Contributing

There are many ways you can contribute to Fider.

• Send us a Pull Request on GitHub. Make sure you read our Getting Started guide to learn how to setup the development environment;
• Translate Fider to your language. See our translation guide to learn how to add a new language;
• Report issues and bug reports on https://github.com/getfider/fider/issues;
• Give feedback and vote on features you'd like to see at https://feedback.fider.io;
• Spread the word by starring us on GitHub. Tweet about the project and show it to your friends. The more people know about Fider, the bigger the community will be and more contributions will be made;
• Support us financially by donating any amount to our OpenCollective and help us continue our activities;

Before you build a new feature

We love contributions, but please help us keep them reviewable and maintainable. Before writing code for a new feature:

• Features start as a suggestion on https://feedback.fider.io, where the community can discuss and vote on them. This helps us gauge whether a change is valuable to other users.
• Once a suggestion has enough discussion and support, open a GitHub Issue referencing it and wait for a maintainer to confirm it's accepted onto the roadmap before you start building.
• Bug fixes and small technical improvements don't need a feedback suggestion — an issue is still appreciated so we know what you're working on.
• Pull Requests for features that weren't discussed and accepted may be closed. This isn't anti-AI — it's about reviewer burden and the long-term maintainability of Fider. See discussion #1529 for the full reasoning.

Getting started with Fider codebase

Before start working on something that you intend to send a Pull Request, make sure there's an GitHub Issue open for that or create one yourself. If it's a new feature you're working on, please share your high level thoughts on the ticket so we can agree on a solution that aligns with the overall architecture and future of Fider.

If you have any question or need help, leave a comment on the issue and we'll do our best to help you out.

Fider is written in Go (backend) and TypeScript (frontend), but we also use things like Node.js, React and PostgreSQL. If you know these technologies or would like to learn them, lucky you! This is the right place!

1. Install the following tools:

Software	How to install	What is it used for
Go 1.22+	https://golang.org/	To compile server side code
Node.js 22+	https://nodejs.org/ or run nvm use if you have nvm installed	To compile TypeScript and bundle all the client side code
Docker	https://www.docker.com/	To start local PostgreSQL instances

2. To setup your development workspace:

1. clone the repository.
2. navigate into the cloned repository.
3. run go install github.com/cosmtrek/air to install air, a cli tool for live reload, when you change the code, it automatically recompiles the application.
4. run go install github.com/joho/godotenv/cmd/godotenv to install godotenv, a cli tool to load environment variables from a .env so that you don't have to change your machine environment variables.
5. run go install github.com/golangci/golangci-lint/cmd/golangci-lint@v1.59.1 to install golangci-lint, a linter for Go apps.
6. run npm install to install client side packages.
7. run docker compose up -d to start a local PostgreSQL database and Local SMTP (with MailHog) on Docker.
8. run cp .example.env .env to create a local environment configuration file.

• Important: Fider has a strong dependency on an email delivery service. For easier local development, the docker-compose file already provides a fake SMTP server running at port 1025 and a UI (to check sent emails) at http://localhost:8025. The .example.env is already configured to use it. If you want to, you can edit .env file and configure the EMAIL_* environment variables with your own SMTP server details. If you don't have an SMTP server, you can either sign up for a Mailgun account (it's Free) or sign up for a Mailtrap account, which is a free SMTP mocking server. If you prefer not to setup an email service, keep an eye on the server logs. Sometimes it's necessary to navigate to some URLs that are only sent by email, but are also written to the logs.

3. To start the application

1. run make watch to start both the server and ui on watch mode. The application will be reloaded every time a file is changed. Alternatively, it's also possible to start Fider by running make build and make run.
2. Navigate to http://localhost:3000/ and 🎉! You should see the sign up page of Fider!

4. To run the unit tests:

1. run make test to run both UI and Server unit tests.