Starter kit

You love software freedom and open source communities. You like MediaWiki, Wikipedia, or any other Wikimedia project. You want to contribute your technical skills and learn from other contributors. Well this is the best place to get started for new comers!

You are here
mediawiki.org is the home of the developers of MediaWiki and related open source software projects.

If you want to contribute technical help to Wikimedia projects, check Tech Ambassadors.

If you want to contribute to the Wikimedia server infrastructure, check http://wikitech.wikimedia.org

Learn the differences between Wikipedia, Wikimedia, MediaWiki, and wiki. Project:Help contains other basic links.

Get started
Register to mediawiki.org and subscribe to wikitech announce. Now you are connected.

Check the areas to contribute and choose one.

Communication
There are several ways you can get into contact with MediaWiki, and other contributors.

Real-time chats
The best place for real-time communication for discussing or asking questions about MediaWiki is #mediawiki IRC (Internet Relay Chat). You can use this web page to connect.

Mailing lists
There are several e-mail lists that exist for discussion of the MediaWiki software. The complete list is on Meta.

Following
It is always better to follow and share the news of MediaWiki across your social network.

Wiki collaboration
If you're not familiar with the wiki environment, these links can help you get comfortable:
 * Help:Navigation.

Editing

 * How to Edit (with the new VisualEditor) or Edit source (old school)
 * Editing pages of a wiki
 * Editing MediaWiki content

User page and preferences
After registering, you get a user page that is 100% public. Introduce yourself! Suggested fields are:
 * real name
 * location
 * interests
 * languages
 * motivation to be here.

You may also use the User Info Template. Use Help:Images for pictures. Minimal / no design is recommended, Wikipedia explains more.

Queries/Discussions
For queries and discussions, please refer to:


 * FAQs
 * Project:Support desk - discussions about MediaWiki software
 * site - discussions about MediaWiki site
 * Talk Pages

Translation
If you know languages other than English, then translate on MediaWiki. You can get articles to translate from here.

Issue tracking in Bugzilla
Bugzilla.wikimedia.org is where all the bugs of MediaWiki Software are reported and suggestion for new features and enhancements are given.

It is recommended for the new contributors to work on the easy bugs.

Code review in Gerrit
Gerrit is the most important part of the development process. All the contributions to MediaWiki are reviewed and approved at gerrit.wikimedia.org. To help you get started, check the Tutorial or it's short version.

The Code Review is mainly written for developers reviewing codes, but it can be useful for the developers submitting the code for review.

Hacking
Learn how to become a MediaWiki hacker by this workshop.

MediaWiki Software

 * Downloading the software
 * Installion guide
 * Configuring
 * Users guide/hub