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The fastest way to start contributing to WordPress is to choose a team on the official Make WordPress hub, use one WordPress.org account, join the project’s Slack workspace and team channel, then complete a small, clearly defined task. More than 20 teams accept contributions in areas including documentation, translation, testing, support, community, training, design, marketing, accessibility and code, so programming is only one route.
Choose a contribution path that fits you
WordPress is organized into more than 20 Make WordPress teams. The official contribution hub includes a questionnaire that matches your interests and skills to a team. Use these four questions to narrow the choice:
| Decision point | Examples | What a first contribution can look like |
|---|---|---|
| Skill fit | Writing, coding, design, testing, languages, community or operations | Edit a handbook page, translate a string, test a release, design an interface or help at an event |
| Interaction style | Asynchronous issues and documents versus scheduled Slack meetings and events | Leave written feedback when convenient, or join a recurring team discussion |
| Technical depth | No-code work, site-level testing or development workflow | Reproduce a problem on a test site before learning patches and developer tools |
| Continuity | One-off task versus ongoing team role | Complete a Good First Issue, then become a regular reviewer, mentor or maintainer |
Good routes for non-developers
- Documentation: clarify guides, fix outdated instructions and improve examples.
- Translation: translate WordPress software, documentation and community materials in your language.
- Testing: test releases, reproduce reported problems and record exact results.
- Support: answer questions and identify recurring user problems.
- Community and training: help organize events, working groups, workshops and learner resources.
- Design, accessibility and marketing: improve interfaces, usability, inclusive access, communications and project outreach.
Community-team training explicitly says meaningful participation does not require developer or designer skills. Contributor Day guidance likewise welcomes writers, coders, testers, plugin and theme developers, marketers, site owners and other WordPress users.
Set up your account and communication
- Create or use a WordPress.org account. One account is enough for team participation and other WordPress.org features; you do not need a separate account for each team.
- Join the Making WordPress Slack workspace. Slack is the project’s main public coordination space. Use the channel for the team you selected.
- Read the team handbook. It explains terminology, current priorities, contribution rules, tools and where new contributors should ask questions.
- Join a meeting or asynchronous discussion. Attend a public team meeting when its schedule works for you, or begin by reading recent conversations and responding to an open task.
- Learn the team’s tools. Depending on the area, onboarding may use WordPress.org, Slack, GitHub, collaborative documents, Trac or training materials.
Find a first task without guessing
Use a Contributor Day
WordCamp Contributor Days provide team-specific tables and people who can help you choose and complete a first task. The tables are intended for every type of participant, including writers, coders, testers, plugin and theme developers, marketers, site owners and ordinary users. Bring a question, a laptop if you plan to test or edit, and enough time to follow through on one small task.
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Learn through workshops
Learn WordPress community-team workshops cover events, working groups, contributor roles and ways to participate. They are useful when you want guided orientation before choosing a team or attending a contributor event.
Follow the participation ladder
The 2026 Contributor Dashboard describes contribution as Connect → Contribute → Engage → Perform → Lead. This is a behavior-based way to make contribution journeys visible; it is not a ranking of which type of work matters more. A practical interpretation is:
- Connect: find a team, join its communication channel and meet contributors.
- Contribute: complete a defined task and submit the result through the team’s workflow.
- Engage: return to discussions, review work and help improve processes.
- Perform: take ownership of dependable, recurring work.
- Lead: coordinate people or initiatives after you understand the team’s practices.
Try Pathway Guides and Good First Issues
A project announcement published April 23, 2026 introduced Pathway Guides for evergreen contribution patterns and a Good First Issues board for one-off tasks. These resources are also opportunities to improve the project itself: contributors can test a guide, write clearer routes into contribution, improve the design and user experience, connect repositories, update or close stale issues and review issues awaiting feedback.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How to contribute to WordPress Core
Core contribution has a learning curve, but you do not have to begin by writing a patch. The Core handbook recommends learning the project’s organization, communication channels, Trac workflow and code process while asking questions in public channels such as #core and following a component.
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Start with testing
- Choose a release or change that you can test safely on a disposable site or staging environment.
- Record the WordPress version, browser, operating system, theme, plugins and exact steps.
- Describe what you expected, what happened instead and whether the result is repeatable.
- Share the findings in the team’s public workflow and respond to requests for additional testing.
Write a reproducible bug report
A useful report lets another contributor see the problem without interpreting your conclusion. Include a short title, numbered reproduction steps, expected behavior, actual behavior, screenshots or logs when relevant, and the smallest set of conditions that triggers the issue. After reports and testing, you can progress to patches or maintenance work as your familiarity with the component grows.
Handle security issues privately
Do not publish a suspected vulnerability as an ordinary public bug report. WordPress security issues use responsible private disclosure to the WordPress security team.
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Make your first contribution easier to finish
- Choose one small deliverable: a corrected paragraph, one translation batch, a single test report or one reviewed issue is better than an undefined promise to help.
- Ask in public channels: explain what you want to do, what you have tried and where you are blocked so others can point you to the right workflow.
- Follow local conventions: team handbooks often specify formatting, labels, review steps and where work should be submitted.
- Leave a useful record: include versions, links, decisions and unresolved questions so the next person can continue.
- Return after submission: contribution usually includes responding to review feedback, updating the work and marking the task complete.
A practical first-week plan
- Day 1: complete the Make WordPress questionnaire and select one team.
- Day 2: confirm your WordPress.org account and join the team’s Slack channel.
- Day 3: read the handbook, recent discussions and meeting information.
- Day 4: select a Good First Issue, testing assignment or clearly scoped documentation task.
- Day 5: ask any remaining setup question, complete the task and submit it through the team’s stated process.
- Afterward: respond to feedback and decide whether to repeat similar tasks or take an ongoing role.
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