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SMG Contribution Workflow

The Iron Law

NO PR WITHOUT PASSING ALL QUALITY GATES

If you haven't run the verification commands in this message, you cannot claim the code is ready.

Violating the letter of this rule is violating the spirit of this rule.

The Gate Function

BEFORE claiming code is ready, opening a PR, or committing:

1. FORMAT
   Run:      cargo +nightly fmt --all
   Expected: No output (silent success)
   If fails:  Fix formatting, re-run

2. LINT
   Run:      cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets --all-features -- -D warnings
   Expected: No warnings, no errors
   If fails:  Fix all warnings, re-run

3. TEST
   Run:      cargo test
   Expected: "test result: ok" with 0 failures
   If fails:  Fix failures, re-run

4. BINDINGS (if config/types.rs, protocols/, or bindings/ changed)
   Run:      make python-dev
   Expected: Successful compilation
   If fails:  Update struct literals, re-run

5. COMMIT FORMAT
   Verify:   Conventional commit (feat/fix/docs/refactor/test/perf/chore/ci)
   Verify:   DCO sign-off present (git commit -s)
   Verify:   No AI attribution

Skip any step = not verified. Run ALL five.

Clippy Rules You'll Hit

Rule	Meaning
unwrap_used = "deny"	No .unwrap(). Use ?, .ok_or(), .unwrap_or_else()
expect_used = "warn"	Prefer ? over .expect()
print_stdout/print_stderr = "warn"	Use tracing crate, not println!/eprintln!
todo/unimplemented/unreachable = "deny"	No placeholder code
allow_attributes = "warn"	Use #[expect(lint, reason = "...")] not #[allow]
Disallowed: tokio::task::spawn	Use project's task spawning utilities
Disallowed: uuid::Uuid::new_v4	Use now_v7
Disallowed: std::process::exit	Use normal shutdown logic, not a hard process exit

Disallowed macros (clippy.toml): unimplemented! and todo! — remove before merging to main.

Import Organization

// 1. Standard library
use std::collections::HashMap;

// 2. External crates (alphabetically)
use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
use tokio::sync::Mutex;

// 3. Internal crates
use crate::config::types::RouterConfig;

Error Handling Pattern

use thiserror::Error;
use anyhow::Context;

#[derive(Error, Debug)]
pub enum MyError {
    #[error("failed to parse config: {0}")]
    ParseError(String),
}

// In functions: use ? with context
let value = parse(input).context("parsing model config")?;

Where Things Live

"I need to..."	Go to
Add CLI flag	model_gateway/src/main.rs (CliArgs)
Change config	model_gateway/src/config/types.rs
Change worker creation	model_gateway/src/worker/ (lifecycle steps: model_gateway/src/workflow/steps/local/)
Change service discovery	model_gateway/src/service_discovery.rs
Change API types	crates/protocols/src/ (careful — shared by all crates)
Add routing policy	model_gateway/src/policies/
Change request scheduling / admission	model_gateway/src/middleware/scheduler/
Change multi-tenancy	model_gateway/src/tenant.rs, model_gateway/src/middleware/tenant_resolution.rs
Change rate limiting	model_gateway/src/middleware/token_bucket.rs, model_gateway/src/middleware/concurrency.rs
Add/modify a provider API	model_gateway/src/routers/{openai,anthropic,gemini}/
Add tool parser	crates/tool_parser/src/parsers/
Add reasoning parser	crates/reasoning_parser/src/parsers/
Update Python bindings	bindings/python/src/lib.rs
Update Go SDK	bindings/golang/
Regenerate client SDKs (after protocol changes)	make generate-clients (clients/openapi-gen/) — regenerates Python + Java types only; the Go SDK is hand-maintained
Add storage backend	crates/data_connector/src/
Add E2E tests	e2e_test/
Add WASM middleware	examples/wasm/ (guests) + crates/wasm/src/ (host)
Add MCP tool support	crates/mcp/src/

Rationalization Prevention

Excuse	Reality
"Clippy is clean enough with a few warnings"	-D warnings means zero. One warning = not clean.
"I didn't change bindings, skip step 4"	If you touched config/types.rs or crates/protocols/, the struct literal in bindings/python/src/lib.rs may need a default. Check.
"Only touched one file, don't need full gate"	The two-path config rule means a one-file change can silently break propagation. Run all five.
"Tests are slow, I'll run them later"	"Later" means shipping untested code. Run them now.
"It's just a docs change"	Even docs PRs need clean formatting and conventional commits. Steps 1 and 5 still apply.

Red Flags — STOP

• About to open a PR without running the gate function in this session
• Using "should pass" or "looks clean" without command output
• Skipping the bindings check after config changes
• Committing without -s (DCO sign-off)
• Thinking "just this once" about any gate step
• Trusting a subagent's claim without verifying independently

Skill Chaining

Before submitting, self-review with smg:review-pr.

When implementing features, use smg:implement for subsystem-specific guidance.