[Docs] Clean up the contributing README (#25099)

Signed-off-by: Harry Mellor <19981378+hmellor@users.noreply.github.com>

docs/contributing/README.md

@@ -26,113 +26,123 @@ See <gh-file:LICENSE>.
 
 ## Developing
 
---8<-- "docs/getting_started/installation/python_env_setup.inc.md"
-
-Depending on the kind of development you'd like to do (e.g. Python, CUDA), you can choose to build vLLM with or without compilation.
-Check out the [building from source][build-from-source] documentation for details.
+The first step of contributing to vLLM is to clone the GitHub repository:
 
-For an optimized workflow when iterating on C++/CUDA kernels, see the [Incremental Compilation Workflow](./incremental_build.md) for recommendations.
+```bash
+git clone https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm.git
+cd vllm
+```
 
-### Building the docs with MkDocs
+Then, configure your Python virtual environment.
 
-#### Introduction to MkDocs
+--8<-- "docs/getting_started/installation/python_env_setup.inc.md"
 
-[MkDocs](https://github.com/mkdocs/mkdocs) is a fast, simple and downright gorgeous static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation. Documentation source files are written in Markdown, and configured with a single YAML configuration file.
+If you are only developing vLLM's Python code, install vLLM using:
 
-#### Install MkDocs and Plugins
+```bash
+VLLM_USE_PRECOMPILED=1 uv pip install -e .
+```
 
-Install MkDocs along with the [plugins](https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/blob/main/mkdocs.yaml) used in the vLLM documentation, as well as required dependencies:
+If you are developing vLLM's Python and CUDA/C++ code, install vLLM using:
 
 ```bash
-uv pip install -r requirements/docs.txt
+uv pip install -e .
 ```
 
-!!! note
-    Ensure that your Python version is compatible with the plugins (e.g., `mkdocs-awesome-nav` requires Python 3.10+)
+For more details about installing from source and installing for other hardware, check out the [installation instructions](../getting_started/installation/README.md) for your hardware and head to the "Build wheel from source" section.
 
-#### Verify Installation
+For an optimized workflow when iterating on C++/CUDA kernels, see the [Incremental Compilation Workflow](./incremental_build.md) for recommendations.
 
-Confirm that MkDocs is correctly installed:
+!!! tip
+    vLLM is compatible with Python versions 3.9 to 3.12. However, vLLM's default [Dockerfile](gh-file:docker/Dockerfile) ships with Python 3.12 and tests in CI (except `mypy`) are run with Python 3.12.
 
-```bash
-mkdocs --version
-```
+    Therefore, we recommend developing with Python 3.12 to minimise the chance of your local environment clashing with our CI environment.
 
-Example output:
+### Linting
 
-```console
-mkdocs, version 1.6.1 from /opt/miniconda3/envs/mkdoc/lib/python3.10/site-packages/mkdocs (Python 3.10)
-```
-
-#### Clone the `vLLM` repository
+vLLM uses `pre-commit` to lint and format the codebase. See <https://pre-commit.com/#usage> if `pre-commit` is new to you. Setting up `pre-commit` is as easy as:
 
 ```bash
-git clone https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm.git
-cd vllm
+uv pip install pre-commit
+pre-commit install
 ```
 
-#### Start the Development Server
+vLLM's `pre-commit` hooks will now run automatically every time you commit.
 
-MkDocs comes with a built-in dev-server that lets you preview your documentation as you work on it. Make sure you're in the same directory as the `mkdocs.yml` configuration file, and then start the server by running the `mkdocs serve` command:
+!!! tip "Tips"
+    You can manually run the `pre-commit` hooks using:
 
-```bash
-mkdocs serve
-```
+    ```bash
+    pre-commit run     # runs on staged files
+    pre-commit run -a  # runs on all files (short for --all-files)
+    ```
 
-Example output:
+    ---
 
-```console
-INFO    -  Documentation built in 106.83 seconds
-INFO    -  [22:02:02] Watching paths for changes: 'docs', 'mkdocs.yaml'
-INFO    -  [22:02:02] Serving on http://127.0.0.1:8000/
-```
+    Some `pre-commit` hooks only run in CI. If you need to, you can run them locally with:
 
-#### View in Your Browser
+    ```bash
+    pre-commit run --hook-stage manual markdownlint
+    pre-commit run --hook-stage manual mypy-3.9
+    ```
 
-Open up [http://127.0.0.1:8000/](http://127.0.0.1:8000/) in your browser to see a live preview:.
+### Documentation
 
-#### Learn More
+MkDocs is a fast, simple and downright gorgeous static site generator that's geared towards building project documentation. Documentation source files are written in Markdown, and configured with a single YAML configuration file, <gh-file:mkdocs.yaml>.
 
