# Documenting BTCPay Server

# Why documentation matters

Documentation is essential to give users of all skill levels concise and clear information about the software and how to use it. BTCPay server has many different use cases and as a result many different kinds of users seeking information from the documentation. Writers contributing to BTCPay Server are as important as any other contributor.

If you have technical knowledge in a certain area, want to help document new features or simply get involved in the BTCPay Server project, documentation is a great place to get started with contributing.

If you have writing skills or if you have a fair knowledge of the English language, then you can contribute to BTCPay Server or review the work of other contributors. Writing contributors can help in a number of places.

# BTCPay Documentation

Documentation work needing to be completed can be found in the open issues page (opens new window) on Github. For information on how to start a documentation task, see the documentation guide.

For documentation guidance or discussion of a new documentation idea, join the #documentation channel on Mattermost (opens new window).

# BTCPay Blog

Another great way to contribute is by writing content for the BTCPay blog. To get started on a blog topic, join the #content creation channel on Mattermost (opens new window).

# Requirements

In order to contribute to BTCPay Server as a writer there are some requirements.

Since most of the documentation done in BTCPay Server is submitted and reviewed through Github, you must have a Github account (opens new window). It's also on Github that you can contribute by reviewing the documentation work done by others (pull requests).

Important note: Contributions explained in this documentation are meant to be done in English only. If you wish to contribute in other languages, see Translations.

# Text Editor

It is recommended to have a Rich-Text editor.

Notepad++ (opens new window) is a decent software and easy to use for the newer contributors.

For more advanced users, Visual Studio Code (VS Code) (opens new window) is a good choice. The Markdown All In One extension in VS Code is also recommended, for visual comfort while editing and the ability to preview Markdown changes. This is helpful for the BTCPay documentation which is written primarily in Markdown.

These are only recommended: If you already use other similar software that you're accustomed to, you are free to continue using them.

# Version Control

To be able to manage your contributions (such as forking repositories, creating and working on branches, making pull requests and issues, etc.) it's recommended you have Github Desktop (opens new window). You can see the step by step guide to making a pull request using Github Desktop here.