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Contributor Guide

Owncast is a growing open source project giving freedom, flexibility, and fun to live streamers. This is a starting point for anyone looking to contribute in any capacity.

Code of Conduct​

We want an open, welcoming, harassment-free community for everyone, regardless of background or identity. Owncast follows the Contributor Covenant Code of Conduct, version 2.1. Report incidents to the community leaders at https://owncast.online/contact. All reports are reviewed promptly and fairly, and the reporter's privacy is respected.

Who is Owncast for?​

Owncast is for anyone who needs to provide a live video stream to viewers. The use cases vary widely: companies streaming conferences, churches streaming to parishioners, TV networks bringing content online, and social streamers sharing games or performances. See the Owncast Project Definition for more.

Roles and responsibilities​

Owncast is a do-ocracy. The people who do the work decide how things get done, and the things someone cares enough to work on are the things that happen. A single bug fix is welcome. So is a larger role. If you want more responsibility, say so, because it is hard to guess whether someone is here for an hour or for years.

Ways to contribute​

Open source is not only code. We could use help with:

  • Product design (UI/UX). Start small with rough edges and improvements, and take on work you can finish.
  • Marketing design: social images, flyers, stickers, swag.
  • Social media and marketing. We are not great at being consistently active, and it makes a real difference.
  • Content creation: short videos explaining releases or features, and tutorials for different use cases.
  • Documentation, from non-technical explanations to technical configuration guides.
  • Development. See the Development doc for setup.

Where to start with design​

  1. Browse the "style" section of our Storybook and the Design Guidelines page.
  2. Check open issues labeled needs design on GitHub.
  3. Open an issue for something you want to work on.
  4. Discuss it on the issue. Once there is agreement, design happens in our Penpot organization (like Figma, but free and open source). Ask Gabe for edit access.

Resources​

  • Owncast Community Chat for project discussion, support, and saying hello.
  • GitHub Issues for feature and development discussion.
  • Email Gabe if you want to talk to the maintainer directly about contributing.