Contributing within the community

[Abhishek Chaudhary <ab...@gmail.com>]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading through Slack(mifos fineract and main channel) and trying
to understand how contribution within the community works in general. From
what I understand the contributors generally create their own stories
discuss them with the community and then work on them.

I had a few questions or doubts for the mentors I wanted to be cleared:
Should new contributors first become familiar with the overall codebase
before picking up issues or stories, so they can identify and report bugs
themselves?
or is it okay for beginners to be assigned existing open issues to get
started?
If getting familiar with the codebase is the preferred approach, would it
be helpful for newcomers to contribute to documentation first (reviewing,
improving, or adding documentation)? I feel that would help both us and
future newcomers while we learn the project.

I was hoping to start working on some beginner issues, but most of the ones
I found already have open PRs linked to them. In that case would it be
appropriate to contribute by reviewing those PRs, testing them, or
otherwise helping the existing contributors? or can we be assigned issues
also but I fear the lack of identity within the community might come as an
hindrance there.

I'd really appreciate any advice from the mentors. This is my first time
working with Jira in an open-source project, so it's a bit intimidating 😅.

Re: Contributing within the community

[Abhishek Chaudhary <ab...@gmail.com>]

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my questions. As per your
advice, I did some small compilation warning fixes, added them as an
Improvement issue in JIRA (FINERACT-2663), and opened a pull request for
the changes on GitHub (#6047).

This was mainly me getting familiar with how committing and creating issues
works within the community so please let me know if I did anything wrong in
the steps or in the code changes.

I'll probably start slow before changing anything, I want to understand
what the area of the code im going to work on does, so I can grasp how the
codebase works. But I promise I'll do my best to learn and grow within the
community.

On Fri, 26 Jun, 2026, 9:39 pm Ádám Sághy, <ad...@gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> First of all, welcome! :)
>
> Great questions, and please don’t worry, this is very normal when joining
> any community.
>
> In general, all kinds of contributions are welcome. Code contributions are
> only one part of it. Reviewing existing PRs, testing changes locally,
> improving documentation, cleaning up warnings, improving code hygiene,
> identifying bugs, raising questions, and reviewing open Jira stories are
> all useful contributions to the community.
>
> You don’t need to fully understand the entire codebase before getting
> started. Fineract is a large project, so most contributors learn gradually
> by picking up smaller areas, reading related code, testing behavior, and
> asking questions when something is unclear.
>
> Starting with documentation or small cleanup tasks can be a very good way
> to get familiar with the project. At the same time, it is also perfectly
> fine to jump into the deep waters immediately. :)
>
> If beginner issues already have open PRs, feel free to look at those PRs.
> You can review them, test them, check whether the changes work as expected,
> suggest additional test cases, or identify areas where the logic or
> documentation could be improved.
>
> If a PR appears stale, or you think the issue could be extended with
> further testing or improvements, it is absolutely worth raising that in the
> discussion.
>
> Reviewing open Jira stories is also helpful. Sometimes clarifying the
> requirement, reproducing the issue, confirming whether it is still valid,
> or adding more context is already a meaningful contribution.
>
> Usually, I share the following resources with newcomers as a starting
> point:
>
> Dear newcomer, we kindly request that you begin your onboarding by
> reviewing our curated, helpful information here:
> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FINERACT-2135
>
> Every contribution that enhances the codebase’s safety, effectiveness, or
> readability is valuable! :)
>
> Depending on your availability and willingness to contribute, there are
> several areas where improvements are needed:
>
> Bug tickets:
>
> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FINERACT-2492?filter=-1&jql=project%20%3D%20%22Apache%20Fineract%22%20%20AND%20type%20%3D%20Bug%20%20%20AND%20resolution%20%3D%20Unresolved%20order%20by%20created%20DESC
>
> Code maintainability / readability:
> We have a significant number of compilation warnings for various reasons.
> I believe at least half of these warnings could be fixed relatively easily.
> As we work on resolving these warnings, the codebase becomes safer and
> easier to maintain.
>
> All remaining open stories:
>
> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FINERACT-2494?filter=-1&jql=project%20%3D%20%22Apache%20Fineract%22%20%20AND%20resolution%20%3D%20Unresolved%20order%20by%20created%20DESC
>
> Beginner-friendly stories:
>
> https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FINERACT-2489?filter=-1&jql=project%20%3D%20%22Apache%20Fineract%22%20and%20labels%20IN%20(beginner-friendly%2C%20beginner%2C%20begineer%2C%20beginners%2C%20Beginner)%20%20AND%20resolution%20%3D%20Unresolved%20order%20by%20created%20DESC
>
> Hopefully, this gives you some ideas!
>
> So my advice would be: don’t be afraid to get involved. The community is
> welcoming and friendly. Go ahead and get your feet wet freely: whether
> through documentation, testing, PR review, smaller fixes, code hygiene
> improvements, or identifying new issues as you become more familiar with
> the project.
>
> And of course, if you are unsure whether something is a good first
> contribution, feel free to ask in the channel. That is exactly what the
> community is there for.
>
> P.S. Before picking up a story that introduces a new feature, please send
> an email to the Fineract DEV mailing list first, so the community can
> discuss whether it is something we really want to include in Fineract.
>
> P.S.2: We have now Matrix room as well:
> https://matrix.to/#/%23apache-fineract-dev:matrix.org
>
>
> Regards,
>
> Adam
>
> On Jun 26, 2026, at 5:02 PM, Abhishek Chaudhary <
> abhishek.6122008@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi everyone,
>
> I've been reading through Slack(mifos fineract and main channel) and
> trying to understand how contribution within the community works in
> general. From what I understand the contributors generally create their own
> stories discuss them with the community and then work on them.
>
> I had a few questions or doubts for the mentors I wanted to be cleared:
> Should new contributors first become familiar with the overall codebase
> before picking up issues or stories, so they can identify and report bugs
> themselves?
> or is it okay for beginners to be assigned existing open issues to get
> started?
> If getting familiar with the codebase is the preferred approach, would it
> be helpful for newcomers to contribute to documentation first (reviewing,
> improving, or adding documentation)? I feel that would help both us and
> future newcomers while we learn the project.
>
> I was hoping to start working on some beginner issues, but most of the
> ones I found already have open PRs linked to them. In that case would it be
> appropriate to contribute by reviewing those PRs, testing them, or
> otherwise helping the existing contributors? or can we be assigned issues
> also but I fear the lack of identity within the community might come as an
> hindrance there.
>
> I'd really appreciate any advice from the mentors. This is my first time
> working with Jira in an open-source project, so it's a bit intimidating 😅.
>
>
>

