TheRock/rocm-systems/projects/rocprofiler-compute/CONTRIBUTING.md

# Contributing to ROCm Compute Profiler

## Getting Started

ROCm Compute Profiler lives under `projects/rocprofiler-compute` in the [ROCm Systems super-repo](https://github.com/ROCm/rocm-systems). To set up your local environment, follow the [clone and setup instructions](https://github.com/ROCm/rocm-systems/blob/develop/CONTRIBUTING.md#getting-started) in the rocm-systems CONTRIBUTING.md. Sparse checkout is recommended for most contributors.

## Reporting Issues and Bugs

- Search [existing issues](https://github.com/ROCm/rocm-systems/issues) before filing a new one — your bug may already be tracked.
- If you don't find an existing issue, [open a new one](https://github.com/ROCm/rocm-systems/issues/new) with a clear description of the problem and steps to reproduce it.

## Submitting a Pull Request

Follow the [pull request guidelines](https://github.com/ROCm/rocm-systems/blob/develop/CONTRIBUTING.md#pull-request-guidelines) in the rocm-systems CONTRIBUTING.md.

> **Note for external contributors:** Please refer to the [ROCm contribution guide](https://rocm.docs.amd.com/en/develop/contribute/contributing.html) for instructions on contributing from a fork.

### Review and Labeling

Labels and reviewer assignments are handled automatically based on the files you've changed. Reviewers for `projects/rocprofiler-compute` are defined in the top-level [CODEOWNERS](https://github.com/ROCm/rocm-systems/blob/develop/CODEOWNERS) file.

### CI Requirements

All pull requests must pass CI checks before merging. For `rocprofiler-compute`, these currently include compilation checks, with correctness and performance tests being added over time. See the [CI documentation](https://github.com/ROCm/rocm-systems/blob/develop/docs/continuous-integration.md) for a full breakdown of what runs on each PR.

> [!TIP]
> Run our pre-commit hooks locally before pushing to catch formatting issues early. See [Using Pre-Commit Hooks](#using-pre-commit-hooks) below for setup instructions.

## Adding Experimental Features

New features that aren't yet stable can be introduced behind the `--experimental` flag. This lets users opt in to preview functionality while keeping the default experience stable.

### How It Works

The `--experimental` flag acts as a master toggle:

- Experimental options are **hidden** from help output unless `--experimental` is passed.
- Attempting to use an experimental flag without `--experimental` raises a clear error.
- A warning is displayed when an experimental feature is active.

To see available experimental features:

```bash
rocprof-compute profile --experimental --help
```

### Adding a New Experimental Feature

Follow these three steps to add a new experimental flag.

**Step 1 — Register it in the `--experimental` help text**

In `src/argparser.py`, update the `add_general_group()` function:

```python
general_group.add_argument(
    "--experimental",
    action="store_true",
    default=False,
    help=(
        "Enable experimental feature(s):\n"
        "   Your feature name (--your-flag)\n"  # Add this line
    ),
)
```

**Step 2 — Add the argument using `ExperimentalAction`**

Add your flag to the relevant parser group (profile, analyze, etc.):

```python
# For a flag that accepts a value
profile_group.add_argument(
    "--your-flag",
    dest="your_flag",
    required=False,
    default=None,
    action=ExperimentalAction,
    experimental_enabled=experimental_enabled,
    feature_label="Your feature name",
    base_action="store",  # Required — see supported actions below
    type=str,
    nargs="*",
    metavar="",
    help="\t\t\tDescription of your feature",
)

# For a boolean toggle flag
analyze_group.add_argument(
    "--your-flag",
    dest="your_flag",
    required=False,
    default=False,
    action=ExperimentalAction,
    experimental_enabled=experimental_enabled,
    feature_label="Your feature description",
    base_action="store_const",  # Required — see supported actions below
    nargs=0,
    const=True,
    help="\t\tDescription of your feature",
)
```

The `base_action` parameter is required and must be one of:

| Value | Behavior |
|---|---|
| `store` | Store a value (standard argparse default) |
| `store_const` | Store a fixed constant; consumes no arguments |
| `store_true` | Store `True` when the flag is present |
| `store_false` | Store `False` when the flag is present |
| `append` | Append each value to a list |
| `append_const` | Append a constant to a list |
| `count` | Count occurrences (e.g. `-vvv`) |
| `extend` | Extend a list with multiple values |

