Contributing¶

Thank you for your interest in contributing to the DuckDB YAML Extension!

Getting Started¶

Prerequisites¶

C++ compiler (GCC 9+, Clang 11+, or MSVC 2019+)
CMake 3.11+
Git
VCPKG (for dependency management)

Setting Up the Development Environment¶

Clone the repository

git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/teaguesterling/duckdb_yaml
cd duckdb_yaml

Set up VCPKG

# If not already installed
cd ..
git clone https://github.com/Microsoft/vcpkg.git
sh ./vcpkg/scripts/bootstrap.sh -disableMetrics
export VCPKG_TOOLCHAIN_PATH=$(pwd)/vcpkg/scripts/buildsystems/vcpkg.cmake
cd duckdb_yaml

Build the extension
```
make
```
Run tests
```
make test
```

Build Outputs¶

After building:

./build/release/duckdb                   # DuckDB shell with extension
./build/release/test/unittest            # Test runner
./build/release/extension/yaml/yaml.duckdb_extension  # Extension binary

Development Workflow¶

Making Changes¶

Create a branch for your changes
```
git checkout -b feature/my-feature
```
Make your changes
Build and test
```
make
make test
```

Commit and push

git add .
git commit -m "Description of changes"
git push origin feature/my-feature

Open a Pull Request

Code Style¶

Follow existing code patterns in the codebase
Use meaningful variable and function names
Add comments for complex logic
Keep functions focused and reasonably sized

Testing¶

SQL Tests¶

Tests are located in test/sql/. Create .test files using DuckDB's SQL test format:

# name: test/sql/yaml/my_test.test
# description: Test description
# group: [yaml]

statement ok
LOAD yaml;

query I
SELECT yaml_extract('{name: John}'::YAML, '$.name');
----
John

Running Specific Tests¶

# Run all tests
make test

# Run specific test file
./build/release/test/unittest --test-dir ../../.. "test/sql/yaml/my_test.test"

Project Structure¶

duckdb_yaml/
├── src/                    # Source code
│   ├── yaml_extension.cpp  # Extension entry point
│   ├── yaml_functions/     # Function implementations
│   └── yaml_reader/        # File reading logic
├── test/
│   ├── sql/               # SQL tests
│   └── yaml/              # Test YAML files
├── docs/                  # Documentation (MkDocs)
├── duckdb/               # DuckDB submodule
└── extension-ci-tools/   # CI tooling

Areas for Contribution¶

Good First Issues¶

Documentation improvements
Additional test cases
Bug fixes
Performance improvements

Feature Ideas¶

Additional extraction functions
YAML path wildcards
Schema validation functions
Performance optimizations
Streaming support for large files

Reporting Issues¶

When reporting issues, please include:

DuckDB version
Extension version
Operating system
Minimal reproducible example
Expected vs actual behavior

Pull Request Guidelines¶

Keep PRs focused on a single change
Include tests for new functionality
Update documentation as needed
Ensure all tests pass
Follow the existing code style

License¶

This project is released under the MIT License. By contributing, you agree that your contributions will be licensed under the same license.

Questions?¶

Feel free to open an issue for questions or discussion about potential contributions.