-For additional features and advanced configurations, refer to the official [MkDocs Documentation](https://www.mkdocs.org/).
+Get started with:
 
-## Testing
+```bash
+uv pip install -r requirements/docs.txt
+```
 
-??? console "Commands"
+!!! tip
+    Ensure that your Python version is compatible with the plugins
+    (e.g., `mkdocs-awesome-nav` requires Python 3.10+)
 
-    ```bash
-    # These commands are only for Nvidia CUDA platforms.
-    uv pip install -r requirements/common.txt -r requirements/dev.txt --torch-backend=auto
+MkDocs comes with a built-in dev-server that lets you preview your documentation as you work on it.
+From the root of the repository, run:
 
-    # Linting, formatting and static type checking
-    pre-commit install
+```bash
+mkdocs serve                           # with API ref (~10 minutes)
+API_AUTONAV_EXCLUDE=vllm mkdocs serve  # API ref off (~15 seconds)
+```
 
-    # You can manually run pre-commit with
-    pre-commit run --all-files --show-diff-on-failure
+Once you see `Serving on http://127.0.0.1:8000/` in the logs, the live preview is ready!
+Open <http://127.0.0.1:8000/> in your browser to see it.
 
-    # To manually run something from CI that does not run
-    # locally by default, you can run:
-    pre-commit run mypy-3.9 --hook-stage manual --all-files
+For additional features and advanced configurations, refer to the:
 
-    # Unit tests
-    pytest tests/
+- [MkDocs documentation](https://www.mkdocs.org/)
+- [Material for MkDocs documentation](https://squidfunk.github.io/mkdocs-material/) (the MkDocs theme we use)
 
-    # Run tests for a single test file with detailed output
-    pytest -s -v tests/test_logger.py
-    ```
+### Testing
 
-!!! tip
-    Since the <gh-file:docker/Dockerfile> ships with Python 3.12, all tests in CI (except `mypy`) are run with Python 3.12.
+vLLM uses `pytest` to test the codebase.
 
-    Therefore, we recommend developing with Python 3.12 to minimise the chance of your local environment clashing with our CI environment.
+```bash
+# Install the test dependencies used in CI (CUDA only)
+uv pip install -r requirements/common.txt -r requirements/dev.txt --torch-backend=auto
+
+# Install some common test dependencies (hardware agnostic)
+uv pip install pytest pytest-asyncio
+
+# Run all tests
+pytest tests/
 
-!!! note "Install python3-dev if Python.h is missing"
+# Run tests for a single test file with detailed output
+pytest -s -v tests/test_logger.py
+```
+
+!!! tip "Install python3-dev if Python.h is missing"
     If any of the above commands fails with `Python.h: No such file or directory`, install
     `python3-dev` with `sudo apt install python3-dev`.
 
-!!! note
+!!! warning "Warnings"
     Currently, the repository is not fully checked by `mypy`.
 
-!!! note
+    ---
+
     Currently, not all unit tests pass when run on CPU platforms. If you don't have access to a GPU
     platform to run unit tests locally, rely on the continuous integration system to run the tests for
     now.
@@ -194,8 +204,7 @@ appropriately to indicate the type of change. Please use one of the following:
 The PR needs to meet the following code quality standards:
 
 - We adhere to [Google Python style guide](https://google.github.io/styleguide/pyguide.html) and [Google C++ style guide](https://google.github.io/styleguide/cppguide.html).
-- Pass all linter checks. Please use `pre-commit` to format your code. See
-  <https://pre-commit.com/#usage> if `pre-commit` is new to you.
+- Pass all linter checks.
 - The code needs to be well-documented to ensure future contributors can easily
   understand the code.
 - Include sufficient tests to ensure the project stays correct and robust. This

docs/getting_started/installation/python_env_setup.inc.md

-It's recommended to use [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/), a very fast Python environment manager, to create and manage Python environments. Please follow the [documentation](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/#getting-started) to install `uv`. After installing `uv`, you can create a new Python environment and install vLLM using the following commands:
+It's recommended to use [uv](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/), a very fast Python environment manager, to create and manage Python environments. Please follow the [documentation](https://docs.astral.sh/uv/#getting-started) to install `uv`. After installing `uv`, you can create a new Python environment using the following commands:
 
 ```bash
 uv venv --python 3.12 --seed

mkdocs.yaml

@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ plugins:
         - "re:vllm\\._.*"  # Internal modules
         - "vllm.third_party"
         - "vllm.vllm_flash_attn"
+        - !ENV [API_AUTONAV_EXCLUDE, ""]
   - mkdocstrings:
       handlers:
         python: