How to Contribute

We welcome contributions of every kind. Whether you fix a typo or write an entire biography, every contribution makes this book better.

Contribution Tiers

Type	Effort	Difficulty
Fix a typo / broken link	5 minutes	⭐
Add a timeline entry (with link)	15 minutes	⭐
Add a dictionary entry for an existing person (avatar / bio)	30 minutes	⭐⭐
Write a biography or institutional history	2–4 hours	⭐⭐⭐
Translate a chapter into English	2–6 hours	⭐⭐⭐

How to Contribute

1. Report an issue

Found a factual error, an omission, or a broken link? Open an Issue on GitHub:

• Correction: use the "Content Correction" template; specify the location (path or link) and the correct information (please cite a source).
• Suggestion: use the "Content Suggestion" template; describe the chapter or event you would like to see added.

2. Submit changes

# 1. Fork the repository, then clone your fork
git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/history-of-ai.git
cd history-of-ai

# 2. Install dependencies
npm install

# 3. Start local preview (http://localhost:10001)
npm run docs:dev

# 4. Create a branch
git checkout -b feat/your-topic

# 5. After editing, verify the build (no errors)
npm run docs:build

# 6. Commit and push
git commit -m "docs: short description of your change"
git push origin feat/your-topic

# 7. Open a Pull Request on GitHub

3. Join the discussion

Share your views on AI history in Issues or Discussions, and propose new directions for chapters.

Writing Standards

Truth above all

• Facts before flourish: every name, year, event, and number must hold up under scrutiny. When in doubt, leave it out — never invent.
• Distinguish fact from legend: many AI stories (such as the details of Pitts writing to Russell) exist in multiple versions. Adopt the mainstream consensus and mark contested details with "reportedly" or a citation.
• Numbers must be exact: vacuum-tube counts, paper publication years, ages — these slip easily. Cross-check against at least two independent sources before committing them.
• Prefer primary sources: original papers and first-hand recollections beat second-hand summaries.

Voice and style

• Narrative first: tell history as a story. Drive forward through scenes and human action; avoid the dryness of a textbook.
• Mix long and short sentences: long sentences open up causation; short sentences create rhythm and judgment. Avoid a wall of long sentences.
• Grave but not stiff: keep the overall tone serious and literary. Metaphor and image are welcome; ornamental prose is not.
• Detail does the work: a single paper, a single meeting, a single decision can carry an argument far better than a sweeping generalization.

Format conventions

Mixing Chinese and English

Primary text in the local language, with key terms in their original English form: 中文（English Term）

(For the English edition, terms in their original language can be glossed in parentheses where useful.)

The <Person id="xxx" /> component

The first appearance of any person in a chapter must use the <Person> component — it shows a hover card with the English name, nationality, field, dates, and a short bio. Subsequent mentions can use only the name.

<Person id="turing" /> published *On Computable Numbers* in 1936... Turing later proved...

If the person is not yet in the dictionary at docs/.vitepress/data/people.ts:

1. Preferred: add them to the dictionary first, then use the component
2. Temporary: use 中文名 (English Name) inline

When adding a person to the dictionary, include id, name, englishName, nationality, field, born, died (optional), bio, and avatar (optional).

Three required closing sections

Every chapter must end with:

::: tip Historian's Note
A short historical commentary in the spirit of *Records of the Grand Historian*: 6–12 lines distilling the chapter's argument and historical place.
:::

## Eyewitness Accounts

::: info Open Call
If you took part in or witnessed XXX, please [contribute](https://github.com/zsjunai/history-of-ai).
:::

## References

1. Verifiable papers, books, or reports — with author, year, and source.
2. ...

Biographies additionally require a Selected Works section as a Markdown table; other forms may omit it.

Chapter-count synchronization (important)

After adding or removing a chapter, every place that records the chapter count must be updated:

1. CLAUDE.md — the five-fold structure table
2. README.md — the structure table and the chapter list
3. docs/guide/introduction.md and docs/en/guide/introduction.md — the chapter counts in the preface
4. docs/index.md and docs/en/index.md — the chapter counts in the homepage features
5. docs/.vitepress/theme/components/StatsBar.vue — the number values in the stats bar

Image Licensing

Only images from the following sources are accepted. News-media photos, scraped social-media images, and any image of unclear provenance are not accepted.

Source	Accepted	Notes
Public Domain	✅	Copyright expired or waived
CC0 / CC-BY / CC-BY-SA	✅	Credit author + original link
Official Press Kit	✅	Materials a company or institution releases for free use
Getty Images / news photos	❌	Not accepted, even for academic use

Every image must be logged in docs/public/images/people/CREDITS.md with: filename, person, source URL, uploader, license, and year of capture.

Pull Request Checklist

Before opening a PR, please check:

• [ ] Content is factually accurate, with citations for key claims
• [ ] First mention of any person uses <Person id="xxx" /> or Name (English Name)
• [ ] Chapter ends with "Historian's Note" + "Eyewitness Accounts" + "References"
• [ ] npm run docs:build runs without errors or warnings (chunk-size warning excepted)
• [ ] Chapter counts updated everywhere they appear (if you added or removed a chapter)
• [ ] Image sources logged in CREDITS.md (if you added images)
• [ ] Commit message uses a conventional prefix: feat: / fix: / docs: / refactor: etc.