From 1ec9579db218b78a77557bbff822e020e81943c8 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: John Coffey <johnellis@linux.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2026 22:06:52 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 1/2] Add the pull request template CONTRIBUTING.md already
 refers to

Step 7 of "Submitting Pull Requests" tells contributors to open the PR
"filling out the PR template", and there has never been one. The four
things it names -- summary, related issues, screenshots for UI changes,
manual testing -- are the four sections here, plus translations, which
step 8 asks for separately and which is the easiest of the five to
forget: a missing catalog key renders its English source rather than
failing, so nothing in CI or on screen says it was skipped.

Also documents the CI approval gate on fork PRs, now that every outside
contributor's run waits to be started by hand rather than only a
first-time contributor's. Without a note, a contributor whose build
check never appears reads it as an orphaned run and pushes again to
shake it loose, which does nothing.
---
 .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md | 43 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 1 file changed, 43 insertions(+)
 create mode 100644 .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

diff --git a/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..8a60c81
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
@@ -0,0 +1,43 @@
+<!--
+  Thanks for contributing to ihasmail. CONTRIBUTING.md has the full guide;
+  this is the short version. Delete any section that does not apply.
+-->
+
+## Summary
+
+<!-- What changes, and why. -->
+
+## Related issues
+
+<!-- e.g. Closes #123. Leave blank if there are none. -->
+
+## Translations
+
+<!--
+  Nine languages ship alongside English, and a missing key silently renders
+  its English source -- so an untranslated string is invisible until somebody
+  reading that language finds it. Say which this PR is, explicitly:
+
+  - Adds or alters user-visible strings: how many keys, and the fallback
+    count before and after.
+  - Adds none.
+
+  "Adds none" is an answer. Saying nothing is not -- it leaves it to be
+  inferred. See CONTRIBUTING.md -> Translations.
+-->
+
+## Testing
+
+<!--
+  What you ran, and what you saw. `npm run typecheck`, `npm test` and
+  `npm run build` all run in CI, so the useful thing here is what CI cannot
+  do: which flows you exercised by hand, and against what -- a real Stalwart
+  instance, or `npm run dev:mock`.
+
+  If the change is visible on screen, drive the built app, not just the
+  store. See CONTRIBUTING.md -> Verifying UI work.
+-->
+
+## Screenshots
+
+<!-- For UI changes. Before/after, or a GIF for anything with motion. -->

From f3ee4ff65da216404a47d90535ba8c7802bdadb6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: John Coffey <johnellis@linux.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 2026 22:11:47 -0700
Subject: [PATCH 2/2] Document the fork CI approval gate in CONTRIBUTING.md

Belongs with the commit before it and was left out of it by mistake.

The repository's fork-pr-contributor-approval policy is now
all_external_contributors rather than GitHub's first_time_contributors
default, so every run on an outside contributor's branch waits to be
started by hand instead of only their first one. A contributor who does
not know that reads a build check that never appears as an orphaned run
-- which this repository has had, during the 2026-08-26 Actions outage --
and pushes again to shake it loose. Neither that nor reopening the PR
starts it, so say so where the other main protection notes are.
---
 CONTRIBUTING.md | 6 ++++++
 1 file changed, 6 insertions(+)

diff --git a/CONTRIBUTING.md b/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 783d893..7ee1545 100644
--- a/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -58,6 +58,12 @@ check has passed — not afterwards — and the branch cannot be force-pushed or
 deleted. No approving review is required, so a PR of your own is not blocked
 waiting for one.
 
+**CI on a PR from a fork waits to be approved.** Every workflow run on an
+outside contributor's branch sits at *awaiting approval* until a maintainer
+starts it by hand, so the **build** check will not appear the moment you open
+the PR — that is the gate working, not a broken run. Pushing again will not
+start it, and neither will closing and reopening.
+
 ### Code Style
 
 - Match the existing formatting and naming conventions used elsewhere in the codebase.