New Developers

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This page is a simple and guided landing page for new Wikimedia developers. It is part of the Onboarding new developers initiative.

For other options to get involved, see How to contribute .

Welcome!

Participants of the Wikimedia Hackathon 2019

You want to work on Wikimedia code and need ideas where to start?

Wikimedia's technical community always welcomes new contributors to our projects.

Become part of a global community and help make access to free knowledge easier for everyone!

Contributing to Wikimedia is a four-step process:

  1. Choose a software project
  2. Set up your development environment
  3. Choose and solve a task (write and test your code)
  4. Submit your code changes

Some basics to know

You can skip this section if you are already used to free and open source software culture.

Wikimedia has hundreds of software projects in many different areas. Check these slides if you want to get an overview.

The maintainers of each software project are pretty free to choose the infrastructure they prefer. In general, basically all software projects have

  • a task tracking tool where software bugs and enhancement requests are reported, managed and discussed. Examples are Wikimedia Phabricator, GitHub, or Sourceforge.
  • a code repository where the source code can be "checked out" to everybody. Examples are Wikimedia Git/Gerrit, GitHub, or Sourceforge.
  • a code review tool where proposed code changes (so-called patches) get discussed and improved. Examples are Wikimedia Git/Gerrit, GitHub, or Sourceforge. Once your proposed patch is good and is merged into the code repository, your code changes will become available to everybody. (You could read more about good practices for code review here.)
  • general places for discussion of the software project and/or for receiving help and support. Those places can be mailing lists or IRC chat channels or wiki pages or other places. The exact places depend on each project. You could also contact specific mentors via "Email this user" on their user pages, but note that "questions asked in private don't help others".

At any point, if you run into problems or need help, please ask. If you want to ask good questions in the right places, we recommend you read the section "Feedback, questions and support".

Choose a software project

This is the recommended way to start. Choose one of the following projects and follow the project's documentation to set up your development environment, choose a task to work on, solve the task, and submit your code changes for review:

Huggle

Screenshot

An anti-vandalism desktop application for Wikimedia projects

Kiwix

Screenshot

An offline reader for Wikipedia web content

Commons App for Android

Screenshot

An app for Android devices to upload your pictures to Wikimedia Commons

Wiki Education Dashboard

Screenshot

A web application that supports Wikipedia education assignments, provides data and course management for instructors and students

ORES logo ORES

ORES highlights problematic edits

A web service and API that provides machine learning as a service for Wikimedia projects. Machine predictions are used to catch vandalism, measure article quality, and support other wiki work.

Library Card platform (The Wikipedia Library)

Screenshot

A tool allowing Wikimedia contributors to apply for free access to paywalled resources.

Logo Pywikibot

Terminal

A Python library and collection of scripts that automate work on MediaWiki sites.

Logo AfC Helper Script

Screenshot of the AfC Helper Script in use

A user script to review draft articles on Wikipedia.

Logo VideoCutTool

Screenshot

A tool to edit the videos on Wikimedia Commons.

Are you a maintainer and want your project to be included in the list of software projects above? Find out more and join!

Outreach programs and single tasks

Apart from the recommended software projects above, there are more ways to choose a project or task to work on:

Logo Outreach programs

Wikimedia offers internships in programs such as Google Summer of Code and Outreachy.

Logo Good first tasks

There are many single tasks (across many software projects) which are suitable for newcomers.
However, you are more on your own here: We cannot guarantee that mentors are available or that your proposed patches will receive fast reviews.

Looking for additional resources?

Want to contribute something else?

Some general communication tips

  • Do your research first: When you decide to work on a task, you are expected to do some basic research yourself first: Look at the code, try to get some understanding what it is supposed to do, read related documentation, try to find the probable place(s) where you need to make code changes. For a general overview, please read the Basics to know.
    • In a Phabricator task, see the project tags in the side bar to find out which code repository a task is about.
  • Ask and discuss in the best place:
    • In Phabricator tasks, discuss only specific questions about the topic of that very Phabricator task. General technical questions (e.g. how to set up a development environment or problems with Gerrit) are off-topic in Phabricator tasks.
    • For general technical questions, ask the broader Wikimedia community and use generic channels like IRC chat or mailing lists. (If you take part in an outreach program, then you can also use Zulip's technical-support stream.)
    • If you take part in an outreach program, then Zulip is for discussing questions about the outreach programs themselves.
  • Ask good questions: "Can you give me more info?", "Please guide me", "Please tell me how to start" are not good comments to start with: The more specific your questions are, the more likely somebody can answer them quickly. If you have no idea at all how to fix the bug, maybe that bug is not (yet) for you – consider finding an easier one first.
  • Provide context: When asking, explain what you want to achieve, and what you have tried and found out already, so others can help at the right level. Be specific – for example, copy and paste your commands and their output (if not too long) instead of paraphrasing in your own words. This avoids misunderstandings. Use specific titles and subject lines ("Proposal draft" or "Need help" is not specific).
  • Use inclusive language: Don't assume anyone's gender identity ("guys", "madam", "sir"). Use the name of the person instead.
  • Ask in public: Do not send private messages if your conversation topic is not secret. Private messages do not help others.
  • Be patient when seeking input and comments, especially during weekends and holidays.
    • On IRC, don't ask to ask, just ask: most questions can be answered by other community members too if you ask on an IRC channel. If nobody answers, please try again at a different time; don't just give up.
    • Do not ask people immediately for code review in a separate message. People receive Gerrit and Phabricator notifications.
  • Keep conversations readable: When you reply in Zulip, in Phabricator tasks, or on mailing lists, please avoid unneeded quoting of a complete previous comment. Provide sufficient context and keep threads readable.
  • Follow the code of conduct for Wikimedia technical spaces.
  • When you plan to work on a Phabricator task:
    • No need to ask for permission: Usually there is no reason to ask if you can work on something or if somebody could assign a task to you. There is no authority who assigns tasks or who needs to be asked first.
    • You do not need to announce your plans before you start working on a task but it would be welcome. At the latest when you are close to proposing a patch for a task, it is good to announce that you are working on it, so that others don't duplicate work: If nobody else is already assigned, set yourself as task assignee by using the Add Action… → Assign/Claim dropdown.
    • Tasks with existing patches:
      • If a task already has a recent patch in Gerrit, choose a different task to work on instead – avoid duplicating work.
      • If an existing patch in Gerrit has not been merged and has not seen any changes for a long time, you could also improve that existing patch, based on the feedback in Gerrit and in the task.
    • When your plans or interests change: If you don't work on a task anymore, please remove yourself as the assignee of the task, so others know that they can work on the task and don't expect you to still work on it.

By communicating clearly and early you get attention, feedback and help from community members.

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