Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into anirudh/temp-merge-fixes

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -0,0 +1,36 @@
+# Contributing to TT-STUDIO
+
+Thank you for your interest in this project! We want to make contributing as easy and transparent as possible.
+
+If you're interested in making a contribution, please familiarize yourself with our technical [contribution standards](#contribution-standards) outlined in this guide.
+
+Next, request the appropriate write permissions by [opening an issue](https://github.com/tenstorrent/tt-studio/issues/new/choose) for GitHub permissions.
+
+All contributions require:
+
+- An issue:
+  - Please file a feature request or bug report under the Issues section to help get the attention of a maintainer.
+- A pull request (PR).
+- Your PR must be approved by the appropriate reviewers.
+
+## Contribution Standards
+
+### Code Reviews
+
+We actively welcome your pull requests! To ensure quality contributions, any code change must meet the following criteria:
+
+- A PR must be opened and approved by:
+  - A maintaining team member.
+  - Any codeowners whose modules are relevant to the PR.
+- Run pre-commit hooks.
+- Pass all acceptance criteria mandated in the original issue.
+- Pass the automated GitHub Actions workflow tests.
+- Pass any testing requirements specified by the relevant codeowners.
+
+### Pull Request Guidelines
+
+- All PRs must first be merged into the `staging` branch. We use a squash merge strategy for this, meaning that all the individual commits from a feature branch are combined into a single commit when merged. This simplifies the commit history, ensuring that the feature is tracked as a single change while keeping the repository clean and manageable.
+
+- When merging from `staging` into `main`, we do **not** use squashing. This ensures that the full commit history between these branches is preserved.
+
+Please ensure that this process is followed when submitting PRs to keep the repository organized and maintainable.