Learning Objectives
By the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
- Identify the official WordPress contribution teams and the type of work each team does
- Explain what makes a project a qualifying WP Credits contribution
- Select a contribution team that aligns with your skills and interests
- Evaluate a project idea against the criteria for a qualifying contribution
What contributing to WordPress means
Contributing to WordPress means taking part in a global open source project where everyone plays a role. It is not limited to writing code. There are many ways to contribute based on your interests and abilities.
Through WP Credits, you will engage with the official teams that support the WordPress project. Here is an overview of some teams and what they do, but please refer to the following lesson to learn more about all contribution teams:
- Core develops and maintains the WordPress software itself, improving performance, fixing bugs, and introducing new features that keep the platform stable and modern.
- Polyglots works on translations, making WordPress available in different languages.
- Documentation reviews and improves guides, ensuring instructions remain accurate and clear.
- Support answers questions in the forums, helping users solve problems.
- Community organizes local events and meetups, demonstrating how collaboration helps projects grow. This is the team behind the WP Credits program.
- Training creates learning materials for Learn WordPress, turning knowledge into shared resources.
By contributing, you will learn to collaborate with people from different backgrounds, practice communication skills, and understand how projects are organized on a global scale. You do not need to build a plugin or fix code. Contributing means choosing a team, learning how it works, and dedicating time to support its goals.
For a full overview of every WordPress team and working group, including onboarding resources for each, see the next lesson: Contribution Team Deep Dive.
What a good contribution project looks like
A strong contribution project directly supports an existing WordPress team and has lasting value for the wider community. Good projects usually do three things:
- Connect with a team’s current goals. For example, translating strings for Polyglots, reviewing tickets in Trac with the Core team, or helping test features with the Test team.
- Produce something that helps many users. This might mean writing or updating documentation, creating tutorial videos, improving accessibility reports, or designing new graphics for WordCamp organizers.
- Show collaboration. You might join a team meeting, get feedback from experienced contributors, or work alongside another contributor on a shared project.
Here is an example of what a qualifying contribution project looks like:
- Team: Documentation
- Project: Review and update three outdated handbook pages for the Documentation team, then submit them for team review through the Documentation team’s workflow.
- Why it qualifies: It directly supports the Documentation team’s ongoing priorities, produces lasting value for WordPress users, and involves collaboration through the team’s established processes.
Projects that do not qualify as contributions
Not every project idea will count as a WP Credits contribution. Projects that do not qualify usually:
- Focus on personal benefit only, for example, creating a personal blog or portfolio site
- Do not connect with any WordPress team or their ongoing priorities
- Are one-off experiments that do not leave anything useful for other contributors to build on
If the project does not help the WordPress community, team processes, or end users, it is not a good fit for WP Credits.
Key Terms
| Term | Definition |
| Contribution | Work you do to support the WordPress open source project and its community |
| Open source | Software built collaboratively and shared publicly, with source code anyone can use, study, and improve |
| Contribution team | One of the official WordPress teams that manages a specific area of the project, such as Core, Polyglots, or Documentation |
| Make.wordpress.org | The network of team blogs where WordPress contribution teams post updates, decisions, and meeting notes |
| Trac | The issue-tracking system used by the WordPress Core and Documentation teams to manage tasks, bugs, and patches |
✅ Check Your Understanding
- Which contribution team aligns most with your skills and interests, and why?
- Describe a project idea you are considering. Does it meet the criteria listed in this lesson?