Harden pre-commit safety hooks and document local checks

.pre-commit-config.yaml

@@ -1,4 +1,14 @@
 repos:
+  - repo: https://github.com/pre-commit/pre-commit-hooks
+    rev: v4.6.0
+    hooks:
+      - id: check-yaml
+      - id: detect-private-key
+      - id: check-added-large-files
+        args: ["--maxkb=1000"]
+      - id: end-of-file-fixer
+      - id: trailing-whitespace
+
   - repo: https://github.com/pycqa/isort
     rev: "7.0.0"
     hooks:

CONTRIBUTING.md

@@ -40,6 +40,18 @@ When developing features that interact with LLMs:
 2. **Integration Testing**: Use your actual API key and configure `api_base` if using alternative providers
 3. **Cost Management**: Consider using cheaper models or [optillm](https://github.com/codelion/optillm) for rate limiting during development
 
+### Pre-commit Checks
+
+Before opening a PR, install and run the configured pre-commit hooks:
+
+```bash
+pip install pre-commit
+pre-commit install
+pre-commit run --all-files
+```
+
+These hooks catch common issues early, including malformed YAML, accidental private key commits, trailing whitespace, and overly large files.
+
 ## Pull Request Process
 
 1. Create a new branch for your feature or bugfix: `git checkout -b feat-your-feature-name`