A little preparation before Contributor Day can help us spend less time on setup and more time actually testing and contributing together!

Whether you are heading to an in-person Contributor Day this week—such as WordCamp Sylhet (Bangladesh) or WordCamp Rajasthan (Jaipur, India) or participating remotely from your desk, the Core Test Team welcomes you.

As celebrated in the recent Thank You to the WordPress 7.1 Test Contributors announcement, India (31 contributors) and Bangladesh (10 contributors) led the world as the top two countries in test contributions, making up nearly half of all testers globally. Now, with the WordPress 7.2 cycle underway, we are excited to carry that incredible momentum straight into our upcoming contributor tables!

And there is even more good news! 🎉

WordPress recently introduced the Contributor Day Toolkit Maintained By JuanMa Garrido, designed specifically to make getting started at Contributor Day easier and faster.

Before Contributor Day: Friction-Free Setup

Setting up a local WordPress development environment traditionally involves installing and configuring tools like Git, Node.js, npm, Docker, and SVN. For someone making their first contribution, that setup alone can take a significant amount of time.

To save time and venue Wi-Fi bandwidth, we recommend checking out these options ahead of time:

• WordPress Contributor Toolkit: Download the desktop app ahead of time. Check out the user guide to see how it gives you a complete WordPress core and Gutenberg environment with zero prerequisites.
• WordPress Playground: Prefer not to install anything? You can test tickets directly inside your web browser with zero setup.
• Accounts & Handbook: Make sure you have a free WordPress.org account and have joined Make WordPress Slack. Take a quick look at the Test Team Contributor Day Handbook.

Don’t worry if you cannot complete everything beforehand. That’s exactly what the table is there for! Experienced table leads and mentors will be there to help you get started, answer questions, and work through your first contribution together. 💪

What Can We Work on at the Test Table?

With the Roadmap to 7.2 now underway, our primary focus is testing upcoming features, reproducing bug reports, and verifying patches before they land in core.

The #core-test Slack channel publishes a Weekly Testing Digest every Monday highlighting current issues, PRs, and tickets that need testing. Here are direct opportunities waiting for testing:

• WordPress 7.2 Core Trac Tickets: Browse the Core Trac needs-testing queue to reproduce bug reports or verify patches.
• Gutenberg (Block Editor) Issues & PRs: Help test open Gutenberg Issues and test proposed fixes in Gutenberg Pull Requests.

When filing your feedback on tickets, you can refer to the handbook’s Issue Reproduction and Patch Testing templates, along with the Trac Keyword Triage Guide, to write clear, actionable reports.

Joining Remotely?

Can’t attend an event in person? You can still participate! Jump into the #core-test and #contributor-day channels on Make WordPress Slack anytime. Team reps and contributors will be active online to answer questions and collaborate with you.

Want to Stay Involved After Contributor Day?

Contributor Day can be your starting point, not the end! 🙂

• You can join the Test Team meetings every Thursday at 15:00 UTC in #core-test on Slack. The meetings rotate through the following schedule:
  • Team Voice Test Chat: 1st Thursday of each month at 15:00 UTC
  • Patch Testing Scrub: 2nd Thursday of each month at 15:00 UTC
  • Test Team Chat: 3rd Thursday of each month at 15:00 UTC
  • Patch Testing Scrub – Gutenberg: 4th Thursday of each month at 15:00 UTC
• Follow the Make WordPress Test blog for bi-weekly updates, calls for testing, and weekly digests to stay familiar with current priorities.

And Most Importantly…

You don’t need to be an experienced tester or developer to join the Test table.

Testing is one of the most rewarding ways to learn how WordPress works behind the scenes. Come with your laptop, your curiosity, and your questions—we’ll work through the rest together.

Looking forward to testing and contributing with you! 🚀

Props to @kjnanda for putting this post together, and @noruzzaman and @r1k0 for reviewing it.