**Step 3 — Verify behavior**

Confirm the flag is hidden without `--experimental` and visible with it:

```bash
# Should not appear
rocprof-compute profile --help

# Should appear with EXPERIMENTAL: prefix
rocprof-compute profile --experimental --help
```

### Promoting a Feature to Stable

When a feature is ready for general availability:

1. Remove it from the `--experimental` help text in `src/argparser.py`.
2. Replace `action=ExperimentalAction` with a standard argparse action (e.g. `action="store"`).
3. Remove the `experimental_enabled`, `feature_label`, and `base_action` parameters.
4. Update documentation and tests accordingly.

## Using Pre-Commit Hooks

Pre-commit hooks automatically check your code for formatting issues before each commit, helping you catch problems before they reach CI.

**Setup:**

First, install [development dependencies](README.md#development-dependencies), then enable the hooks:

```bash
cd rocprofiler-compute
pre-commit install
```

Once installed, every commit will run the configured checks automatically:

![A screen capture showing terminal output from a pre-commit hook](docs/data/contributing/pre-commit-hook.png)

See the [pre-commit documentation](https://pre-commit.com/#quick-start) for more details.

## Code Style and Formatting

ROCm Compute Profiler uses [Ruff](https://docs.astral.sh/ruff/) for linting and formatting. All contributions to `src/` must pass Ruff checks before merging. Pre-commit hooks handle this automatically.

**Style references:**

| Topic | Source of Truth |
|-------|-----------------|
| Function design, naming, code organization | [Python Coding Style Guidelines](PYTHON_CODING_STYLE.md) |
| Ruff configuration (enforced rules, ignores, formatting) | [`pyproject.toml`](pyproject.toml) |
| YAML metric equation formatting | [YAML Metric Equation Formatting](#yaml-metric-equation-formatting) |

### Running Ruff Manually

```bash
# Check for issues
ruff check .
ruff format --check .

# Auto-fix most issues
ruff check --fix .
ruff format .
```

### YAML Metric Equation Formatting

Metric equations in YAML config files follow a canonical format. The canonical
implementation is [`tools/format_yaml.py`](tools/format_yaml.py).

**Scope.** Equation formatting applies to YAML files under:

- `src/rocprof_compute_soc/analysis_configs/gfx*/*.yaml`
- `src/rocprof_compute_tui/utils/gfx*/*.yaml`

Template files (`*_template.yaml`) and build artifacts are excluded. Only values
under these keys are treated as equations: `value`, `avg`, `min`, `max`, `peak`.

**Rules.**

- **Operator spacing** — all binary operators (`+`, `-`, `*`, `/`) have exactly
  one space on each side: `SUM(x) / SUM(y)`.
- **Constant factoring** — when an aggregation (`SUM`, `AVG`, `MIN`, `MAX`)
  multiplies by a numeric constant, factor it out:
  `128 * SUM(x)`, not `SUM(x * 128)`. Addition inside aggregations is left as-is.
- **Minimal parentheses** — remove parentheses made redundant by operator
  precedence (`a + b + c`, not `(a + b) + c`), but preserve those required for
  correct evaluation (`a - (b - c)`, `(a + b) * c`).
- **Unary negation** — negation of a compound expression keeps its parentheses:
  `-(a + b)`, not `-a + b`.
- **Literal values** — `N/A`, `None`, `null`, `true`, `false`, and
  `Peak (Empirical)` are never parsed as equations and must be written exactly
  as shown (the space before `(` in `Peak (Empirical)` is required).

Equations with unsupported syntax (unknown characters, unmatched parentheses) are
left unchanged; the formatter never corrupts an equation it cannot fully parse.

**Enforcement.** The `yaml-format-fix` pre-commit hook runs
`tools/format_yaml.py --fix` on staged config files and auto-corrects equations
in place. Re-stage the modified files and commit again.

```bash
# Show proposed changes
python tools/format_yaml.py --diff src/rocprof_compute_soc/analysis_configs/gfx950/*.yaml

# Auto-fix in place
python tools/format_yaml.py --fix src/rocprof_compute_soc/analysis_configs/gfx950/*.yaml
```

## Documentation Changes

For instructions on building and testing changes to files under the `docs/` folder, see the [ROCm documentation contributing guide](https://rocm.docs.amd.com/en/latest/contribute/contributing.html).

