How to Contribute

Your first steps into the open automotive software platform.

This page helps individuals and organisations begin their journey within the Eclipse SDV ecosystem. It provides essential information on how the community works, where to find documentation, how to contribute to projects and how to engage with working groups and technical discussions. Whether you are an engineer, a strategist, or a decision maker, this guide ensures a smooth and confident entry into the open technology platform shaping the future of automotive software.

How to get started

01. Create an Eclipse account

To participate in Eclipse Foundation projects, begin by creating an Eclipse account. This account will give you access to issue tracking, mailing lists, and contributor agreements. Please link your GitHub account as well, otherwise your contributions cannot be merged.

02. Sign the Eclipse Contributor Agreement (ECA)

Before submitting any contributions to Eclipse projects, you must sign the Eclipse Contributor Agreement (ECA).

Full details and the agreement can be found here: https://www.eclipse.org/legal/eca/

The ECA ensures that you have the legal rights to contribute and that your contributions align with project licensing terms.

03. Explore the SDV projects

Find all our Eclipse SDV Projects here: http://sdv.eclipse.org/projects/

The Top Level Project Automotive is maybe also interesting for you: https://projects.eclipse.org/
projects/automotive

And if you like to explore all Eclipse Foundation Projects, you find them here: https://projects.eclipse.org/

First issues & best practices

Projects often tag beginner-friendly tasks with labels such as good first issue, help wanted, or beginner. Pick an issue that fits your skills or interests, then leave a comment to let project maintainers know you’re working on it. 

Here is a real live example from Eclipse ThreadX: https://github.com/orgs/eclipse-threadx/projects/2/views/2?filterQuery=label%3A%22good
+first+issue%22

And here you can find a second example from Eclipse Ankaios: https://github.com/orgs/eclipse-ankaios/projects/1/views/10

First Issues & Best Practices

Projects often tag beginner-friendly tasks with labels such as good first issue, help wanted, or beginner. Pick an issue that fits your skills or interests, then leave a comment to let project maintainers know you’re working on it. 

Here is a real live example from Eclipse ThreadX: https://github.com/orgs/eclipse-threadx/projects/2/views/2?filterQuery=label%3A%22good+first+issue%22
And here you can find a second example from Eclipse Ankaios: https://github.com/orgs/eclipse-ankaios/projects/1/views/10

Contribution workflow

This is a typical workflow in open source collaboration, but please be aware that individual projects may have different contribution rules. Always check the CONTRIBUTING.md file in the project you wish to contribute to.

Important: Your ECA is checked against your Eclipse user identity. Please ensure that your GitHub user is linked to your Eclipse account; otherwise the project CI pipeline will fail.
Here is a example of a Project Contribution Guide:
https://github.com/eclipse-ankaios/ankaios/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md

1. Fork the repository and clone your fork locally.

2. Create a feature branch for your changes.

3. Write clean, well-tested code following project conventions.

4. Commit with a descriptive message.

5. Push your branch to your fork.

6. Open a Pull Request (PR) against the project’s main repo.

7. Open a Pull Request (PR) against the project’s main repo.

Best practices

Keep PRs focused and small – one logical change per PR.
Write clear documentation and comments.
Follow the project’s coding style and guidelines.
Be responsive and respectful during code reviews.
Ask questions early if something is unclear—communication is key.
Familiarise yourself with the legal/IP sections in the handbook so you understand how contributions get handled. (See the IP/Project-Content section of the handbook) Eclipse Foundation Handbook

If you follow these steps, you’ll be well on your way to becoming an active contributor in the Eclipse open source ecosystem. Welcome aboard!

Project organisations, repository structures, and tools

All Eclipse Foundation projects are organised as their own organisations within GitHub.
For GitLab you will find a similar setup. All GitHub organisations are configured by Otterdog.
If you would like to get an overview of all projects and their status, you can find the Otterdog dashboard here: https://otterdog.eclipse.org/index

Repository layout

While each project varies, most Eclipse repos follow a similar structure:

README.md — Overview and quick-start instructions.
CONTRIBUTING.md — Contribution guidelines.
/src — Source code.
/docs — Project documentation.
/tests — Automated tests.
/examples — Code examples or sample configurations.

Tools you will use

Git & GitHub — For version control and code reviews.
Issue Tracker (GitHub Issues / etc) — To track bugs and enhancements.
Build Tools — Such as Maven, Gradle, Tycho (depending on the project).
CI/CD Systems — GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or other pipelines for builds/tests.
IDE / Editor — e.g., Eclipse IDE or VS Code depending on the project.

Development environment setup

Follow the project’s setup guide to install dependencies, import the project, and run builds/tests locally before contributing. Read the Readme and website of the Project carefully!
Here you find a example: https://eclipse-ankaios.github.io/ankaios/latest/

Your first steps into the open automotive software platform.