Participate

We Need Your Talents

Everyone can be a contributor. Here are some of the ways you can help.

Code

If you have programming experience there are a lot of ways to contribute to the Thunderbird project. Get started by identifying the area where you have the most experience and interest and following the steps to get started:

Desktop Development:

Explore the docs
Join the repository
Say hello in Matrix

Android Development:

Explore the docs
Join the repository
Say hello in Matrix

Website Development:

Explore the docs
Join the repository
Say hello in Matrix

Test

With so many unique hardware environments and workflows, community members who test pre-release builds of Thunderbird play a vital role in the quality of the software. Plus, you help catch bugs before they can reach the general public!

Learn about testing Beta
Report bugs

Translate

The entire world deserves free and open source software, and Thunderbird is currently translated in more than 50 languages! Use your multilingual talents to help make Thunderbird more widely available than ever.

Explore the docs
Join us on Pontoon

Support

Are you an experienced Thunderbird user who loves lending a helping hand? Put your knowledge to great use by joining our Support Crew and helping users around the world with their Thunderbird questions.

You can join our Thunderbird Community Support Matrix room to get and give user support.

Say hello in Matrix

Document

Help ensure the answers are written down before the question is even asked! From documenting features or APIs to frequently asked user support questions, put your knowledge and writing skills to use for the benefit of the entire Thunderbird community.

User Support documentation
Developer documentation
Code documentation

Promote

Advocacy is one of the easiest ways to contribute to Thunderbird! Boosting our posts on Mastodon, showcasing the software to a friend, upvoting a helpful answer on Reddit; anything that adds visibility is a huge help. Here’s where to find us on various social platforms, and how to get involved.

Design

Share your ideas, and contribute to the ongoing conversations around Thunderbird’s UX and UI. We welcome your feedback to developer designs on our UX mailing list, and our companion Matrix room.

Join in on the discussion
Say hello in matrix

One more way you can contribute is by sharing ideas, priorities, and feedback. Thunderbird is yours and we're listening.

Mozilla Connect

Contributor Experience

The ways and reasons to get involved are as diverse as the people who do.

Volunteers create Thunderbird and ensure it is accessible throughout the world in dozens of languages. They write the documentation and answer the questions that help regular people use Thunderbird. They come from diverse backgrounds and bring unique talents. They're making Thunderbird better for themselves and better for the world at the same time. You can join them.

Thunderbird is a testament to the power of the open-source community's contribution to driving innovation and efficiency.

Berna

Leadership, Switzerland

If you don't have skin in the game, you can't complain about the direction the product is going in.

Arthur

Bug Triager, USA

It is great to be able to improve the software by fixing little things that affect me and other users

Hartmut

Developer, Germany

I volunteer to use the beta versions as soon as they are built, report issues I find, and test fixes.

Doug

Tester & Bug Triager, USA

I volunteer to assist others in the Thunderbird Support Forum which I find a very rewarding experience.

Toad-Hall

Support & Bug Triager, United Kingdom

I began by contributing translations, thinking that people who speak my language deserve localized versions.

Bogo

Translator, Bug Triager & Leadership, Bulgaria

Shape the Future

Improve software and lives by volunteering.

Craft tools you want to use. Help others find and use software that respects their privacy and freedom. Become part of a better future for yourself and others by putting your talents to work at Thunderbird. Read further to learn how.