Contributing
Welcome to the lobster tank 🦞
OpenClaw is built by thousands of contributors. Every fix, feature, and doc improvement moves it forward. Whether it's your first pull request or your five-hundredth, here's how to jump in.
Where to start
Bugs & small fixesOpen a pull request directly. No ceremony needed.
New features or architectureStart a GitHub issue or ask in Discord first. Most features are better shipped as third-party plugins using the plugin SDK.
Refactor-only, or test/CI-only changesPlease don't open a PR unless a maintainer asked. These are closed automatically to keep review focused.
Questions & setup helpHead to Discord #help or #users-helping-users, not a GitHub issue.
Security vulnerabilitiesEmail security@openclaw.ai. Never file a public issue for a security report.
How we like pull requests
- Keep it focused. One thing per PR; don't mix unrelated concerns.
- Explain what & why. Fill out the PR template: what problem it solves, why, user impact, and evidence.
- Show your work. Include before/after screenshots for any UI change, plus tests, CI results, or logs as evidence.
- Test locally on Node 24 (22.19+ also works):
pnpm build && pnpm check && pnpm test. - Link the issue. Reference
Closes #123. For non-trivial or agent-authored work, file or reuse an issue first. - AI-assisted? Just mark it. PRs built with Codex, Claude, or other tools are first-class. Note it and confirm you understand the code.
- Own your review threads. Resolve bot review conversations once you've addressed them.
- 20 open PRs per author, max. Got a coordinated change set that needs more? Talk to maintainers in #clawtributors first.
- American English in code, comments, docs, and UI strings.
Join the clawtributors on Discord
The #clawtributors channel in our Discord is where coordinated work, maintainer questions, and larger change sets get sorted out. Hop in, say hi, and tell us what you want to build; it's the fastest way to get plugged in.
Want to maintain?
We expand the maintainer team slowly and deliberately. If you're an experienced contributor who wants to help shape OpenClaw through code, docs, or community, email contributing@openclaw.ai with links to your PRs, projects you maintain, and a short intro.