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Contributing to God's Eye View
Thanks for being here. God's Eye View is an open foundation for live spatial intelligence in the browser, and it gets better when more people run it, break it, and extend it.
Getting set up
Use Node.js 24.14.x or 26.x (also enforced by package.json).
git clone https://github.com/bilawalsidhu/gods-eye-view.git
cd gods-eye-view
nvm install 24.14.0
nvm use 24.14.0
npm install
./scripts/dev-fresh.sh # or: GOOGLE_MAPS_API_KEY="…" npm run dev
You need a Google Maps API key with the Map Tiles API enabled (see the README). Most data layers work with no other accounts. On macOS the launcher pulls keys from the Keychain; on any platform you can pass them as env vars or use a .env (copy .env.example).
Open http://localhost:4173. Before sending a PR run npm run build, npm test, and npm run test:track (dev server must be up) — all three must stay green.
Good first contributions
The highest-leverage places to jump in:
- 🌆 Add a CCTV source pack. Austin is the reference camera source. Adding another city means a clean public camera catalog with coordinates, attribution, and server-registered frame URLs (the proxy only fetches registered URLs — never client-supplied ones, see SECURITY.md). City packs are the best first lane.
- 🛰️ Add or improve a data layer. Each layer is one self-contained module in
src/data/<layer>.jsimplementing the layer interface (init/enable/disable/update/destroy/getStats, optionalgetDetectableObjects/getStats). Use an existing layer as a template. - 🎙️ Extend voice control. Voice tools are declared server-side (
GEV_REALTIME_TOOLSinvite.config.js) and executed client-side (src/voice/gevActions.js). Keep the tool surface tight and the responses honest (confirm only what actually happened). - 🎨 Add a visual style. Styles are GLSL post-process shaders in
src/styles/. - 🐛 Fix bugs / improve the first-run experience. See docs/KNOWN-ISSUES.md.
Architecture in one minute
- No framework. Vanilla JS + CesiumJS + Vite.
- UI lives in
src/ui.js(panels, HUD, styles, the control facade). Layer logic lives insrc/data/<layer>.js. Keep them separate. - Secrets stay server-side. Anything needing a private key goes through a Vite proxy in
vite.config.js. The browser only ever sees the Google Maps key (which you restrict) and ephemeral tokens. docs/CURRENT-STATE.mdis the authoritative runtime reference — read it first.
Coding style
- ES modules, 2-space indent, single quotes, semicolons.
- JSDoc on exported/public functions.
- Match the surrounding code — comment density, naming, and idiom.
- Prefer small, reviewable commits. Conventional-commit-style prefixes (
feat:,fix:,perf:,docs:) are appreciated but not required.
Pull requests
- Branch off
main. - Keep
npm run build,npm test, andnpm run test:trackgreen and avoid new console errors. - If you change runtime behavior, update
docs/CURRENT-STATE.mdandCHANGELOG.mdin the same PR. - If you add or change a data source, update DATA_SOURCES.md with its license and attribution. Don't add data you don't have the right to redistribute — fetch it at runtime instead.
- Describe what you changed and how you verified it (screenshots welcome for anything visual).
Ground rules
- This is a tool for public data. Don't add scraping of sources whose terms forbid it, private/paywalled datasets, or anything that misrepresents public-data inference as authoritative intelligence.
- Be decent to each other. Assume good faith, keep it constructive.
By contributing, you agree your contributions are licensed under the project's MIT License.