## Metrics Management

If your PR modifies **metric configurations** — panel YAMLs under `src/rocprof_compute_soc/analysis_configs/gfx<arch>/*.yaml` or metric descriptions in `docs/data/metrics_description.yaml` — follow the metric management workflow:

1. Edit the relevant panel YAMLs.
2. Validate them with `python tools/config_management/master_config_workflow_script.py --validate-only`.
3. Refresh the hash DB with `python tools/config_management/hash_manager.py --compute-all src/rocprof_compute_soc/analysis_configs` and confirm CI tests pass.

For full details, see the [metric config management README](./tools/config_management/README.md).

## Vendoring External Dependencies

rocprofiler-compute vendors certain Python dependencies (via git submodules) to eliminate external dependencies in profile mode. This improves portability and reliability on HPC systems.

**We vendor:**
- Pure Python packages used in profile code path
- Stable packages with permissive licenses

For detailed vendoring workflow (adding/updating packages), see [`src/vendored/README.md`](./src/vendored/README.md).

## AI Agent Guidelines

This project uses AI coding assistants (Claude Code, Cursor, GitHub Copilot). All AI-specific guidelines live in [`AGENTS.md`](AGENTS.md), which serves as the single source of truth. Tool-specific adapter files (e.g., `CLAUDE.md`, `.github/copilot-instructions.md`) reference `AGENTS.md` without duplicating content.

To add or update AI guidelines, edit the appropriate file under `.ai/` and add a reference in `AGENTS.md`.
## Profile Mode Dependency Policy

Profile mode code should not use non-standard Python libraries.

### Why This Matters

Profile mode uses only stdlib to:
1. **Avoid dependency conflicts** - Users can profile without creating virtual environments or worrying about package version conflicts with their own projects
2. **Work everywhere** - No `pip install` needed:
   - HPC systems with locked-down Python environments
   - Security-sensitive systems requiring minimal dependencies
   - Any system with Python 3.8+ installed

### Enforcement

**Python Version Requirement:**
- Import enforcement requires Python 3.10+ (uses `sys.stdlib_module_names`)
- Python 3.8-3.9: Tests run but import enforcement is disabled (warning issued)
- CI uses Python 3.10+ to ensure full enforcement coverage

Enforcement is automatically done for tests which execute profile pipeline using main
function instead of subprocess (unlike tests using --call-binary and multi mpi rank tests).
These tests are automatically protected by guards in `tests/conftest.py` when testing with Python 3.10 and above.
The guard intercepts ALL imports (direct, nested, dynamic) and fails tests immediately if
non-stdlib packages are imported.

### What's Allowed

**Python standard library** (Python 3.8+):
- `json`, `csv`, `sqlite3`, `subprocess`, `pathlib`, `logging`, `sys`, `os`, etc.

**Project modules**:
- `rocprof_compute`, `utils`, `vendored.*`, `roofline`, `config`, `argparser`

**ROCm system libraries** (bundled with ROCm, not pip packages):
- `amdsmi` - AMD System Management Interface
- `hip` - HIP runtime Python bindings
- `rocprofv3` - rocprofv3 Python bindings

### What's NOT Allowed

These are forbidden in profile mode

**External packages**:
- `pandas`, `yaml`, `numpy`, `plotly`, `dash`, `textual`, etc.
- Anything from `requirements.txt`

### Common Mistakes

**Don't do this in profile code:**
```python
import pandas  # External package
import yaml    # Use json or vendored.pyyaml instead
import numpy   # Use stdlib math/statistics
```

**Do this instead:**
```python
import json              # Stdlib for config/data
import csv               # Stdlib for CSV operations
import sqlite3           # Stdlib for data manipulation
from vendored.pyyaml import yaml  # Vendored package (if needed)
```

### If Your Test Fails

**Error message:**
```
PROFILE MODE DEPENDENCY VIOLATION
Forbidden package: pandas
```

**How to fix:**

1. **Move import to analyze mode**
   - Move the import and relevant code to analysis mode

2. **Use stdlib alternative**
   - `pandas` → `csv` module + `sqlite3` for dataframes
   - `yaml` → `json` module (or `vendored.pyyaml` if YAML required)
   - `numpy` → `math`/`statistics` modules