freeCodeCamp/CONTRIBUTING.md

<table>
    <tr>
        <td> Read these guidelines in </td>
        <td><a href="/CONTRIBUTING.md"> English </a></td>
        <td><a href="/docs/chinese/CONTRIBUTING.md"> 中文 </a></td>
        <td><a href="/docs/russian/CONTRIBUTING.md"> русский </a></td>
        <td><a href="/docs/arabic/CONTRIBUTING.md"> عربى </a></td>
        <td><a href="/docs/spanish/CONTRIBUTING.md"> Español </a></td>
        <td><a href="/docs/portuguese/CONTRIBUTING.md"> Português </a></td>
    </tr>
</table>

# Contribution Guidelines

Hello 👋!

freeCodeCamp.org is possible thanks to thousands of kind volunteers like you. We are grateful for your contributions, and we are exited to welcome you onboard.

We strictly enforce our ["Code of Conduct"](https://www.freecodecamp.org/code-of-conduct). Take a moment to read it. It's not very long.

Happy Contributing 🎉!

## Here are some fun ways you can help

You can choose to contribute to an area of you interest:

1. [Contribute to this open source codebase.](#contribute-to-this-open-source-codebase)

Help us in creating or editing [guide articles](https://www.freecodecamp.org/guide), [coding challenges](https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn) and fixing bugs on the learning platform.

2. Help campers on our [public forum](https://www.freecodecamp.org/forum/).

   - ❓ Help campers by [answering their questions](https://www.freecodecamp.org/forum/?max_posts=1).
   - 💬 [Give feedback](https://www.freecodecamp.org/forum/c/project-feedback?max_posts=1) on camper projects.

3. Help us add subtitles on our [YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8butISFwT-Wl7EV0hUK0BQ/videos).

### Contribute to this open source codebase

We have a huge open source codebase of the thousands of [Coding challenges](https://www.freecodecamp.org/learn) and [Guide articles](https://www.freecodecamp.org/guide). These challenges and articles make up the learning content available on the freeCodeCamp.org's learning platform.

You can help us:

- [📝 Research, Write and Update our guide articles.](#research-write-and-update-our-guide-articles)

- [💻 Create, Update and Fix Bugs in our coding challenges.](#create-update-and-fix-bugs-in-our-curriculum-challenges)

- [🌐 Translate guide articles and coding challenges.](#translate-guide-articles-and-curriculum-challenges)

- [🛠 Help us fix bugs in freeCodeCamp.org's learning platform.](#help-us-fix-bugs-in-freecodecamporgs-learning-platform)

#### Research, Write and Update our guide articles

**What are Guide articles?**

Guide articles help you get a quick understanding of a technology concept. These are short, plain-English explanations that you can read before going on to more in-depth resources.

You can find an [example article about HTML Elements here](./client/src/pages/html/elements/index.md).

**What can I write an article about?**

We welcome your help writing these articles. You don't have to be an expert in a topic to write about it—this entire Guide is open source, so even if you make a mistake, another contributor will eventually correct it.

To help, find a `stub article` on our [Guide website](https://www.freecodecamp.org/guide), write the article, then open a pull request to replace the stub with your article. A [pull request](https://help.github.com/articles/about-pull-requests/) is how you'll suggest changes. It lets others know about your changes, review them and adopt them.

If you can't find a stub about the topic you'd like to write about, you can open a PR that creates the stub and includes your draft article.

If you would like work on these, follow along these guidelines:

### [How to work on Guide articles.](/docs/how-to-work-on-guide-articles.md)

#### Create, Update and Fix Bugs in our coding challenges

**[TODO]**

### [How to work on Coding Challenges.](/docs/how-to-work-on-coding-challenges.md)

#### Translate guide articles and coding challenges

You can help us translate our Guide articles and Coding challenges for a language that you speak. Currently we have translated versions in:

- Chinese (中文)
- Russian (русский)
- Arabic (عربى)
- Spanish (Español)
- Portuguese (Português)

Most of these versions are machine translated. We would love your help in improving the quality of these translations.

**If you would like work on these, follow along these steps:**

**[TODO]**

#### Help us fix bugs in freeCodeCamp.org's learning platform

Our learning platform runs on a modern JavaScript stack. It has various components, tools and libraries including but not limited to Node.js, MongoDB, LoopBack, OAuth 2.0, React, Gatsby, Webpack, and more.

Broadly,

- We have a Node.js based API server.
- A set of React based client applications.
- A script that we use to use our Frontend projects.

Contributing to this requires some understanding of APIs, ES6 Syntax and a lot of curiosity.

**If you would like work on these, follow along these steps:**

**[TODO]**

## Frequently Asked Questions

**How can I report a bug, that is not on board?**

If you think you've found a bug, first read the ["Help I've Found a Bug"](https://forum.freecodecamp.org/t/how-to-report-a-bug/19543) article and follow its instructions.

If you're confident it's a new bug, go ahead and create a new GitHub issue. Be sure to include as much information as possible so we can reproduce the bug. We have a pre-defined issue template to help you through this.

Please note, that any issues that seek coding help on a challenge, will be closed. The issue tracker is strictly for the codebase related issues and discussions. You should [seek assistance on the forum](https://www.freecodecamp.org/forum) before reporting whenever in doubt.

**How can I report a security issue?**

Please don't create GitHub issues for security issues. Instead, please send an email to `security@freecodecamp.org` and we'll look into it immediately.

**I am stuck on something that is not in these documentation. How can get help?**

Feel free to ask for help in:

- [The "Contributors" category our public forum](https://www.freecodecamp.org/forum/c/contributors).
- [Our public contributors chat room on Gitter](https://gitter.im/FreeCodeCamp/Contributors).

We are excited to help you contribute to any of the topics that you would like to work on. Make sure you search for your query before posting a new one. Be polite and patient. Our community volunteers and moderators are always around to guide you through your queries.

**I am new to GitHub and Open Source in general:**

Read our [How to Contribute to Open Source Guide](https://github.com/freeCodeCamp/how-to-contribute-to-open-source).

**What do these different labels mean, that are tagged on issues?**

Our community moderators [triage](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_bug#Bug_management) issues and pull requests based on their priority, severity and other factors. You can [find a complete glossary of their meanings here](https://github.com/freecodecamp/freecodecamp/labels). You should go through **`Help Wanted`** or **`first timers welcome`** issues for quick lookup of what is available for you to work on.

**I found a typo, should I report an issue before I can make a pull request?**

You can straight away create a pull request without having to report any issues, for typos, or small changes to [verbiage](https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/verbiage). Issues are a tool to seek confirmation on  changes that you would want to propose via a pull request.