Data & Data Sources
• Prediction Markets
• Calendars & Market Hours
• Visualization
• Excel & Spreadsheet Integration
• Quant Research Environments
• Cross-Language Frameworks
• Reproducing Works, Training & Books
• Commercial & Proprietary Services
• Historical & Archived Projects
• Related Lists

For example, if your project is a Python backtesting library, it goes under ## Trading & Backtesting (not under Technical Indicators or another category).

If no existing category fits, suggest a new one in your PR description.

Multiple Related Projects Per PR

Preferred: One project per pull request for clarity and focused reviews.

Acceptable: Multiple closely related projects in a single PR if they share a common theme or data source. Examples:

• Multiple data sources from the same market or exchange (e.g., all NSE/BSE tools for Indian markets)
• Multiple tools from the same author with complementary functionality
• Multiple APIs/SDKs for the same service or data provider
• Related packages addressing a specific domain gap (e.g., UK company identifier validators)

When submitting multiple projects:

• Explain the relationship and rationale in the PR description
• Ensure each entry is placed in the correct section
• Avoid creating duplicate entries within the same README file
• All entries must meet quality and format requirements independently

Before Submitting

1. Search the existing list to make sure the project is not already included.
2. Search previous Pull Requests (open and closed) to avoid duplicates.
3. Make sure the entry format matches exactly — our parser relies on it.

Required Pull Request Workflows

Every pull request that adds or updates a README entry must pass both required GitHub Actions workflows:

• Validate PR checks the added README entries against the parser and formatting rules, then verifies that the static site can be generated.
• PR Review runs the repository's read-only automated review, including contribution, project-quality, URL, repository, activity, documentation, and existing-README duplicate checks.

Both workflows must pass on the latest pull request revision before the project can be accepted. A success from an older revision does not count. If either workflow is failed, pending, cancelled, missing, or stale, the pull request is not eligible for approval or merge. Fix any reported issues and push a new revision so the required workflows run again.

Passing both workflows is necessary but not sufficient. Maintainers also review relevance, description quality, section placement, repository substance, commercial eligibility, and duplicates in other open or recently closed pull requests.

Automatic Rejection

PRs will be closed if:

• Multiple unrelated projects added in a single PR without a clear grouping rationale.
• Entry format does not match the required pattern.
• Duplicate of an existing entry or a recently closed PR.
• Project is archived or abandoned, unless it meets the documented Historical & Archived Projects eligibility criteria.
• Empty PR description.