We’re delighted to see that you’re interested in joining Contributor Day at WordCamp US 2026!
When: Contributor Day is on Sunday, August 16, starting at 9:00 am, and ending at 5:00 pm.
Who can attend: Please sign up in advance via this form. All are welcome at WCUS 2026 Contributor Day, regardless of whether or not you are a ticketed WCUS attendee. Didn’t sign up? That’s ok, you can still come!
Below you can find all the information you need for a successful Contributor Day.
- What is Contributor Day?
- Why should I sign up?
- What can I expect?
- How can I contribute?
- How can I prepare for Contributor Day?
- Contributor Day Teams
- Sign Up for Contributor Day
What is Contributor Day?
This all-day hackathon and networking event is where new and existing contributors work together on various WordPress-specific projects. For folks new to contributing, it is a wonderful opportunity to visit with different teams, observe, and potentially begin contributing.
WordPress is created and maintained by people like you. You can make a difference, even in just one day. Contributor Day activities include translating, writing documentation, fixing bugs, testing, and so much more!
If this is your first time contributing, don’t worry! Read on so you’re prepared to make the most of the day. Contributor Day offers you an opportunity to learn how to contribute to WordPress, sharpen your skills by collaborating with other members of the community, get to know us a little more, and have an all-around great time. It’s a day of fun and connection, but you might still be asking yourself…
What is contributing?
Contributing to an open source project, like WordPress, means actively participating in its development, improvement, and maintenance. This can involve technical or non-technical tasks, such as:
Technical tasks
- Test and report bugs on the WordPress core software, themes, and plugins
- Write and submit patches for bug fixes or new features to WordPress core or plugins
- Design or develop a WordPress theme or plugin and share it on WordPress.org
- Work on the WordPress mobile apps – contribute to the code, improve the UX and tests
Non-technical tasks
- Write or improve documentation for WordPress
- Help translate WordPress into your local language – you can translate documents, videos (and/or add subtitles), for example
- Participate in the WordPress support forums and help other users solve problems
- Help, create or improve the WordPress lesson plans and related materials for instructors
- Contribute to promoting WordPress
- Take photos for the Openverse and/or help curate these
- Organize or participate in local WordPress meetups and WordCamps
… as well many, many more ways to contribute! Head over to make.wordpress.org to learn more about the various teams and what they do.
Why should I sign up?
The reasons are countless, but here are a few:
If you use (and love!) WordPress like we do, you know it relies on each and every contribution to be the awesome tool that powers over 40% of the web. The number one reason to sign up and bring your best is because without contributors like you, WordPress wouldn’t be what it is today.
But there’s more, of course! You also get to:
- Meet other contributors, make new friends, and expand your professional network
- Use your skills for good and learn (or test out) new skills.
- Have an amazing time – get energized by the buzz of the contributor community!
What can I expect?
Overall, you can expect to have a great day while helping make your favorite open-source software even better. More specifically:
- You can expect a lot of buzz in the rooms. Contributor Days are known to be dynamic events, with energy flowing in all directions!
- You can expect some solid guidance to help you bring out your absolute best!
- You can also expect a variety of options to contribute – and all the flexibility you need. If you want to contribute with your strengths – that’s great! If you’d rather pursue a new interest – also great. You can even move around to different teams during the event!
How can I contribute?
There are two ways to connect. You can contribute in person (if you’re joining the event in Phoenix) or remotely.
Contributing in person
If you’re joining us in person, thank you for stepping up to bring your best to the table, literally! We’re all committed to making sure you have a great event – here’s all you need to know:
- Location: Phoenix Convention Center, Phoenix, AZ.
- Date: Sunday, August 16, 9:00 am-5:00 pm MST
Please keep in mind that in order to attend and participate in WordCamp US Contributor Day, you need to sign up via the form below.
Schedule
- 8:00 am – Registration opens
- 9:00 am – Doors open
- 9:30 am – Opening remarks & team intros
- 10:00 am – Find your team & start contributions
- 11:45 am – Group photo
- 12:00 pm – Lunch
- 1:30 pm – Teams resume
- 3:00 pm – Afternoon coffee break
- 4:30 pm – Team summaries and wrap-up
- 5:00 pm – Contributor Day ends
Please plan to arrive a few minutes before before the designated start time.
Contributing remotely
Thank you for joining us even though you cannot make it to Contributor Day in-person!
- Location: Join us in the #contributor-day Slack channel. Once there, you can join the channel for the team(s) you plan to join. We’ll have someone there to guide you throughout the day!
- Date: Sunday, August 16, 9:00 am-5:00 pm MST
Schedule
- 9:00 am – Welcome on Slack channel
- 10:15 am – Meet with the teams on their own channels
- 11:30 – Group photo
- 12:00 – 2:00 pm – Lunch break
- 2:00 – 4:30 pm – Further contributing
How can I prepare for Contributor Day?
- Sign up for a wordpress.org account. This account can be used for all contributing activities. Learn WordPress has a helpful guide to get started.
