---
layout: page
title: How to Contribute
---
Software Carpentry is an open source project,
and we welcome contributions of all kinds:
new lessons,
fixes to existing material,
bug reports,
and reviews of proposed changes are all equally welcome.

By contributing,
you are agreeing that Software Carpentry may redistribute your work under
[these licenses](LICENSE.md).

## Getting Started

1.  We use GitHub flow to manage changes,
    which is explained in the chapter [Contributing to a Project](http://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/GitHub-Contributing-to-a-Project)
    in Scott Chacon's book *Pro Git*.

2.  For our lessons,
    you should branch from and submit pull requests against the `gh-pages` branch.  

3.  When editing lesson pages, you need only commit changes to the Markdown source files.

4.  If you're looking for things to work on,
    please see the current list of [issues](https://github.com/swcarpentry/lesson-template/issues).
    We also welcome comments on pull requests and discussion on issues.  

## Other Resources

1.  This lesson is based on the template found at
    [https://github.com/swcarpentry/lesson-template](https://github.com/swcarpentry/lesson-template).
    That repository has instructions on formatting and previewing lessons.

2.  For a list of helpful commands run `make` in this directory.

3.  The [list of maintainers](http://software-carpentry.org/lessons.html#maintainers)
    on the [Software Carpentry website](http://software-carpentry.org)
    lists the people currently responsible for managing this repository.
    Feel free to contact them if you have any questions or languishing pull requests.