AI Assisted Development

AI-Assisted Development

AetherSDR was built entirely through pair-programming with Claude AI. The project maintainer had no prior C++ or Qt experience — every line of code was written conversationally with Claude Code.

How to Contribute Using AI

You don't need to be a C++ developer to contribute features to AetherSDR. Here's how:

Setup

1. Install VS Code: https://code.visualstudio.com/
2. Install Claude Code: Open VS Code → Extensions → search "Claude Code" → Install
3. Fork the repo: https://github.com/ten9876/AetherSDR/fork
4. Clone your fork: git clone https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME/AetherSDR.git
5. Open in VS Code: code AetherSDR

Starting a Feature

Claude Code automatically reads CLAUDE.md which contains the full project architecture, protocol details, and coding patterns. Start with a prompt like:

Read CLAUDE.md and CONTRIBUTING.md. I want to implement [feature].
Plan the implementation before writing code.

Tips

• Be specific about what you want — "add a button that does X" works better than "improve the UI"
• Test incrementally — build and run after each change
• Read existing code first — point Claude at similar features (e.g., "look at how RxApplet does filters")
• One feature per PR — keep changes focused

AI-to-AI Debugging

If you run into an issue that needs coordination with the maintainer:

1. Open a GitHub issue with your Claude's analysis
2. Include relevant log output from aethersdr.log
3. The maintainer's Claude instance monitors issues and will respond

Key Rules for AI Contributors

1. Use AppSettings, never QSettings
2. Match the dark theme (copy colors from existing widgets)
3. Use QSignalBlocker when updating UI from model signals
4. Filter by client_handle for Multi-Flex safety
5. Test that the RX chain still works: discovery → connect → FFT → audio

See CONTRIBUTING.md for full guidelines.