Establishing an RFC Process for Project Alignment

[ygrishajev]

Summary

To improve project consistency and alignment, we’re introducing a Request for Comments (RFC) process. This initiative will help us align on project structure, coding principles, and other technical standards. The RFC process encourages transparent discussions, early feedback, and collective decision-making.

Motivation

As our project grows, so does the need for consistent guidelines. Ad-hoc decisions can lead to fragmented approaches, technical debt, and misunderstandings. By formalizing an RFC process, we aim to:
✅ Align on technical and structural decisions.
✅ Encourage proactive discussions instead of reactive debates during PR reviews.
✅ Improve project maintainability and developer experience.
✅ Provide a clear record of why decisions were made.

RFC Process

1. Submit a Proposal:

   • Create a new discussion under the “Contribution RFC” category.
   • The discussion should include:
     • Summary: Brief explanation of the proposal.
     • Motivation: Why this change is needed.
     • Examples: Code snippets, workflows, or diagrams that illustrate the idea.
     • Other Notes: Edge cases, risks, or additional context.

2. Labeling:
   We’ll use the following labels to track RFC statuses:

   • 📝 RFC:Pending - Initial submission, awaiting review.
   • 🗣️ RFC:Active - Under active discussion.
   • ✅ RFC:Landed - Accepted and implemented.
   • ❌ RFC:Rejected - Not accepted.

3. Interaction with PRs:

   • If an RFC-worthy discussion arises during a live PR, it should not block the PR. Instead, create a new RFC discussion.
   • In cases where consensus is quickly reached, the team can agree to block the PR.
   • Once an RFC lands, any violating PRs will be blocked until they comply with the new standards.

4. Finalizing RFCs:

   • When consensus is reached, the discussion is marked as RFC:Landed or RFC:Rejected.
   • Accepted RFCs become part of the official contribution guidelines.

Next Steps

✅ Share your thoughts on the proposed flow!
✅ If you have suggestions or adjustments, please comment below.
✅ Once agreed upon, this RFC will be considered landed and serve as the foundation for future proposals.

🔔 Let’s align on how we work to build a stronger, more consistent codebase together! 🙌

[ygrishajev]

This is supposed to be a first such RFC to describe and establish the process. It's self referencing in some sense :)

[stalniy]

I'd add that we aim to automate contribution guidelines checks and should do this using something like eslint as this will make our lives easier especially when somebody from community will contribute some code