Want to Contribute to TYPO3 CMS? Welcome!

TYPO3 CMS is built by volunteers and those contributing do it for all sorts of reasons and in lots of different ways. People from all over Europe and the rest of the world collaborate to create the software, write the documentation, provide support, organize events and generally keep the project running. Individuals work on TYPO3 CMS in their free time. And companies ask their employees to get involved.

There are some remarkable numbers in the list of folks who contributed to TYPO3 CMS core in November 2017. All in a single month, and that's just the coders. There are so many people involved in this project, and you can be too!

Here are four ways you can get started contributed to TYPO3 CMS and the community of TYPO3 users and developers:

1. Contributing to and testing TYPO3 CMS core.

2. Contributing to and testing TYPO3 CMS extensions.

3. Contributing to TYPO3 CMS documentation.

4. Supporting the community.

There is so much to do beyond coding and development, we need people with all sorts of skills to help out! Everyone has something to contribute and the community is here to support you as you get started. Let’s look at each way you can contribute to TYPO3 CMS:

The most well-known way to contribute to TYPO3 CMS is by working on its core. TYPO3 is an open source project, so the core development team is made up of volunteer contributors. But TYPO3 CMS core releases require more than just developers, and the community really relies on from bug reports and testing from all users.

We use TYPO3 Forge for tracking and that’s the place to find tickets. If you want to have a look around or maybe even join in, first register at typo3.org, and then sign into TYPO3 Forge with the username and password you save at typo3.org. This recent article of ours guides you in taking the first steps.

If you’re unsure of where to start or have a specific question, then come along and join our community on Slack and browse the many channels. It’s increasingly becoming the way that contributors communicate with each other and you’ll always find somebody to ask there.

Everyone using TYPO3 CMS for their site needs extensions for additional features and functionalities. If contributing to the core isn’t your bag but you’re a developer or a web agency, another way to contribute is by writing extensions for the TYPO3 community to use.

The TYPO3 CMS extension repository contains thousands of free extensions (also known as plugins or modules), ranging from small ones that do simple jobs to large complex extensions.

If you’ve written a TYPO3 extension why not add it to the repository and let other people use it? As well as providing the extension, it’s also good practice to keep it up to date. When new versions of TYPO3 CMS are released, check that it’s still compatible.

Again, if you have any question, head on over to our Slack channel and find co-workers.

Software is about so much more than code. Documentation such as READMEs, HowTo and INSTALL files and other resources are key to being able to make the best use of the software itself.

Accurate, clear, and comprehensive documentation is an essential part of software engineering - It’s the key to efficiency and to a successful product.

In general, documentation needs to be placed in one central place. The online manual for TYPO3 CMS is docs.typo3.org - a living repository for TYPO3 CMS information and documentation. The manuals themselves each have their own Git repository. The full list can be found on GitHub.

Contribute to user-manual development by creating an account on GitHub. The easiest way to get started is by clicking the "Edit me on GitHub" button at the top right hand corner of every page of the TYPO3 online manual. This will create a fork in your GitHub account, from which you can then create pull requests.

If you have questions of any kind, come along and join our key communication channel Slack. Connect to co-workers and members of the docs team by joining the #typo3-documentation channel.

Open source projects are driven by people and benefit through, and because of, community. A community comes from connecting with other users and contributors online or in person.

Community makes open source projects like TYPO3 CMS work.

TYPO3 CMS has a large number of makers and users in a global community. These people include TYPO3 business owners and their employees, TYPO3 freelancers and web agencies, and many more. Makers and users come together virtually online in Slack and in reality at conferences, meetups, sprints and other TYPO3 events which leads to its continual development.

Help grow our community by organizing and supporting events, by attending events, or by answering questions in our Slack channel.

If you’re using TYPO3 CMS, either for your own site or for client websites, you’re getting it for free thanks to the hard work of hundreds of people who volunteer their time for no reason other than they’re committed to TYPO3 CMS and want to make it better. If you want to do your bit and contribute, there are plenty of options, which aren’t limited to core contributors. Whether you’re a developer, an organizer, a marketer, a writer, or someone who likes to help people out, chances are there’s a suitable way for you to contribute.

We look forward to meeting you in person or online. Are you hesitating about taking the first step? Ask us anything about contributing in our Slack channel or in the comments below.