We welcome contributions of any size and skill level. As an open source project, we believe in giving back to our contributors and are happy to help with guidance on PRs, technical writing, and turning any feature idea into a reality.
## Why contribute to open source?
[**@FredKSchott:**](https://twitter.com/FredKSchott) As a personal story - I got started in open source by randomly contributing to an npm package named `request`. At the time, the package was the third-most-used package on npm and was receiving millions of downloads a week. It was all maintained by one person and a couple of in-and-out contributors.
Thanks to a combination of free time, hard work and luck I was able to contribute and eventually become a lead maintainer of the project. For a long time I was one of 3 people in the world who could deploy some code (`npm publish request`) that would get immediately picked up by almost every Node.js project on the planet via `npm install`. It was exciting and a bit scary 😅.
At the same time, I had a day job where I was a junior software developer at a random tech co. I was surrounded by interesting projects, but I mostly did busy work. I had asked my manager if I could go up for a promotion and he said no. At least they paid me!
The Astro community is my personal attempt to share this experience with others who might be looking for the same thing as I was. Everyone is at different stages in their life and career, and my personal experience as "slightly bored junior developer" isn't a one-size-fits-all for why you should get involved in open source. Instead, here are some of my favorite things that I got out of open source development that I think apply to anyone:
- **Job opportunities:** Having the line "maintains code used by millions of developers" on my resume was an incredible way to stand out in every single job search I did for years afterwards.
- **Instant dev cred:** I was accepted to give my first public talk at a conference based solely on my open source work. It was a terrible talk, but who's first talk is good!? :D
- **Leadership/mentorship opportunities:** I went from having zero responsibility at work to being a respected voice/opinion in the `request` GitHub issues and PRs.
- **Learning from smart people:** I got to meet and learn from so many smart people across the open source ecosystem.
- **preventing imposter syndrome:** Sure, I was still just a kid, but having an actual human connection to developers who I looked up to at the time helped dispell the idea that "oh, **I** could never be like that."
If any of this sounds interesting, I hope you consider getting involved with Astro. Come say hi in the [**#new-contributors**](https://astro.build/chat) channel on Discord, anytime. We're always around and value contributions of any shape/size.
Astro uses yarn workspaces, so you should **always run `yarn install` from the top-level project directory.** running `yarn install` in the top-level project root will install dependencies for `astro`, `www`, `docs`, and every package in the repo.
When making a pull request, be sure to add a changeset when something has changed with Astro. Non-packages (`examples/*`, `docs/*`, and `www/*`) do not need changesets.
Our release tool `changeset` has a feature for releasing "snapshot" releases from a PR or custom branch. These are npm package publishes that live temporarily, so that you can give users a way to test a PR before merging. This can be a great way to get early user feedback while still in the PR review process.
Sometimes, the repo will enter into "prerelease mode". In prerelease mode, our normal release process will publish npm versions under the `next` dist-tag, instead of the default `latest` tag. We do this from time-to-time to test large features before sharing them with the larger Astro audience.
While in prerelease mode, follow the normal release process to release `astro@next` instead of `astro@latest`. To release `astro@latest` instead, see [Releasing `astro@latest` while in prerelease mode](#user-content-releasing-astrolatest-while-in-prerelease-mode).
Exiting prerelease mode should happen once an experimental release is ready to go from `npm install astro@next` to `npm install astro`. Only a core contributor run these steps. These steps should be run before
### Releasing `astro@latest` while in prerelease mode
When in prerelease mode, the automatic PR release process will no longer release `astro@latest`, and will instead release `astro@next`. That means that releasing to `latest` becomes a manual process. To release latest manually while in prerelease mode:
1._In the code snippets below, replace `0.X` with your version (ex: `0.18`, `release/0.18`, etc.)._
1. Create a new `release/0.X` branch, if none exists.
1. Point `release/0.X` to the latest commit for the `v0.X` version.
1.`git cherry-pick` commits from `main`, as needed.
1. Make sure that all changesets for the new release are included. You can create some manually (via `yarn changeset`) if needed.
1. Run `yarn changeset version` to create your new release.
1. Run `yarn release` to publish your new release.
1. Run `git push && git push --tags` to push your new release to GitHub.
1. Run `git push release/0.X:latest` to push your release branch to `latest`. This will trigger an update to the docs site, the www site, etc.
1. Go to https://github.com/snowpackjs/astro/releases/new and create a new release. Copy the new changelog entry from https://github.com/snowpackjs/astro/blob/latest/packages/astro/CHANGELOG.md.
1. Post in Discord #announcements channel, if needed!
Help us translate [docs.astro.build](https://docs.astro.build/) into as many languages as possible! This can be a great way to get involved with open source development without having to code.
Our translation process is loosly based off of [MDN.](https://hacks.mozilla.org/2020/12/an-update-on-mdn-web-docs-localization-strategy/)
### Important: Beta Status
Astro is changing quickly, and so are the docs. We cannot translate too many pages until Astro is closer to a v1.0.0 release candidate. **To start, do not translate more than the "getting started" page.** Once we are closer to a v1.0.0 release candidate, we will begin translating all pages.
### Tier 1: Priority Languages
**Tier 1** languages are considered a top priority for Astro documentation. The docs site should be fully translated into these languages, and reasonably kept up-to-date:
We are always looking for people to help us with these translations. If you are interested in getting involved, please [reach out to us](https://astro.build/chat) on Discord in the `i18n` channel.
All other languages are considered **Tier 2**. Tier 2 language translations are driven by the community, with support from core maintainers. If you want to see the Astro docs site translated into a new language, then we need your help to kick off the project!
