How to Get Involved with the GNOME Project

Updated

You can contribute to GNOME through four main areas listed on gnome.org — Code, Design, Translation, and Testing — and the project also points to additional teams you can join. The site states that every aspect of GNOME is open, its software has no restrictions on use, and it respects privacy. To start, use the "Get Involved" section of gnome.org, which links to those contribution areas and to a GNOME Handbook.

What "open" means in practice

GNOME describes itself as an independent computing platform for everyone, and its Get Involved section says the project is open in every aspect. That framing matters for contributors: the same page lists code, design, translation, and testing as entry points, and notes there are other teams beyond those four. The site also links a GNOME Handbook and an Issue Tracker, which are the practical places to learn how work is organized before you pick a task.

The four named contribution areas

Area What the site says you can contribute Where it leads
Code Development work on the platform Get Involved → Code
Design Design work for GNOME Get Involved → Design
Translation Localization of GNOME software Get Involved → Translation
Testing Testing the software Get Involved → Testing

The page adds that you can "see other teams you can join to make GNOME better," so the four areas are a starting menu rather than the full list.

A practical path to your first contribution

  1. Read the Get Involved page on gnome.org. It is the hub that links each contribution area and the other teams.
  2. Open the GNOME Handbook. The site links it as guidance for how the project works; use it to understand conventions before submitting anything.
  3. Pick one area — code, design, translation, or testing — based on what you already do. The site presents them as parallel entry points, not a sequence.
  4. Check the Issue Tracker linked from the site to see what work is tracked and discussed.
  5. Confirm your work fits the platform's expectations. For app-related contributions, the site separately describes GNOME Circle as a "certification and mentoring program for well-designed apps built for the GNOME platform," and Flathub as the Linux app store for third-party apps.

Expected result: you end up with a specific team, a handbook-informed understanding of process, and a tracked issue or task to work on — rather than a general offer to "help out."

Common sticking points

  • Treating the four areas as the whole project. The site explicitly says there are other teams; if none of the four fit your skills, look for those before concluding there is no place for you.
  • Skipping the handbook. The site links it alongside Get Involved, which suggests it is meant to be read before contributing, not after.
  • Confusing contribution with donation. The homepage's "We Need Your Support" and "Donate" prompts are about funding development infrastructure, community events, and keeping Flathub running. Contributing time and donating money are separate paths on the same site.

If you want to go further

The site also points to a Developer Portal and Design System for building apps on GNOME's "completely independent technology stack," and to a Forum, Matrix channel, and This Week in GNOME for following the community. These are useful once you have chosen an area and want to see how work is discussed publicly.