Contribute to WildBionics

For whom

Everyone with their own Claude plan – the recommended way to contribute.

What you need

A GitHub account with an invitation to the repository and Claude Pro, Max, Team or Enterprise.

Time

about 20 minutes to set up (once)

1. 1

   Step 1: Create a GitHub account and get invited

   Free at github.com/signup. Then open an issue titled “Collaborator request” with your GitHub username in the repository – or ask the maintainer directly – and accept the invitation via the e-mail from GitHub or at github.com/hstoecker/wildbionics/invitations.
2. 2

   Step 2: Sign in to Claude and connect GitHub

   Open claude.ai/code, sign in with your Claude plan and connect GitHub when asked. Accept the invitation first: until then hstoecker/wildbionics does not appear in the repository list. If it is still missing, reconnect GitHub at claude.ai/connect-github.
3. 3

   Step 3: Create the WildBionics cloud environment (once)

   Every session runs on a fresh cloud machine; its environment decides which websites it may reach and what is installed. Environment selector next to the message box → Add cloud environment (to change an existing one: the environment menu in the session’s title bar → Edit). Fill in four fields:

   Name

   WildBionics

   Network access

   Custom, tick Also include default list of common package managers (RubyGems, for Jekyll) and allow these domains – without them Claude cannot verify sources (Crossref, DOI, PubMed, Semantic Scholar, Wikidata, Wikipedia):

   api.crossref.org
   doi.org
   eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
   pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
   www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
   api.semanticscholar.org
   www.wikidata.org
   *.wikipedia.org

   Environment variables

   LANG=C.UTF-8

   The cloud machine has no UTF-8 locale by default – without this line Jekyll and the checks crash at the first umlaut.

   Setup script

   #!/bin/bash
   set -e
   gem install github-pages -v 232 --no-document
   ln -sf "$(ruby -e 'print Gem.bindir')/jekyll" /usr/local/bin/jekyll
   python3 -m pip install numpy==2.0.2 scipy==1.13.1 matplotlib==3.9.4 fonttools==4.54.1 brotli==1.1.0

   Installs Jekyll in exactly the versions GitHub Pages uses. The ln line puts jekyll on the path – the cloud machine installs gem programs in a folder the shell does not search. The last line installs the Python libraries the code examples need, in the versions CI uses.

   Then select Create environment. Screenshots need nothing extra: Chromium is preinstalled.
4. 4

   Step 4: Start a session

   Use the button below – repository and environment are preselected. Or choose hstoecker/wildbionics (branch main) and the WildBionics environment yourself.

   Open Claude Code with WildBionics

5. 5

   Step 5: Check the setup

   Send this as your first message:

   Run all local checks from CLAUDE.md and check that api.crossref.org is reachable.

   All five checks should report 0 errors. If not, see “If something doesn’t work” below.
6. 6

   Step 6: Describe your task

   For example:

   Write a new WildBionics article about how bats find their prey with echolocation. Start with the wildbionics-contribute skill and follow the article, figures, translate and graph skills.

7. 7

   Step 7: Work together with Claude

   Answer its questions, ask to see the figures and pages as screenshots, and finish with: “Run all gates and review your work with wildbionics-review.”
8. 8

   Step 8: Review the changes

   Open the diff via the +/− indicator. Comment on single lines if something should change.
9. 9

   Step 9: Create the pull request

   Select Create PR at the top of the diff view. After about 3 minutes the checks are done and Claude has posted a review; screenshots of the new pages are under Checks → Build, check & deploy → Artifacts → preview-pr-…. Ask Claude in the session to fix any findings – it pushes to the same pull request. The maintainer approves; a few minutes after the merge your contribution is online.
10. 10

    Step 10: If something doesn’t work

    “invalid byte sequence in US-ASCII”

    The environment variable LANG=C.UTF-8 is missing.

    “bundler: command not found: jekyll”

    The setup script is missing or failed – check it in the environment settings.

    Crossref, DOI or PubMed blocked (403, “host not allowed”)

    Network access is not Custom, or the domain is missing from the list.

    Repository missing from the list, push refused

    Accept the invitation, then reconnect GitHub.

    Environment changed, nothing happens

    Settings only apply to new sessions – start a new one.

    Still stuck? Open an issue with the error message.
11. 11

    Step 11: Optional: on your own computer

    Clone the repository and start Claude Code in it – the skills load automatically:

    git clone https://github.com/hstoecker/wildbionics.git
    cd wildbionics
    claude

    The plugin commands /plugin marketplace add hstoecker/wildbionics and /plugin install wildbionics@wildbionics are only needed outside this repository.

Tip: On Windows use claude.ai/code: the skills are linked with symlinks, which Windows sometimes checks out incorrectly.

For whom

Friends and family only: Claude runs on the maintainer’s account, so every request uses the maintainer’s Claude tokens.

What you need

A free GitHub account and an invitation to the repository.

Time

about 10 minutes to set up

1. 1

   Step 1: Create a GitHub account

   Free at github.com/signup. GitHub is where the whole project lives.
2. 2

   Step 2: Ask for an invitation

   Open an issue titled “Collaborator request” with your GitHub username in the repository – or ask the maintainer directly.
3. 3

   Step 3: Accept the invitation

   Use the link in the e-mail from GitHub, or open github.com/hstoecker/wildbionics/invitations.
4. 4

   Step 4: Open a new issue

   Go to New issue and choose Article idea or Correction.
5. 5

   Step 5: Write your request – starting with @claude

   Be specific: which phenomenon, for whom, which sources you know. Example:

   @claude Please research and draft a WildBionics article about how bats find their prey with echolocation. Follow the WildBionics skills, verify every source, write English first, then German.

6. 6

   Step 6: Submit and wait

   Select Submit new issue. Claude replies in a comment and ticks off a task list while it works – a full article can take a while.
7. 7

   Step 7: Create the pull request

   When Claude is done, its comment contains a link to create the pull request. Open it and select Create pull request.
8. 8

   Step 8: Check the result

   After about 3 minutes the checks are done and Claude has posted a review. Screenshots of the new pages: Checks → Build, check & deploy → Artifacts → preview-pr-….
9. 9

   Step 9: Ask for changes

   Comment in the pull request and start with @claude – e.g. “@claude make the figure larger and add a FAQ entry about …”. Claude pushes the change.
10. 10

    Step 10: Approval and go-live

    The maintainer reviews and approves. A few minutes after the merge your contribution is online.

Tip: One topic per issue, and as precise as possible – phenomenon, audience, sources you know. That gives better results and saves the maintainer’s tokens.

For whom

Absolute experts the maintainer knows personally – git, Jekyll and the project rules are second nature to you.

What you need

A GitHub account, git and, for the local preview and checks, Ruby 3.3 and Python 3.9 or newer.

Time

5 minutes for a small fix

1. 1

   Step 1: Read the rules

   CONTRIBUTING.md and the skills in plugins/wildbionics/skills – plain Markdown, just as useful for people.
2. 2

   Step 2: Small change: edit in the browser

   Open the file on GitHub (e.g. an article in _articles/), select the pencil icon, edit, then Commit changes… → Create a new branch → Propose changes. GitHub creates a fork if needed. Continue with step 6.
3. 3

   Step 3: Larger change: fork and branch

   Select Fork on the repository page (collaborators can skip this), clone it and create a branch:

   git clone https://github.com/<your-name>/wildbionics.git
   cd wildbionics
   git checkout -b article/bats

4. 4

   Step 4: Edit the files

   New articles as _articles/<slug>.en.md and .de.md, texts of the interface in _data/i18n.yml, German terms in _data/glossary.yml.
5. 5

   Step 5: Check and push

   Run the checks and the local preview, then commit and push:

   bundle install
   python3 -m pip install -r examples/requirements.txt -r .github/scripts/requirements.txt
   ruby .github/scripts/check_terms.rb
   ruby .github/scripts/check_content.rb
   ruby .github/scripts/check_plugin.rb
   python3 .github/scripts/code_examples.py --check
   bundle exec jekyll build && python3 .github/scripts/figures.py _site && python3 .github/scripts/check_site.py _site
   bundle exec jekyll serve   # http://localhost:4000
   git add -A && git commit -m "Add bat article"
   git push -u origin article/bats

6. 6

   Step 6: Open a pull request

   Against hstoecker/wildbionics · main; fill in the template.
7. 7

   Step 7: Fix what the checks report

   A failing check names the rule and the file in its log. Fix it and push again – the pull request updates itself.
8. 8

   Step 8: Approval and go-live

   The maintainer reviews and approves; after the merge your change is online.

Tip: Talk to the maintainer before larger changes. Pull requests from forks get no automatic Claude review, because GitHub withholds secrets from forks – the maintainer reviews them by hand.