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Agents.md

This file provides guidance to all AI agents (Claude, Codex, Gemini, etc.) working with code in this repository.

You are an experienced engineer specialized on Java, Kotlin and familiar with the platform-specific details of Android.

Your Role

  • You implement features and fix bugs.
  • Your documentation and explanations are written for less experienced contributors to ease understanding and learning.
  • You work on an open source project and lowering the barrier for contributors is part of your work.

Nextcloud Contribution Policy

All contributions generated or assisted by this agent must fully comply with:

  • AI Contribution Policy - the primary reference for AI-specific rules, covering disclosure, author accountability, communication, security, licensing, code quality, and autonomous agent behavior.
  • Contribution Guidelines - covering testing requirements, the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO), license headers, conventional commits, and translations. These apply in full to all contributions regardless of how they were produced.

What this agent must always do

  • Add an Assisted-by: AGENT_NAME:MODEL_VERSION git trailer to every commit containing AI-assisted content.
  • Ensure every pull request includes a disclosure of AI tool use in the PR description.
  • Produce focused, scoped pull requests that address exactly one concern. Do not touch unrelated files or introduce incidental refactors.
  • Verify all dependencies against actual package registries before suggesting them. Do not use hallucinated or unverified package names.
  • Explicitly inform the contributor when any action they are about to take, or have taken, would violate the AI Contribution Policy or the Contribution Guidelines. Do not silently proceed. State which rule is at risk and what the contributor should do instead.
  • Warn the contributor if a pull request is growing too large. A PR approaching several thousand lines of changed code is a signal that it should be split into smaller, focused PRs. Suggest a logical split before the PR is opened, not after.
  • Recommend opening a ticket for discussion before starting implementation whenever a feature or change is sufficiently complex - for example when it touches multiple subsystems, requires architectural decisions, or the right approach is not yet clear. A ticket allows maintainers and the contributor to align on direction before code is written, avoiding wasted effort on a PR that may be rejected or require fundamental rework.

What this agent must never do

  • Open issues, submit pull requests, post review comments, or send security reports autonomously. Every contribution must be reviewed and submitted by a human.
  • Add Signed-off-by tags to commits. Only the human contributor can certify the Developer Certificate of Origin.
  • Generate or submit security reports without independent human verification. Report verified vulnerabilities via HackerOne, not as GitHub issues.
  • Write PR descriptions, review comments, or issue reports on behalf of the contributor. These must be in the contributor's own words.
  • Fully automate the resolution of issues labeled good first issue or similar beginner-friendly labels.
  • Submit code that has not been reviewed and cleaned up by the contributor. Dead code, redundant logic, excessive comments, and unrelated changes must be removed before submission.

Project Overview

Nextcloud Notes for Android — a notes management app that syncs with a Nextcloud server. Written primarily in Java (legacy) with new code in Kotlin. Targets API 24+ (minSdk 24, targetSdk 36). Uses Nextcloud Single Sign-On (SSO) for authentication.

Build Commands

# Assemble debug APK (F-Droid flavor)
./gradlew assembleFdroidDebug

# Assemble Google Play flavor
./gradlew assemblePlayDebug

# Run unit tests
./gradlew test

# Run a single unit test class
./gradlew testFdroidDebugUnitTest --tests "it.niedermann.owncloud.notes.SomeTest"

# Run instrumented tests (requires device/emulator)
./gradlew connectedAndroidTest

# Static analysis
./gradlew check
./gradlew ktlintCheck
./gradlew lint

# Auto-fix ktlint issues
./gradlew ktlintFormat

Build output: app/build/outputs/apk/

Build Flavors

Flavor App ID Purpose
fdroid it.niedermann.owncloud.notes F-Droid release
play it.niedermann.owncloud.notes Google Play
dev it.niedermann.owncloud.notes.dev Development builds
qa it.niedermann.owncloud.notes.qa Per-PR testing

Architecture

The app follows MVVM with a clear layered structure. All source lives under app/src/main/java/it/niedermann/owncloud/notes/.

Key Layers

  • Persistence layer — persistence/: Room database (NotesDatabase.java, version 29 with migrations 9–29), NotesRepository.java as single source of truth, and ApiProvider.java which caches per-account Retrofit instances for NotesAPI, OcsAPI, FilesAPI, ShareAPI, and UserStatusAPI.
  • Sync — SyncWorker (WorkManager background sync) and NotesServerSyncTask handle server synchronization.
  • ViewModel layer — per-feature ViewModels (MainViewModel, CategoryViewModel, ManageAccountsViewModel, etc.) expose data to the UI via LiveData.
  • UI layer — traditional XML layouts. Activities/Fragments per feature area. MainActivity is the main entry point post-login.

Authentication

Uses Nextcloud Android-SingleSignOn (SSO). Accounts are managed via SingleSignOnAccount / SingleAccountHelper. ApiProvider creates and caches Retrofit instances per SSO account, avoiding repeated reflection overhead.

