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🤝 Contributing to AppSutra Directory

Thank you for your interest in contributing to AppSutra Directory! This guide will help you understand how to contribute effectively.

📋 Table of Contents

🎯 Types of Contributions

1. New Product Listings

Add your SaaS product to the directory following our guidelines.

2. Product Reviews

Share your experience with products through structured GitHub Issues.

3. Listing Updates

Keep existing listings accurate and up-to-date.

4. Platform Improvements

Enhance the directory infrastructure, validation, or documentation.

📝 Adding a New Listing

Step 1: Preparation

  1. Check for duplicates - Search existing listings to avoid duplicates
  2. Choose the right category - Review our categories
  3. Gather information - Website, pricing, features, integrations
  4. Prepare assets - Logo (optional but recommended)

Step 2: Create the Listing File

  1. Fork the repository on GitHub
  2. Create a new branch for your listing
  3. Create the file at listings/<category>/<slug>.md

File naming convention:

  • Use lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only
  • Match your slug exactly: zoho-crm.md for slug zoho-crm

Step 3: Fill in the Template

---
name: "Your Product Name"
slug: "your-product-slug"
category: "crm"  # Must match schema/categories.json
website: "https://yourproduct.com"
logo: "https://yourproduct.com/logo.png"  # Optional
pricing: "Free + Paid from ₹500/mo"
locations: ["India", "Global"]
use_cases: ["SMB", "Enterprise", "Specific Use Case"]
keywords: ["relevant", "search", "keywords"]
trial: true
integrations: ["Popular", "Integration", "Names"]
contact_email: "partnerships@yourcompany.com"  # Optional
listing_owner_github: "@yourgithubhandle"  # Optional
verified: false  # Will be set by maintainers
updated_at: "2025-09-15"  # Today's date
---

**About**

Write 2-3 sentences about what your product does. Keep it factual and focused on value for Indian businesses.

**Key Features**
- Feature that solves specific problems
- India-specific capabilities (WhatsApp, UPI, etc.)
- Integration capabilities
- Mobile-first features

**Pricing**
- Free tier: What's included
- Paid plans: Starting from ₹X/month
- Enterprise: Custom pricing

**For Indian Businesses**
- Compliance: GST, regulatory features
- Local integrations: Payment gateways, local tools
- Support: Time zones, local language
- Pricing: Clear ₹ pricing, no hidden costs

Step 4: Content Guidelines

Descriptions

  • Be factual and neutral - No marketing superlatives
  • Focus on actual features - What does it do, not how amazing it is
  • Include India context - Pricing in ₹, local integrations, compliance
  • Keep it concise - 2-3 paragraphs maximum

Pricing

  • Always include ₹ pricing when available
  • Mention free tiers clearly
  • Include enterprise/custom pricing options
  • Note any India-specific pricing

Features

  • List concrete capabilities
  • Highlight India-relevant features
  • Include integration capabilities
  • Mention mobile apps if available

Step 5: Submit Your PR

  1. Commit your changes with a clear message
  2. Push to your fork
  3. Create a Pull Request using our template
  4. Wait for validation - Our automated checks will run
  5. Respond to feedback from maintainers

📊 Writing Reviews

Review Guidelines

Use our review template to share your experience:

Required Information:

  • Product name and rating (1-5 stars)
  • What you liked (pros)
  • Areas for improvement (cons)
  • Your context (team size, industry, use case)
  • Duration of usage

Best Practices:

  • Be specific with examples
  • Include your team size and use case
  • Mention the plan you used
  • Focus on your actual experience
  • Be constructive, not just critical

What Makes a Great Review:

**Context:** 15-person marketing agency, used for 8 months on Pro plan

**Pros:**
- WhatsApp integration saved us 5+ hours/week
- Indian phone number formatting works perfectly
- GST invoice generation is seamless

**Cons:**
- Mobile app lacks some desktop features
- Email templates could be more flexible
- Customer support response time varies

**Specific Use Case:**
We used it primarily for lead nurturing and client communication.
The automation workflows helped us scale from 50 to 200 leads/month
without additional staff.

🔄 Updating Existing Listings

When to Update

  • Pricing changes
  • New features or integrations
  • Contact information changes
  • Broken links or outdated information

How to Update

  1. Find the listing in listings/<category>/
  2. Make necessary changes to the YAML or content
  3. Update the updated_at field to today's date
  4. Submit a PR with a clear description of changes

🎨 Style Guidelines

Writing Style

  • Tone: Professional but approachable
  • Voice: Active voice preferred
  • Length: Concise and scannable
  • Perspective: User-focused, not company-focused

Formatting

  • Headings: Use consistent heading structure
  • Lists: Use bullet points for features
  • Links: Ensure all links work and are relevant
  • Images: Optimize for web (PNG/JPG, <500KB)

India-Specific Context

  • Pricing: Always in ₹ when available
  • Integrations: Mention UPI, WhatsApp, GST tools
  • Compliance: Note relevant regulations (GDPR, etc.)
  • Support: Mention IST support hours if available

Technical Requirements

  • File format: Markdown with YAML front-matter
  • Character encoding: UTF-8
  • Line endings: LF (Unix-style)
  • Images: External links preferred over repo storage

🔍 Review Process

Automated Validation

Our GitHub Actions will automatically:

  • Validate YAML schema
  • Check all links
  • Verify file structure
  • Run duplicate detection

Manual Review

Maintainers will check:

  • Content quality and accuracy
  • India-relevance
  • Completeness of information
  • Compliance with guidelines

Approval Process

  1. Automated checks pass ✅
  2. Manual review by maintainers 👥
  3. Community feedback period 🗣️
  4. Final approval and merge ✅

Timeline

  • Automated validation: Immediate
  • Initial review: 2-3 business days
  • Community feedback: 3-5 days
  • Final decision: Within 1 week

🚫 What We Don't Accept

Listings

  • Duplicate products
  • Non-SaaS products (unless B2B software)
  • Products with no India presence/relevance
  • Incomplete or low-quality submissions
  • Products that violate our Code of Conduct

Reviews

  • Fake or spam reviews
  • Reviews without proper context
  • Personal attacks or inappropriate content
  • Reviews from accounts created solely for reviewing
  • Reviews that violate GitHub's Terms of Service

🎯 Quality Standards

For Listings

  • Complete and accurate information
  • Working links and contact information
  • Clear, factual descriptions
  • Proper categorization
  • India-relevant context

For Reviews

  • Based on actual usage experience
  • Includes relevant context
  • Constructive and helpful tone
  • Follows our review template
  • No conflicts of interest (or disclosed)

🆘 Getting Help

Questions About Contributing

  • Check existing discussions
  • Create a new discussion for general questions
  • Tag maintainers for urgent issues

Technical Issues

Content Guidelines

  • Review this contributing guide
  • Check existing high-quality listings as examples
  • Ask in discussions for clarification

👥 Community

Code of Conduct

All contributors must follow our Code of Conduct.

Recognition

Contributors are recognized through:

  • GitHub contributor graphs
  • Special mentions in releases
  • Community appreciation posts

Thank you for helping make AppSutra the best SaaS directory for Indian businesses! 🚀

Ready to contribute?