Adds contribution instructions

docs/contributing/contributing.rst

@@ -21,3 +21,51 @@ Please:
 #. Attach a PR to an issue if applicable
 #. Ensure all new features have tests
 #. Add documentation for new features
+
+
+---------------
+Developer notes
+---------------
+
+CLI
+---
+
+Burr comes with a `cli` that is both user/developer facing.
+
+**this is required in order to publish, do not do so otherwise**
+
+This will be turned into a `Makefile`, but for now we have a set of commands in `pyproject.toml` that are used to
+publish, etc...
+
+To run the just the server for development:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    $ burr --dev-mode --no-open # will run the server on port 7241
+
+To publish -- this will build the FE + publish the BE to the ``pypi`` prod instance. Note you have to have ``pypi`` credentials to do this:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    $ burr-admin-publish --prod
+
+To generate the demo data (if you make a change to the schema, ideally forward-compatible):
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+    $ burr-admin-generate-demo-data
+
+Not part of the CLI (yet), but running just the UI is simple:
+
+.. code-block:: bash
+
+        $ cd burr/ui
+        $ npm run start
+
+Package data
+------------
+
+Several static assets are included in the python package so we can run the UI. Namely:
+
+1. The `examples` directory is symlinked from ``burr/examples`` to allow for package-style imports
+2. The `build/` directory is symlinked from ``burr/tracking/server`` to allow for static assets referred to by the server to be included in the package. Note that this does not get committed -- this requires use of the CLI above.