How to contribute

Contributions to Primer can take many different formats to align with your skills and available time.

There are several ways you can contribute to and participate in Primer:

  1. Participate in discussions
  2. Propose a new UI pattern
  3. Improve the documentation
  4. Design or build new patterns
  5. Give us feedback and report bugs
  6. Contribute to our open source repos

All contributions to Primer need to follow our code of conduct.

If at any time you get stuck or need help, head to #primer on Slack or start a discussion in github/primer with your question.

Please note that at this time, we are not looking for external contributions from non-GitHub staff. Some of the links included in these documents are only available to GitHub staff.

Participate in discussions

If you have a question, feedback or suggestion, you can start a new discussion (GitHub staff only), or have a look at existing ones.

Primer office hours are held once a week and anyone at GitHub can join, ask questions and participate in ongoing conversations. The office hours Zoom invite links are posted in Slack before the meeting starts.

Propose a new UI pattern

If you'd like to propose a new Primer pattern, big or small, let's talk! The best way to get started, especially if your proposal is in its early stages, is to start a new discussion (GitHub staff only).

If you're more certain about what you need, please open a pattern request issue (GitHub staff only). We will get back to you after our weekly backlog triaging session.

Improve the documentation

Documentation is a core part of Primer, and, just as design and code, we’re always trying to make it better and more useful. If you notice something missing, a typo, or have an idea of how the docs can be improved, please start a new discussion, or submit a pull request with a fix (you can do this directly via the “Edit this page on GitHub” link on the footer of docs pages).

Read the Primer guidelines for writing documentation.

Design or build new patterns

You can contribute to new patterns either by design, prototype and build proofs of concept, test in dotcom, or directly to our Primer open source repos.

Please read the guidelines on adding new components and designing Primer patterns.

Please read the guidelines on how to handle new patterns and designing Primer patterns.

From the Primer project board (GitHub staff only), you can grab anything from Unprioritized backlog and Up next — just reach out to us first in Slack or the issue itself.

Give us feedback and report bugs

If you spot something that doesn’t look right in our design, code or documentation, open an issue and we'll triage it accordingly.

Contribute to our open source repos

When contributing to Primer open source repos, please follow the repo's contributing guidelines: