Contributing

Thanks for contributing to Deckless.

Project scope

Deckless exists to improve the real desktop Linux Steam experience without forking or replacing the official Steam package.

Changes are a good fit when they:

keep the official Steam client as the source of truth
stay auditable and small
solve real Linux desktop friction around Steam, Big Picture, controllers, graphics, audio, or proxy policy
improve installation, rollback, and documentation

Changes are a poor fit when they:

require patching /usr/bin/steam
permanently rewrite Steam runtime files at rest
add large background services for problems that can be solved with small scripts

Development setup

Required local tools:

bash
jq
shellcheck

Optional for runtime testing:

steam
gamescope
gamemode
i3

Before opening a pull request

Run:

bash -n install.sh uninstall.sh bin/deckless-steam bin/deckless-bigpicture bin/deckless-i3-bigpicture-bridge
shellcheck install.sh uninstall.sh bin/deckless-steam bin/deckless-bigpicture bin/deckless-i3-bigpicture-bridge

If your change affects runtime behavior, include a short note about how you tested it.

Pull request guidelines

Keep pull requests focused.
Explain the user problem first, then the implementation.
Mention rollback or compatibility impact when you change install behavior.
Update documentation when you add or rename config variables.
Add a changelog entry only when preparing a tagged release.

Issues

Please use the issue templates when possible:

bug reports for regressions or environment-specific failures
feature requests for new workflows or platform support

Code style

Prefer POSIX-adjacent shell where practical, but Bash is allowed.
Keep comments short and only where the behavior is not obvious.
Favor straightforward scripts over clever compactness.

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