Improve front-facing documentation (#5)

.github/CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -1,3 +1,53 @@
 # Contributing
 
-Thank you for your interest in contributing to this project! This document is an WIP.
+Thank you for your interest in contributing to this project! Your effort really does make the project better.
+You will need to read the setup instructions before you start working.
+
+The following is a set of guidelines for contributing to the repository. These are not hard rules.
+
+## I'm confused and want to ask questions!
+
+Generally, there are much better resources that are available. These include:
+
+- The official ACM @ UC Merced discord server: https://discord.gg/4pHjfmK
+- FAQ in the documentation
+
+Make sure to not ask questions in the issue tracker.
+
+## Ways You Can Contribute
+
+The ways you can contribute are not only limited to code changes, but so much more.
+Some of the ways you can contribute are:
+
+- Reporting a bug
+- Discussing the current state and future of the project
+- Submitting a fix
+- Proposing new features
+- Improving or editing documentation
+
+Note that if you plan on proposing new features, please first discuss them with the webmaster and the team on the issues page.
+
+## Writing Good Bug Reports
+
+Please be aware of the following when you submit a bug report:
+
+1. Ask on the server first (this is preferred). If you are unsure about an issue, please contact the webmaster for clarification.
+2. Don't open duplicate issues. Please search your issue to see if it has been asked already. Duplicate issues will be closed.
+3. When filing a bug about exceptions or stacktrace, please include the complete stacktrace. Without the complete stacktrace the issue might be unsolvable and you will be asked to provide more information.
+
+If a bug report is not clear enough, or missing these information, then more than likely
+it'll take longer to fix the bug, or it'll be closed. More than likely clarification will
+be asked in order to aid in this process.
+
+## Submitting a Pull Request
+
+This process is fairly straight forward, but make sure to focus your pull request on a single aspect doesn't manage to have scope creep and it's probably good to go.
+Ideally the style needs to be consistent but this is fine if it is not met. This project follows PEP-8 guidelines, with an column limit of 80.
+
+## Git Commit Guidelines
+
+1. Use present tense and imperative mood when writing commit messages. For example, `Add new feature` instead of `Added new feature`.
+2. Reference issues or pull requests outside of the first line.
+    a. Please use the shorthand ``#123`` and not the full URL.
+
+If these guidelines are not met, chances are they will be fixed during the review process.

README.md

@@ -1,3 +1,22 @@
 # Kanae
 
-UC Merced's Association for Computing Machinery Club's development website backend.
+[![CodeQL](https://github.com/UCMercedACM/kanae/actions/workflows/codeql.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/UCMercedACM/kanae/actions/workflows/codeql.yml) [![Lint](https://github.com/UCMercedACM/kanae/actions/workflows/lint.yml/badge.svg)](https://github.com/UCMercedACM/kanae/actions/workflows/lint.yml)
+
+Association for Computing Machinery at UC Merced's backend web server
+
+> [!IMPORTANT]
+> We would prefer if you do not run instances of Kanae (included self-hosted ones). This API is semi-public, thus the source code is provided as-is and is for educational and development purposes only.
+
+## What is Kanae?
+
+Kanae is the backend web server for ACM at UC Merced. It aims to be the main backend server used for handling
+requests related to the club's information. In addition, Kanae is designed to entirely replace the
+old microservices ([Half-Dome](https://github.com/UCMercedACM/Half-Dome), [Cathedral](https://github.com/UCMercedACM/Cathedral), etc)
+by containing them into one monolithic application.
+
+Public data can be queried without authentication, but most of the endpoints are locked behind an authentication layer.
+
+## Contributing
+
+Contributions to Kanae are always welcomed. Although there is an dedicated development team solely focused on building the website, changes from others are always appreciated.
+These could be as small as changing documentation to adding new features. If you are interested to start the process, please consult the [contributing guidelines](.github/CONTRIBUTING.md) before you get started.