The community around RIOT gathers many IoT developers and users from around

the world, from the industry, from academia, and hobbyists. The RIOT

community is open to everyone. To join and interact, you are invited to:

* join and post to the [forum](https://forum.riot-os.org/),

* post on [GitHub](https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pulls),

* connect and post to the [Matrix chat](https://matrix.to/#/#riot-os:matrix.org),

* join virtual or f2f [meetings](https://forum.riot-os.org/c/community/events).

The community self-organizes using the open processes described below.

Code contributions are very welcome. In order to streamline and harmonize code

quality, contributors must follow the [contributing guidelines](https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md).

Aside of code contributions, you can also contribute to RIOT on other aspects,

e.g. by actively participating in technical and non-technical discussions within

the community. Regular and interim virtual meetings are announced on the

[forum](https://forum.riot-os.org/c/community/events).

Among contributors, some have maintainer status, which consists in rights (merge rights)

and duties (code review duties).

Maintainers can propose to give maintainer status to contributors that have been

noticed as particularly active in some domain of RIOT. The decision to grant this

status is then taken via consensus among maintainers. If there is consensus on

granting the status to a particular contributor, a maintainer will contact personally

this contributor to propose the status, which the contributor can then accept

(or turn down).

We are constantly looking for more maintainers. So if you are up for that,

please start (or continue) contributing code and reviews!

To contact maintainers, the best is to interact over actual RIOT code on

[GitHub](https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/pulls).

Among contributors, some are also interested in discussing RIOT matters and

perspectives, beyond coding RIOT. In short, maintainers focus on technical

aspects, while coordinators focus on non-technical aspects of RIOT activity.

Of course, there is a strong overlap between maintainers and coordinators.

Coordinator status consists essentially in duties (bringing up topics, debates

and deal with the overhead). But sometimes, coordinator status does bring

some moral reward (e.g. when an initiative brings organizational improvements,

in the end ;).

Coordinators can propose to give coordinator status to contributors that have

been noticed as particularly active in this domain. The decision to grant this

status is then taken via consensus among coordinators. If there is consensus

on granting the status to a particular contributor, a coordinator will contact

personally this contributor to propose the status, which the contributor can

then accept (or turn down).

To contact coordinators, the best is to email the generic mailing list

Parts of the community are gathered in *Task Forces*, which provide a specific

venue focusing on a particular technical topic.

*Task Forces* are (typically short-lived) efforts to achieve a well-defined goal.

This goal might be either designing a concept and/or implementing such a concept

or improving the quality of a certain feature/property of RIOT.

Each Task Force consists of a small number of RIOT developers and has its own Wiki

page. One or two shepherds are identified per task force as the main contact(s)

for this activity.

**Creating a new Task Force**. If you wish to launch a new task force, go ahead,

create your wikipage, name your shepherd(s), and signal it on the forum. RIOT

maintainers will contact you in the rare case where duplicate or very closely-related

work has been detected elsewhere, and if joining forces might make sense.

**Life of a Task Force**. Shepherds and/or participants in a Task Force are invited

to now and then update their wikipage, report progress or summarize the latest stand

of your discussions on the forum. A shepherd-hood may be transferred from one person

to another person if everyone is happy about that.

**Dissolving an existing Task Force**. Dissolving an existing Task Force happens either

(i) as the shepherd(s) declare the TF has concluded, or declare the TF is abandoned, or

(ii) when the shepherds are unreachable, the TF has been dormant for a long time and

RIOT maintainers declare the TF dissolved.

More information about (active/concluded/archived) task forces can be found [here](https://github.com/RIOT-OS/RIOT/wiki/Task-Forces).