Welcome to the KDE Community! By joining our team, you will be part of an international effort by thousands of people working to deliver a stunning Free Software computing experience. You will meet new friends, learn new skills and make a difference to millions of users while working with people from all around the globe. This page will give you a brief introduction to things everyone in KDE should know, and help you get started with contributing.
We want to make sure that the KDE Community remains a welcoming and friendly place where people can feel comfortable. We ask you to abide by the KDE Community Code of Conduct when interacting with the rest of the KDE Community.
Start Here!
KDE wants to make it easy to get involved! KDE members are available to help new contributors; you can find them listed on the Mentoring page. Many of them hang out in the #kde-welcome Matrix room. Feel free to ask any questions you have!
Whether it's a KDE software bug or improvement ideas, let our developers know! Quality assurance makes KDE software better, and you can join in making sure our users are happy with the final product. Find out more about issue reporting.
Another crucial step to make KDE software better is through bug triaging. We use Bugzilla for our tickets, and we have many to process!
Through bug triaging, you can let developers know about breakage in the software and how widespread an issue can be. To do this, no additional programming experience is required. You can simply use comments to confirm a bug exists.
By becoming a developer in the KDE community, you can affect people by writing and improving world-class software used by millions. There are many small jobs available, so you don't even need to be an experienced programmer to start developing for KDE!
In the process you'll learn portable, industry-standard skills like C++, Qt, and CMake, and collaborate with people from all around the world. It's a challenging and fun experience. Find out more about becoming a KDE developer.
Part of reaching as wide an audience as possible includes making KDE software easy to use for people with visual, auditory and motor disabilities. Whether you are familiar with the techniques and technologies involved in this or are just keen to help out, your help will be enthusiastically welcomed. Find out more about making KDE software more accessible.
Are you fluent in multiple languages? Our multi-language software is always aiming to be precise and understood by everyone. Our user interface can always use your ability with languages to make it so. Join our translation efforts today! Find out more about becoming a KDE translator.
Whether you are an artist, a designer, or just someone with an interest user interaction, join the KDE Visual Design Group! The VDG makes KDE software both beautiful and usable by helping teams design and refine their user interfaces. This includes creating icons and desktop themes, designing graphics and researching how to help users do more with their computers. By joining this team, you can help make KDE's users happier and more productive. Find out more about joining the VDG.
Even with the best-designed software, users will need documentation to help them do what they want and get the most out of it. The KDE Community values good-quality documentation, and those who write it. The work of this team has one of the biggest impacts on end-users. Find out more about joining the KDE documentation team.
Sometimes users will run into trouble, or have questions, and not be able to find help or answers on their own. They will need someone to provide guidance and help. The KDE Community provides several platforms for users to ask for support from other users, so it is very important that there are other users ready to give that support. Find out more about providing user support.
Do you know how to get the word out on the street? As part of the promo team, you'll help spread the word about KDE to people who don't know the amazing things we make. You'll be part of a great team of people who are moving the world! Find out more about spreading the word about KDE.
KDE's web presence helps people learn about all the cool things that KDE does and how to get it! The web team works heavily with the VDG and Promo teams, as it is right at the intersection of visual design and publicity. As a member of the KDE web team, you will work on websites seen by millions and learn portable, industry-standard skills like Jekyll, Drupal, Wordpress, and more. Find out more about joining the KDE web design team.
KDE Management works under the Gardening team. This team helps make everything run smoothly. If you are "big picture" person, enjoy working with a diverse group of people, or have amazing ideas on how to help KDE, this is the place for you!
Find out more about being a manager in KDE.
KDE is a mostly volunteer community made up of people just like you! Our members need support in many areas including web and file-hosting costs, airfare to KDE events, and even hiring some full-time employees.
Here are some critically important projects that are in need of more development. The bugs and feature requests found on these pages are especially suitable for an experienced developer looking to make a big impact fast!
Our team values courtesy and respect when engaging with others. KDE members use a variety of different venues to communicate, depending on the topic. Here is a list of the ones we use most:
bugs.kde.org - To report a bug or request a new feature. The KDE Bugzilla bug tracker is intended for user-to-developer communication and tracks simple bug reports and feature requests. Sign in with your KDE Bugzilla account; it does not use identity.kde.org credentials. If you don't have a KDE Bugzilla account, sign up for one here. More information about the KDE Bugzilla bug tracker is available here.
Phabricator tasks - To track and discuss work. Phabricator is intended for developer-to-developer task planning and tracking, such as discussing the implementation of a complex feature or coordinating a promotional campaign. Sign into Phabricator with the username and password for your identity.kde.org account; if you don't have one, sign up for one here. Then return to https://phabricator.kde.org, click the "Log In" button at the top of the page, and enter the username and password for your KDE Identity account. More information about Phabricator is available here.
Internet Relay Chat, Matrix or Telegram - To start a short, goal-driven discussion. Depending on your preference, these conversations should result in the generation of a patch, task, or bug report.
Mailing Lists - To start a long-term, open-ended discussion. You don't need to subscribe to them all; just a few will do. As a new member of the KDE Community, you should at least subscribe to kde-community and kde-devel. You will need to subscribe before you can send mail to the lists.
KDE Culture KDE is a large, diverse, multi-generational organization, and a certain culture has developed over time. You can read about it on the page.
More information is available at #Start_Here!, including getting in touch other other teams.
More Ways to Contribute
KDE participates in a variety of external programs to introduce new contributors to KDE. These include:
