xod/docs/contributing/README.md

---
title: Contributing to XOD
---

# Contributing to XOD

XOD is open-source software. Any help that makes the project better would be
appreciated. You can contribute in many ways and even without writing a single
line of code. The opportunities are summarized below.

## Thumbs up

Show your attitude to planned changes, feature requests, ideas, and critics with
a single click. Explore [issues](https://github.com/xodio/xod/issues) in the
GitHub repo and [posts on the XOD forum](https://forum.xod.io), add 👍👎❤️ as
you go to let us know a topic is significant. If we see a proposal is important
to the community, we can raise its priority and deliver it quicker. Don’t be
shy to use negative reactions: they help to make us correct decisions.

The love powers XOD team. So, if you want to give us a bit of motivation, star
the [XOD repository](https://github.com/xodio/xod) on GitHub.

<a href="https://github.com/xodio/xod"><img
  src="https://img.shields.io/github/stars/xodio/xod.svg?style=social&label=XOD%20Stars"
  height="24"/></a>

## Talk on the forum

[XOD forum](https://forum.xod.io) is the central place where newcomers ask for
assistance, and mature xoders come with feature requests and other proposals. Be
a part of the discussion. The more xoders share their experience and thoughts,
the better product we can make.

## Report bugs

If some behavior is definitely a bug and not a feature, help to hunt it down by
reporting the exact steps so that anyone can reproduce the problem.

Try to narrow down your scenario to a minimal working/failing example. That is,
if you have a big program causing a problem, start with deleting parts not
relevant to the issue and observing the result: is the problem still there?
Repeat until you get the most straightforward sequence of steps to reproduce
the problem without any noise surrounding it.

You may report the bug on the forum or as a
[GitHub issue](https://github.com/xodio/xod/issues/new). The latter is much more
preferable since the issues on GitHub _are_ the tasks for core developers and
forum posts are yet to be converted into issues. By making the report directly
on GitHub you save our time, and we can fix the problem quicker.

Use the
[template](https://github.com/xodio/xod/blob/master/.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md)
which you see when you’re filing an issue to provide as many details as
possible.

## Fix the grammar

XOD core developers are not native English speakers. So, we commit grammar
mistakes, typos, and sometimes have poor wording. Hey, grammar nazi, help XOD
to fulfill your expectations.

Phrases you see in the XOD IDE are embedded somewhere in the XOD source code
which is open and [available on GitHub](https://github.com/xodio/xod). You can
edit a file and send us a pull request within GitHub web interface without
installing anything:

* Enter the term you would like to change in the
  [GitHub repository search](https://github.com/xodio/xod/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=typozz&type=)
  to find and open a file with the mistake.
* [Edit, commit, pull request](https://help.github.com/articles/editing-files-in-another-user-s-repository/).

If you’d like to review a bunch of UI phrases at once, many of them are spread
over
[`message.js` files](https://github.com/xodio/xod/search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=filename%3Amessages.js&type=).
Feel free to edit.

When a mistake is on a documentation page the way to edit is the same. And as a
convenience feature, you can click the “Edit this page” button located on the
top of any page to jump directly into the required source file.

## Blog and share

The bigger the community, the more vibrant XOD ecosystem.

Do your friends and colleagues know about XOD? A short note or repost on
Twitter, a blog, or another medium will help to spread the word and give the
language a stronger foundation.

<a href="https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Visual%20programming%20for%20Arduino!%20https://xod.io"
  target="_blank"><img src="https://img.shields.io/twitter/url/http/shields.io.svg?style=social"
  height="24" /></a>
<!-- counter _blank underscore ↑ -->

If you have completed some device, project, video, or article using XOD, wow!
Promptly share it on the forum in
[Look what I’ve done](https://forum.xod.io/c/look-what-i-ve-done) category. We
share the interesting parts further.

Offline events are another cup of tea. Would you like to speak at a conference,
meet-up, or a workshop? Tell us if we can support you anyway with hardware or
media: write a message on [hello@xod.io](mailto:hello@xod.io).

## Make libraries

If you’ve spent some time tinkering with XOD, the chances you’ve done something
useful are high. Don’t hesitate to
[extract useful nodes into a library](/docs/guide/#making-your-own-nodes) and
[publish it on the cloud](/docs/guide/creating-libraries/) so that others can
base their projects on your work.

Don’t forget to share your cake on the forum in
[Look what I’ve done](https://forum.xod.io/c/look-what-i-ve-done) category.

## Improve the docs

If you feel the documentation is incomplete, unclear, or even misguiding at some
points, help XOD to improve it. Add sections, rewrite paragraphs, provide
examples, enhance style as you wish, and send us a pull request. The process is
the same as for [fixing the grammar](#fix-the-grammar).

## Translate the docs

Not everyone is comfortable with English. You can help international users by
providing translated versions for documentation articles.

Any original article is contained in a `README.md` file somewhere under the
[`/docs/` directory](https://github.com/xodio/xod/tree/master/docs) in the
repository. To provide a translation, create a new file next to the `README.md`
with the name reflecting the target language (`DE.md`, `IT.md`, `PT.md`,
`FR.md`, `ES.md`, `RU.md`, `JA.md`, `KO.md`, `CN.md`) and send us a pull
request.

## Contribute to code

If you feel the power, you may try contributing to the core code. Follow the
guidelines described in the
[`CONTRIBUTING.md`](https://github.com/xodio/xod/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md) in
the GitHub repo and choose one of the issues to work on.

The best candidates to start with are:

* [Issues tagged with “help wanted”](https://github.com/xodio/xod/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22help+wanted%22)
* [Tweaks](https://github.com/xodio/xod/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3At%3Atweak)
* [Bugs](https://github.com/xodio/xod/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3At%3Abug)

Post a comment to an issue thread if you would like to take it on. We can
provide more details and respond to technical questions. Others will see the
traction.