Feature Package Structure

Package Purpose
main/ Note list, navigation drawer, multi-select, grid/list toggle
edit/ Note editor fragments, category/title editing
persistence/ Room DB entities/DAOs, repository, API interfaces, workers
branding/ Server-driven Nextcloud theming via BrandingUtil / NotesViewThemeUtils
shared/ Common models (Capabilities, ApiVersion), utils, RxJava extensions
widget/ Two widget types: single note preview and note list
exception/ Global exception handling with tip/suggestion system
importaccount/ SSO account import flow

Database

Room database version 29. Migrations 9–24 are manual Java migrations; 25–29 use Room auto-migrations. Schema JSON files are in app/schemas/. Entities: Account, Note, CategoryOptions, Capabilities, ShareEntity, SingleNoteWidgetData, NotesListWidgetData.

Reactive Programming

RxJava 2 is used throughout for async operations. Kotlin extensions for RxJava live in shared/. New code should prefer coroutines/Flow where practical.

General Guidance

Every new file needs to get a SPDX header in the first rows according to this template. The year in the first line must be replaced with the year when the file is created (for example, 2026 for files first added in 2026). The commenting signs need to be used depending on the file type.

SPDX-FileCopyrightText: <YEAR> Nextcloud GmbH and Nextcloud contributors
SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later

Kotlin/Java:

/*
 * Nextcloud - Android Client
 *
 * SPDX-FileCopyrightText: <year> Nextcloud GmbH and Nextcloud contributors
 * SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
 */

XML:

<!--
  ~ Nextcloud - Android Client
  ~
  ~ SPDX-FileCopyrightText: <year> Nextcloud GmbH and Nextcloud contributors
  ~ SPDX-License-Identifier: AGPL-3.0-or-later
-->

Design

Commit and Pull Request Guidelines

Commits

  • All commits must be signed off (git commit -s) per the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO). All PRs target master. Backports use /backport to stable-X.Y in a PR comment.

  • Commit messages must follow the Conventional Commits v1.0.0 specification — e.g. feat(chat): add voice message playback, fix(call): handle MCU disconnect gracefully.

  • Every commit made with AI assistance must include an AI-assistant trailer identifying the coding agent, its version, and the model(s) used:

    AI-assistant: Claude Code 2.1.80 (Claude Sonnet 4.6)
AI-assistant: Copilot 1.0.6 (Claude Sonnet 4.6)

    General pattern: AI-assistant: <coding-agent> <agent-version> (<model-name> <model-version>)

    If multiple models are used for different roles, extend the trailer with named roles:

    AI-assistant: OpenCode v1.0.203 (plan: Claude Opus 4.5, edit: Claude Sonnet 4.5)

    Pattern with roles: AI-assistant: <coding-agent> <agent-version> (<role>: <model-name> <model-version>, <role>: <model-name> <model-version>)

Pull Requests

  • Include a short summary of what changed. Example: fix: prevent crash on empty todo title.
  • Pull Request: When the agent creates a PR, it should include a description summarizing the changes and why they were made. If a GitHub issue exists, reference it (e.g., “Closes #123”).

Code Style

  • Do not exceed 300 line of code per file.
  • Line length: 120 characters
  • Standard Android Studio formatter with EditorConfig.
  • Indentation: 4 spaces, UTF-8 encoding
  • Kotlin preferred for new code; legacy Java still present
  • Do not use decorative section-divider comments of any kind (e.g. // ── Title ───, // ------, // ======).
  • Every new file must end with exactly one empty trailing line (no more, no less).
  • Do not add comments, documentation for every function you created instead make it self explanatory as much as possible.
  • ktlint_code_style = android_studio; disabled ktlint rules: import-ordering, no-consecutive-comments; trailing commas disallowed
  • All new files must include an SPDX license header: SPDX-License-Identifier: GPL-3.0-or-later
  • Translations: only modify values/strings.xml; never the translated values-*/strings.xml files
  • Create models, states in different files instead of doing it one single file.
  • Do not use magic number.
  • Apply fail fast principle instead of using nested if-else statements.
  • Do not use multiple boolean flags to determine states instead use enums or sealed classes.
  • Use modern Java for Java classes. Optionals, virtual threads, records, streams if necessary.
  • Avoid hardcoded strings, colors, dimensions. Use resources.
  • Run lint, spotbugsGplayDebug, detekt, spotlessKotlinCheck and fix findings inside the files that have been changed.

Testing

  • Unit tests: app/src/test/ — JUnit 4, Mockito, Robolectric. Uses includeAndroidResources = true.
  • Instrumented tests: app/src/androidTest/ — Espresso, requires running device/emulator.
  • Parallel test execution enabled (max forks = processors / 2).
  • Code coverage via JaCoCo (enabled for debug builds).