Re: Contributing within the community

[Ádám Sághy <ad...@gmail.com>]

Hi,

First of all, welcome! :)

Great questions, and please don’t worry, this is very normal when joining any community.

In general, all kinds of contributions are welcome. Code contributions are only one part of it. Reviewing existing PRs, testing changes locally, improving documentation, cleaning up warnings, improving code hygiene, identifying bugs, raising questions, and reviewing open Jira stories are all useful contributions to the community.

You don’t need to fully understand the entire codebase before getting started. Fineract is a large project, so most contributors learn gradually by picking up smaller areas, reading related code, testing behavior, and asking questions when something is unclear.

Starting with documentation or small cleanup tasks can be a very good way to get familiar with the project. At the same time, it is also perfectly fine to jump into the deep waters immediately. :)

If beginner issues already have open PRs, feel free to look at those PRs. You can review them, test them, check whether the changes work as expected, suggest additional test cases, or identify areas where the logic or documentation could be improved.

If a PR appears stale, or you think the issue could be extended with further testing or improvements, it is absolutely worth raising that in the discussion.

Reviewing open Jira stories is also helpful. Sometimes clarifying the requirement, reproducing the issue, confirming whether it is still valid, or adding more context is already a meaningful contribution.

Usually, I share the following resources with newcomers as a starting point:

Dear newcomer, we kindly request that you begin your onboarding by reviewing our curated, helpful information here:
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FINERACT-2135

Every contribution that enhances the codebase’s safety, effectiveness, or readability is valuable! :)

Depending on your availability and willingness to contribute, there are several areas where improvements are needed:

Bug tickets:
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FINERACT-2492?filter=-1&jql=project%20%3D%20%22Apache%20Fineract%22%20%20AND%20type%20%3D%20Bug%20%20%20AND%20resolution%20%3D%20Unresolved%20order%20by%20created%20DESC

Code maintainability / readability:
We have a significant number of compilation warnings for various reasons. I believe at least half of these warnings could be fixed relatively easily. As we work on resolving these warnings, the codebase becomes safer and easier to maintain.

All remaining open stories:
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FINERACT-2494?filter=-1&jql=project%20%3D%20%22Apache%20Fineract%22%20%20AND%20resolution%20%3D%20Unresolved%20order%20by%20created%20DESC

Beginner-friendly stories:
https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/FINERACT-2489?filter=-1&jql=project%20%3D%20%22Apache%20Fineract%22%20and%20labels%20IN%20(beginner-friendly%2C%20beginner%2C%20begineer%2C%20beginners%2C%20Beginner)%20%20AND%20resolution%20%3D%20Unresolved%20order%20by%20created%20DESC

Hopefully, this gives you some ideas!

So my advice would be: don’t be afraid to get involved. The community is welcoming and friendly. Go ahead and get your feet wet freely: whether through documentation, testing, PR review, smaller fixes, code hygiene improvements, or identifying new issues as you become more familiar with the project.

And of course, if you are unsure whether something is a good first contribution, feel free to ask in the channel. That is exactly what the community is there for.

P.S. Before picking up a story that introduces a new feature, please send an email to the Fineract DEV mailing list first, so the community can discuss whether it is something we really want to include in Fineract.

P.S.2: We have now Matrix room as well: https://matrix.to/#/%23apache-fineract-dev:matrix.org 



Regards,

Adam


> On Jun 26, 2026, at 5:02 PM, Abhishek Chaudhary <ab...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi everyone,
> 
> I've been reading through Slack(mifos fineract and main channel) and trying to understand how contribution within the community works in general. From what I understand the contributors generally create their own stories discuss them with the community and then work on them.
> 
> I had a few questions or doubts for the mentors I wanted to be cleared:
> Should new contributors first become familiar with the overall codebase before picking up issues or stories, so they can identify and report bugs themselves?
> or is it okay for beginners to be assigned existing open issues to get started?
> If getting familiar with the codebase is the preferred approach, would it be helpful for newcomers to contribute to documentation first (reviewing, improving, or adding documentation)? I feel that would help both us and future newcomers while we learn the project.
> 
> I was hoping to start working on some beginner issues, but most of the ones I found already have open PRs linked to them. In that case would it be appropriate to contribute by reviewing those PRs, testing them, or otherwise helping the existing contributors? or can we be assigned issues also but I fear the lack of identity within the community might come as an hindrance there.
> 
> I'd really appreciate any advice from the mentors. This is my first time working with Jira in an open-source project, so it's a bit intimidating 😅.