growth: feedback-capture system (+ MIT badge, demo cast)

.github/FUNDING.yml

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+# Sponsor button for the repo. This file is a template: every line is commented,
+# so no sponsor button renders until a maintainer opts in.
+#
+# To turn it on, uncomment one line and set the real handle. The GitHub Sponsors
+# handle below is a placeholder, not an active account: confirm the org has a
+# Sponsors profile before uncommenting.
+#
+# github: [attenlabs]
+# custom: ["https://hotato.dev/"]

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/config.yml

@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 blank_issues_enabled: true
 contact_links:
+  - name: Ask a question or share a catch
+    url: https://github.com/attenlabs/hotato/discussions
+    about: Questions, a moment hotato caught, an integration you wired up, or an idea. Lower friction than an issue, and others can chime in.
   - name: Documentation
     url: https://hotato.dev/docs/
     about: Guides for capture, scoring, CI gating, and the MCP server.

.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/first_catch.yml

@@ -32,10 +32,10 @@ body:
     id: command
     attributes:
       label: Command you ran
-      description: The exact invocation, credentials removed.
+      description: The exact invocation, credentials removed. Optional, but it helps us reproduce.
       placeholder: "hotato investigate --stack vapi --call-id <id>"
     validations:
-      required: true
+      required: false
   - type: textarea
     id: what_was_caught
     attributes:
@@ -68,19 +68,27 @@ body:
         - Gating a branch in CI (contract verify)
         - Still a candidate, deciding
     validations:
-      required: true
+      required: false
   - type: input
     id: version
     attributes:
       label: hotato version
-      description: Output of `hotato --version`.
+      description: Output of `hotato --version`. Optional.
       placeholder: "hotato x.y.z"
     validations:
-      required: true
+      required: false
   - type: checkboxes
     id: share_safe
     attributes:
       label: Share-safe
+      description: The card and the text report carry timings and measurements only. Keep it that way.
       options:
         - label: No audio is attached, and the paste carries no call id, phone number, or name of any call participant.
           required: true
+  - type: markdown
+    attributes:
+      value: >-
+        Thank you. A first catch from a stack we did not operate is the
+        clearest signal this tool works. If it earned a place in your loop,
+        a [star on the repo](https://github.com/attenlabs/hotato) helps the
+        next person find it.

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -9,6 +9,20 @@ ever a single blended score.
 Every kind of contribution is welcome. This guide gets your first one merged with
 the least friction, then points you at the contribution that helps most.
 
+## The 30-second contribution
+
+The smallest useful change, start to finish:
+
+- **A one-line doc fix.** A typo, a stale flag, a command that reads wrong.
+  Edit the file on GitHub, open the PR. Done.
+- **A labeled synthetic fixture.** One JSON scenario that stresses a timing
+  edge the suites miss. Copy an existing label under
+  [`corpus/suites/`](corpus/suites/), change the timings, run
+  `python3 corpus/validate.py your_label.json` until it prints PASS.
+
+Both are reviewed quickly and merge without a release. If you have more time,
+read on.
+
 ## Ways to help
 
 Pick whatever fits the time you have:

README.md

@@ -6,14 +6,18 @@
 <a href="https://pypi.org/project/hotato/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/hotato?style=flat-square&color=c23c07&label=pypi" alt="PyPI version"></a>
 <a href="https://pypistats.org/packages/hotato"><img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/dm/hotato?style=flat-square&color=c23c07&label=downloads" alt="Downloads per month"></a>
 <a href="https://pypi.org/project/hotato/"><img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/hotato?style=flat-square&color=6f5d44" alt="Python versions"></a>
-<a href="https://github.com/attenlabs/hotato/actions/workflows/tests.yml"><img src="https://github.com/attenlabs/hotato/actions/workflows/tests.yml/badge.svg?branch=main" alt="CI status"></a></p>
+<a href="https://github.com/attenlabs/hotato/actions/workflows/tests.yml"><img src="https://github.com/attenlabs/hotato/actions/workflows/tests.yml/badge.svg?branch=main" alt="CI status"></a>
+<a href="https://github.com/attenlabs/hotato/blob/main/LICENSE"><img src="https://img.shields.io/pypi/l/hotato?style=flat-square&color=6f5d44" alt="MIT license"></a></p>
+<!-- Add a stars badge (shields.io github/stars/attenlabs/hotato) here once the repo reaches ~25 stars; below that it advertises the low number. -->
 
 # hotato
 
 **Local-first testing and observability for AI agents.**
 
 Your evals are green. Your agent still ships bugs they can't see: talk-over, dead air, a tool it swore it ran. hotato catches them on your machine and gates CI so they stay fixed.
 
+<img src="docs/assets/hotato-demo-cast.svg" alt="uvx hotato start --demo catches a 2.66s talk-over and returns exit 1" width="680" style="max-width:100%;height:auto;">
+
 **[hotato.dev](https://hotato.dev)**
 
 </div>