CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -25,8 +25,8 @@ hatch shell
 Presently, this work require a patched linkml installation.
 The patch(es) are listed in `patches/`.
 The script `tools/patch_linkml` documents how they need to be applied.
-This script can be used to patch a local installation, and is also executed in the actions that validate the included data models.
-In order to apply the patch, run
+``hatch`` automatically applies the patch post installation, and as long as you're using a hatch environment or hatch based check/script, there is nothing you need to do.
+However, if you need to do it outside of `hatch`, run the following command to patch manually:
 
 ```
 bash tools/patch_linkml
@@ -65,6 +65,20 @@ hatch shell
 make checkmodel/flat-data/unreleased
 ```
 
+### Switching import locations
+
+Although most rules will perform this action automatically, the following command allows to switch from a remote-URL import to an import from a local file (which is relevant when, for example, there is no remote URL yet to import from, or you are testing local changes):
+
+```
+make imports-local
+```
+
+Its opposite command, reverting imports back to remote URLs, is
+
+```
+make imports-remote
+```
+
 ### Example conversion
 
 Each schema has example data used for testing.
@@ -108,5 +122,13 @@ linkml convert -o ds.ttl -s src/flat-data/unreleased.yaml --target-class-from-pa
 
 ## Useful hints for a contribution workflow
 
+* Patches get regularly updated, and they are not re-applied automatically in an existing hatch environments. If in doubt, wipe the environment and re-create it, for example using ``hatch env prune``.
+
 * Because LinkML allows imports from other schemas, there may be more to the classes or slots you see defined in any given file.
-In order to figure out easily which slots are available or even required, we recommend that you **render the documentation locally**, as this allows you to browse through the classes and discover also information that comes from other schemas. 
+In order to figure out easily which slots are available or even required, we recommend that you **render the documentation locally**, as this allows you to browse through the classes and discover also information that comes from other schemas.
+
+* A broad swipe of checks for any new or existing component can be achieved with the following command composition (where one replaces ``component`` with the schema name):
+
+```
+export component=flat-data; make checkmodel/$component/unreleased convertexamples/$component/unreleased checkvalidation/$component/unreleased
+```