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+# Contributing to Grig
+
+Thanks for your interest in contributing! This guide covers everything you need to get started.
+
+---
+
+## Table of contents
+
+1. [Getting the code](#getting-the-code)
+2. [Building the project](#building-the-project)
+3. [Coding conventions](#coding-conventions)
+4. [Submitting changes](#submitting-changes)
+5. [Translations](#translations)
+6. [AI-assisted contributions](#ai-assisted-contributions)
+7. [Getting support](#getting-support)
+
+---
+
+## Getting the code
+
+```bash
+git clone https://github.com/fillods/grig.git
+```
+
+## Building the project
+
+If you obtained the sources from a release tarball:
+
+```bash
+./configure
+make
+sudo make install
+```
+
+If you cloned from Git, run `autogen.sh` instead of `configure` — it regenerates the autotools
+build files first. Any argument you would pass to `configure` can be passed to `autogen.sh` too:
+
+```bash
+./autogen.sh
+make
+```
+
+**Dependencies** (development packages, not just the runtime libraries):
+
+* `gtk+-2.0` — at least version 2.12.0
+* `gthread-2.0` — at least version 2.14.0
+* `hamlib` — at least version 4.2
+
+`configure --help` lists the available build options.
+
+---
+
+## Coding conventions
+
+* **Language:** C, built with GNU Autotools (`configure.ac`/`Makefile.am`).
+* **Indentation:** 4 spaces, no tabs. Most source files start with an Emacs modeline comment
+  (`/* -*- Mode: C; tab-width: 4; indent-tabs-mode: nil; c-basic-offset: 4 -*- */`) — keep that
+  convention in any new file, and match the existing style in files you edit.
+* **Comments:** Doxygen-style (`\file`, `\brief`, `\param`, etc.) on functions and file headers,
+  matching the existing source.
+* **License header:** New source files should carry the same GPLv2 header block used throughout
+  `src/` (matching `COPYING`, the license GitHub also lists for this repository).
+
+---
+
+## Submitting changes
+
+1. **Open or comment on an issue first** for anything beyond a trivial fix — it avoids duplicated
+   effort and lets the maintainer give early feedback on the approach.
+2. **Check for open pull requests** on the same topic before starting.
+3. **Fork the repository** and create a branch for your change.
+4. **Keep pull requests small and focused** — one concern per PR makes review much faster.
+5. **Describe what and why** in the PR body, and note how you tested the change. Grig talks to
+   real radio hardware through Hamlib — if you were able to test against real hardware, say so and
+   which rig/backend; if not, say that too, so the maintainer knows what still needs a hardware
+   check.
+
+---
+
+## Translations
+
+Translations live in `po/` as standard GNU gettext `.po` files, generated from `po/grig.pot`.
+To update a translation, edit the relevant `.po` file directly (or run `msgmerge` against a fresh
+`.pot` if the source strings have changed) rather than editing compiled output.
+
+---
+
+## AI-assisted contributions
+
+AI tools are welcome for drafting code or documentation, but **every contribution must be
+reviewed and understood by the person submitting it** — you should be able to explain how your own
+code works, not just that an assistant produced it. If your contribution was substantially
+generated or guided by an AI tool, please say so briefly in the PR description — for example:
+*"Drafted with an AI assistant, reviewed and tested manually."* This helps the maintainer
+understand the provenance of the code and focus review effort appropriately.
+
+---
+
+## Getting support
+
+If you hit a problem using Grig rather than contributing to it, the mailing list and user forums
+are linked from the Groundstation project page at SourceForge:
+
+[http://sourceforge.net/projects/groundstation](http://sourceforge.net/projects/groundstation)