# Participate in OpenMQTTGateway

OpenMQTTGateway is community-driven: every feature, bug fix, and doc improvement comes from contributors like you. Whether you want to add support for a new sensor, fix a bug, improve documentation, or just help others—there's a place for you here.

## Choose your path

### 🚀 New to the project? Start here
[**Quick Start Guide**](./quick_start.md) walks you through setting up your development environment, building firmware, and previewing the docs. It covers PlatformIO, VS Code, terminal workflows, and troubleshooting. Perfect if you're new to ESP32/ESP8266 development or just want to get your hands dirty quickly.

**What you'll learn:** Installing tools · Building firmware · Flashing boards · Running tests · Working with the docs

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### 💻 Ready to contribute code?
[**Development Contributions**](./development.md) covers the contribution workflow: naming conventions, code quality checks, testing on multiple boards, and opening pull requests. This is your checklist before submitting code.

**What you'll find:** PR workflow · Naming rules (ZgatewayXXX, ZsensorYYY) · QA automation · DCO · CI/CD integration

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### 🔌 Adding a new protocol or device?
[**Adding Protocols**](./adding-protocols.md) explains how to integrate RF, IR, or BLE devices. Most protocol work happens upstream (RCSwitch, Pilight, IRRemoteESP8266, Theengs Decoder), and this guide shows you how to wire it into OMG.

**What you'll learn:** Upstream contribution · Protocol integration · Testing decoders · Payload validation

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### 💬 Join the community
[**Community Participation**](./community.md) is where you ask questions, share your projects, and help others. The forum is the first stop for feature requests, debugging help, and general IoT/home automation discussion.

**What you can do:** Ask questions · Share builds · Propose features · Help newcomers

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### ❤️ Support the project
[**Supporting the Project**](./support.md) lists all the ways you can help beyond code: answering forum questions, improving docs, purchasing Theengs products, sponsoring developers, or creating content about your OMG setup.

**How you can help:** Forum support · Documentation · Sponsorship · Content creation

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::: tip Not sure where to start?
- **First time here?** → [Quick Start](./quick_start.md)
- **Have a fix or feature ready?** → [Development contributions](./development.md)
- **Need help or want to discuss?** → [Community](./community.md)
:::