- Create a gravatar.com account. If you’d like to use an image/avatar on your WordPress Profile go to gravatar.com and create an account using the same email.
- Join the international Make WordPress Slack team.
- For this you need an invitation: While logged in with your wordpress.org account, visit the WordPress + Slack page and click the button to “Login to Slack as @yourname”
- Follow the prompts to set up your Slack account.
- Search for the #contributor-day channel.
- If you’d like, you can also download the Slack app.
- Please Note: If you plan to contribute to the core, design, or meta teams, you’ll likely need to set up a local development server. We recommend Docker. These setup instructions will walk you through how to set that up. If you’re not able to get this working on your own, someone can help during the day.
- Get ready to plug in!
Contributor Day Teams
When you sign up for Contributor Day, you’ll be able to pick your team. Or you can decide later, even during Contributor Day itself.
Check out https://make.wordpress.org/contribute/ to help decide which team might be a good fit for you!
Accessibility
The a11y group provides accessibility expertise across the project. Join this table to help make WordPress and all our resources accessible. This is for you if you’re passionate (or even just interested) in accessibility.
Contribute to Accessibility
Community
Join this table if you’re interested in organizing a meetup or a WordCamp. There are groups working to support events, create outreach and training programs, and generally support the community.
Contribute to the Community team
Core
The core team contributes to the background code for WordPress. Join this table to write new code, update existing code, or even fix bugs. This is for you if you know PHP, HTML, JavaScript, or CSS – there are tasks for all levels.
Contribute to Core
The WordPress Core Performance Team is dedicated to monitoring, enhancing, and promoting performance in WordPress core and its surrounding ecosystem.
The purpose of the WordPress Coding Standards is to create a baseline for collaboration and review within various aspects of the WordPress open source project and community, from core code to themes to plugins.
Contribute to Core
Core AI
The Core AI Team coordinates and accelerates AI efforts across the project, focusing on responsible innovation that aligns with WordPress values. We use a plugin-first approach to explore AI-powered features, share a public roadmap, and collaborate with other teams.
Contribute to Core AI
Education
The Education team creates clear, accessible pathways into the open source ecosystem, helping learners turn their knowledge into practice, discover their strengths, and understand how their contributions can make a real impact.Through hands-on programs and supportive communities, we empower people to grow new skills and take their first steps as contributors to the WordPress ecosystem.
More info
GatherPress
GatherPress is a community-driven project designed to meet the diverse needs of event organizers within the WordPress ecosystem. It provides a comprehensive event management tool that integrates seamlessly with WordPress and BuddyPress. The project is open-source, encouraging contributions from the community to improve and expand its features.
Learn more about GatherPress
Hosting
The Hosting team works to improve WordPress’ end-user experience across hosting environments. Join this table if you’d like to help out making sure WordPress works well on the most diverse sets of hosting stacks.
Contribute to Hosting
Meta
The Meta team makes the WordPress.org site, provides support, and builds tools for use by all the contributor groups. Join this table if you want to help make WordPress.org better.
Contribute to Meta
Photos
The Photo Directory team moderates every photo submitted to the WordPress Photo Directory. Join this table to work on improving the directory itself, and provide resources and documentation to educate, encourage, and facilitate photo contributors.
Photo Directory blog
Photos FAQ
Test
The Test Team works to improve WordPress quality and usability by advancing the development process through manual and automated testing. Whether through a browser, app, terminal, or code, the team focuses on testing across the entire WordPress ecosystem, including Core and Gutenberg, mobile apps and themes, and feature plugins and importers.
Contribute to the Test team
WordPress Playground
WordPress Playground is an experimental project that brings WordPress to the browser without requiring a server. It allows users to test plugins, themes, and core updates in a lightweight, browser-based environment, making it easier to experiment with and learn WordPress.
Learn more about WordPress Playground
WordPress TV
The TV team reviews and approves every video submitted to WordPress.tv. They also help WordCamps with video post-production and are responsible for the captioning and subtitling of published videos. Reviewing videos is a great way to learn about WordPress and help the community: experience is not required to get involved.
Learn more about WordPress TV
Connector Table
Don’t see your table? Come to the Connector Table. Contributor Day has 13 groups set up, but WordPress runs on far more than 13 teams. If you already contribute somewhere that isn’t on the list, or you’re brand new and not sure where to start, this is your table. Tell us what you work on or what you’re curious about, and we’ll connect you to the right people, help you take a first step, or get you set up at a table of your own. Experienced or first-timer, there’s a place for you here.
Areas you can still contribute to from the Connector Table:
- Documentation – write and improve the docs that help everyone use WordPress
- Support – answer questions and help users in the forums
- Themes – review and support themes in the directory
- Plugins – review and support plugins in the directory
- Polyglots – translate WordPress into the world’s languages
- Training – build lessons and workshops for Learn WordPress
- WP-CLI – work on the command-line tools for WordPress
- Openverse – improve the search engine for openly licensed media
- WordPress.tv – curate and caption WordPress videos and talks
