Contributing

CLDK has two independent extension points: language backends and frontend SDKs.

Language backend scaffolding

The maintainers build a new language with the cldk-language-pack skill. The skill generates a codeanalyzer-<lang> backend and the SDK bindings, up to a validated symbol-table and call-graph branch. The guides below do the same work by hand.

flowchart LR
    subgraph Backends["Backends: emit canonical JSON"]
      direction TB
      G["codeanalyzer-go<br/>(new!)"]
      J["codeanalyzer-java"]
      P["codeanalyzer-python"]
    end
    subgraph Frontends["Frontends: consume canonical JSON"]
      direction TB
      PY["Python SDK (cldk)"]
      RS["Rust SDK<br/>(planned)"]
    end
    Backends -->|typed JSON| Frontends

• A backend adds a new language. It parses the source, builds a symbol table and a call graph, and writes them to the canonical JSON schema. Backends are standalone tools (the codeanalyzer-* family). You can write a backend in whichever language suits the analysis: Python analysis in Python, Java analysis in Java, and more.
• A frontend is an SDK that reads that JSON and gives you an analysis API. Two frontends exist today: the Python SDK, which is the reference implementation, and an alpha TypeScript SDK. A Rust frontend is planned. See SDKs.

A new backend makes its language available to every existing frontend. A new frontend makes every existing backend available through it.

Guides

Add a language backend (Go) A full manual walkthrough: build codeanalyzer-go (schema, symbol table, call graph, CLI) and connect the Python SDK frontend.

Add a Rust frontend Stub and roadmap: a second SDK, in Rust, that reads the same canonical backends.