The Art of Submission

Contributor's Guide & Tradecraft

Technical Specification: Submitting an app to Orion is not just filling out a form; it is adhering to a strict technical standard. This guide explains the exact tradecraft required to submit a perfect app request.

A. Asset Extraction Tradecraft

Orion does not host images. We rely on the decentralization of the web. Therefore, the most critical rule of submission is The Golden Rule: All assets must be direct links to the image file itself (ending in .png, .jpg, or .webp).

1. Google Play Store

The Play Store often obfuscates image URLs. To get a clean asset:

Technique: Right-click the icon or screenshot and select "Open Image in New Tab".
Clean-up: The URL will likely contain scaling parameters at the end, such as =w240-h480. Delete these parameters to fetch the original high-resolution master file server-side.

2. GitHub

The Trap: Do not use blob links (e.g., github.com/user/repo/blob/main/icon.png). These are HTML web pages wrapper around the image, which will break our parser.

The Fix: You must provide the RAW file link. Right-click the image and select "Copy Image Link", or manually change /blob/ to /raw/ in the URL structure.

3. F-Droid (PC Protocol)

F-Droid protects its assets from simple scraping. Right-clicking often returns a blocked action or a low-res thumbnail.

The Trick: View Page Source (Ctrl+U) and use Ctrl+F to search for "screenshot". Copy the full URL found in the src attribute of the image tag.

4. IzzyOnDroid & Mobile

If you are submitting from a mobile device (Android/iOS), the workflow is simpler: Long press the image and select "Open Image in New Tab" to isolate the direct asset link.

5. The Last Resort (Manual Upload)

If screenshots are not available on any source:

Take screenshots directly on your phone.
Upload them to image2url.com (or a similar permanent host).
Use the direct link generated by the tool.

B. Metadata Forensics

Accuracy in metadata is non-negotiable. Our bots rely on specific identifiers to map the "Issue-Ops" request to the correct APK artifacts.

1. The `packageName`

This is the unique Android ID (e.g., com.example.app) that distinguishes the app from billions of others.

How to find: Look at the URL of the app on the Play Store web interface (id=com.example.app). Alternatively, if you have the app installed, use a "Package Viewer" utility app to inspect its manifest ID.

2. The `releaseKeyword`

This is a situational parameter found inside the APK filename on the repository's Releases page.

Auto-Detection: Orion is smart. It can automatically identify architectural variants (arm64 vs arm32) and version conflicts. You generally do not need a keyword if the release contains only one application.

Definition: A unique string that distinguishes identifying files in a Multi-App Bundle.
The Use Case: Some repositories (like Revanced-AutoBuilds) release 50+ different apps in a single GitHub Release tag.
The Fix: The keyword tells Orion: "Ignore the Youtube, Twitter, and Reddit APKs; I strictly want the file containing 'Instagram'."

Example Scenarios:
1. Standard App: "app-v1.0.apk"               -> Keyword: "apk" (Orion handles the rest)
2. Multi-App Bundle: "YouTube-ReVanced.apk"   -> Keyword: "YouTube"
3. Multi-App Bundle: "TikTok-ReVanced.apk"    -> Keyword: "TikTok"