| --- |
| title: Documentation |
| description: Guides and source references for the Apache STeVe v3 application and STV tally tools. |
| --- |
| |
| # Documentation |
| |
| The guides live alongside the code so that implementation details and setup instructions can be updated together. |
| |
| ## v3 voting application |
| |
| - [Getting Started Guide](https://github.com/apache/steve/blob/trunk/v3/docs/quickstart.md) — prepare a local development environment. |
| - [Architecture and data model](https://github.com/apache/steve/blob/trunk/v3/README.md) — elections, people, issues, votes, and ballot storage. |
| - [Database schema](https://github.com/apache/steve/blob/trunk/v3/docs/schema.md) — the SQLite tables and their relationships. |
| - [Testing guide](https://github.com/apache/steve/blob/trunk/v3/tests/README.md) — run the application tests. |
| |
| ### Voting methods |
| |
| The current v3 application implements two voting types: |
| |
| | Method | How it is used | |
| | ------------------------------ | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | |
| | Single Transferable Vote (STV) | Voters rank candidates. The Meek STV engine counts the ballots for the configured number of seats. | |
| | Yes / No / Abstain (YNA) | Voters choose yes, no, or abstain on an issue. | |
| |
| See the [voting implementations](https://github.com/apache/steve/tree/trunk/v3/steve/vtypes) for the supported options and tally behavior. |
| |
| ## Tally and what-if tools |
| |
| The [monitoring tools guide](https://github.com/apache/steve/blob/trunk/monitoring/README.md) covers tally input formats and command-line tools. The v3 STV implementation and the what-if tool share the Meek STV engine in `monitoring/stv_tool.py`. |
| |
| The [STV tally and what-if examples](https://github.com/apache/steve#stv-tally-and-what-if) show how to change the seat count, exclude a candidate, or select a runoff field. For new tallies, use the v3 `vote-results.json` export. |
| |
| ## Contribute a change |
| |
| Open a pull request against the [`trunk` branch](https://github.com/apache/steve). For Python changes, follow the formatting, linting, and type-checking instructions in [`AGENTS.md`](https://github.com/apache/steve/blob/trunk/AGENTS.md). |
| |
| Website sources are in [`site/`](https://github.com/apache/steve/tree/trunk/site). The site README explains how to build the website and preview a change. |
| |
| For design discussions or questions about the code, join the [community](/community/). |
