# Contributing is about more than code

> Open Source is at the very heart of The Things Network, literally. You can fork the software that powers our community network, run it yourself and contribute i

- Type: Global update from The Things Network
- Author: Fokke Zandbergen
- Published: 2016-10-05
- Updated: 2026-10-06
- Web page: https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/article/contributing-is-about-more-than-code

Open Source is at the very heart of The Things Network, literally. You can [fork the software](https://github.com/thethingsnetwork/ttn) that powers our community network, run it yourself and contribute improvements. We're working on further decentralizing the micro services it consists off so that you can even mix and match, e.g. run your own handler to decrypt and publish messages.

## Documentation

Recently, we started an [official documentation site](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/docs) and this as well is [fully open source](https://github.com/thethingsnetwork/docs). So even if [Go](https://golang.org/) is not your thing or you rather focus on _using_ than _building_ The Things Network, you too can contribute. If you see a typo or thought of a better way to explain something, we'd love to accept your pull request. The content is all in [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) and you can simply [edit directly on GitHub](https://help.github.com/articles/editing-files-in-another-user-s-repository/) - no nerdy CLI and git kungfu required. If you do like to make more extensive changes or maybe tweak the design, it is very easy to [run the site locally](https://github.com/theThingsNetwork/docs#build-local-for-preview-and-design).

![file](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/media/article/screenshot_d7BWiAc.png)

## Support

Another area where you can contribute without code is by helping out others on [Slack](http://slack.thethingsnetwork.org/) and the [forum](https://www.thethingsnetwork.org/forum/). The forum is also where we frequently ask for you input on new ideas and improvements. We value your opinion and we know for a fact that people really appreciate a helping hand as well.

## A note on the CLA agreement

We recently automated signing a simple CLA agreement before we can accept your first contribution. We do this to settle copyright issues to make sure that your contributions don't limit our open source commitment. Standard stuff, made easy.

## Let's build this thing together!

We look forward to welcome you as contributor, in any way.