# Contributing to LAMMPS via GitHub

Thank your for considering to contribute to the LAMMPS software project.

The following is a set of guidelines as well as explanations of policies and workflows for contributing to the LAMMPS molecular dynamics software project. These guidelines focus on submitting issues or pull requests on the LAMMPS GitHub project.

Thus please also have a look at:
[The Section on submitting new features for inclusion in LAMMPS of the Manual](http://lammps.sandia.gov/doc/Section_modify.html#mod-15)
[The LAMMPS GitHub Tutorial in the Manual](http://lammps.sandia.gov/doc/tutorial_github.html)

## Table of Contents

[I don't want to read this whole thing, I just have a question!](#i-dont-want-to-read-this-whole-thing-i-just-have-a-question)

[How Can I Contribute?](#how-can-i-contribute)
    * [Discussing How To Use LAMMPS](#discussing-how-to-use-lammps)
    * [Reporting Bugs](#reporting-bugs)
    * [Suggesting Enhancements](#suggesting-enhancements)
    * [Contributing Code](#contributing-code)

[GitHub Workflows](#github-workflows)
    * [Issues](#issues)
    * [Pull Requests](#pull-requests)

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## I don't want to read this whole thing I just have a question!

> **Note:** Please do not file an issue to ask a question about how to use LAMMPS or a specific feature in LAMMPS. Instead post your question to the ['lammps-users' mailing list](http://lammps.sandia.gov/mail.html). You do not need to be subscribed to post to the list (but a mailing list subscription avoids having your post held back until your post is approved by a mailing list moderator). Most posts to the mailing list receive a response within less than 24 hours. Before posting to the mailing list, please read the [mailing list guidelines](http://lammps.sandia.gov/guidelines.html). Following those guidelines will help greatly to get a helpful response. Always mention which LAMMPS version you are using.

## How Can I Contribute?

There are several ways how you can actively contribute to the LAMMPS project: you can discuss compiling and using LAMMPS, and solving LAMMPS related problems with other LAMMPS users on the lammps-users mailing list, you can report bugs or suggest enhancements by creating issues on GitHub (or posting them to the lammps-users mailing list), and you can contribute by submitting pull requests on GitHub or e-mail your code
to one of the [LAMMPS core developers](http://lammps.sandia.gov/authors.html). As you may see from the aforementioned developer page, the LAMMPS software package includes the efforts of a very large number of contributors beyond the principal authors and maintainers.

### Discussing How To Use LAMMPS

The LAMMPS mailing list is hosted at SourceForge. The mailing list began in 2005, and now includes tens of thousands of messages in thousands of threads. LAMMPS developers try to respond to posted questions in a timely manner, but there are no guarantees. Please consider that people live in different timezone and may not have time to answer e-mails outside of their work hours.
You can post to list by sending your email to lammps-users at lists.sourceforge.net (no subscription required), but before posting, please read the [mailing list guidelines](http://lammps.sandia.gov/guidelines.html) to maximize your chances to receive a helpful response.

Anyone can browse/search previous questions/answers in the archives.
You do not have to subscribe to the list to post Qs, receive answers (to your Qs), or browse/search the archives. You **do** need to subscribe to the list if you want emails for **all** the posts (per-message or in digest form), or to answer Qs yourself. Feel free to sign up and help us out!
If you post a message and you are a subscriber, your message will appear immediately. If you are not a subscriber, your message will be moderated, which typically takes one business day. Either way, when someone replies you will receive that reply as a personal email, and the reply will appear on the list in the new thread your message started. Posting a message sends email to subscribers immediately, but it can take a few hours for postings and replies to show up in the SourceForge archive.

### Reporting Bugs

### Suggesting Enhancements

### Contributing Code

## GitHub Workflows

### Issues

### Pull Requests