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There are several ways to contribute to Lightnovel Crawler, whether you’re comfortable with Python or just want to help improve docs.

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Ways to contribute

  • Add a new source crawler — write a small Python file that teaches the app how to read a novel website. This is the most common and impactful contribution.
  • Fix bugs — browse the open issues and pick one to fix.
  • Improve documentation — fix typos, clarify steps, or add examples.
  • Request a new source — if you want a site supported but can’t write the crawler yourself, open a new issue to request it.

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Quick start for development

git clone https://github.com/lncrawl/lightnovel-crawler.git
cd lightnovel-crawler
make setup && make install
make start
This clones the repo, installs dependencies via uv, and starts the server. See Development setup for the full walkthrough.

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Code style

The project uses black for formatting and flake8 for linting. Run both before opening a pull request: 
make lint
This runs black --check, isort --check, and flake8 in sequence. Fix any reported issues before submitting.
Install black in your editor to auto-format on save and avoid lint failures.

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PR workflow

  1. Fork the repository on GitHub.
  2. Create a branch for your change: git checkout -b feat/my-crawler.
  3. Make your changes and run make lint to verify code style.
  4. Test your change: uv run python -m lncrawl -s "URL" --first 3 -f.
  5. Open a pull request against the master branch and describe what you changed and why.
For new source crawlers, include the novel URL you tested with in the PR description so reviewers can verify it works.

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Community resources

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Where to go next

Creating crawlers

Step-by-step guide to adding a new source crawler for a novel website.

Development setup

Set up a local development environment with all required tools.

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