# Zulip overview

Zulip is a powerful, open source group chat application that combines the
immediacy of real-time chat with the productivity benefits of threaded
conversations. Zulip is used by open source projects, Fortune 500 companies,
large standards bodies, and others who need a real-time chat system that
allows users to easily process hundreds or thousands of messages a day. With
over 300 contributors merging over 500 commits a month, Zulip is also the
largest and fastest growing open source group chat project.

[![Build Status](https://travis-ci.org/zulip/zulip.svg?branch=master)](https://travis-ci.org/zulip/zulip)
[![Coverage Status](https://img.shields.io/codecov/c/github/zulip/zulip.svg)](https://codecov.io/gh/zulip/zulip)
[![Mypy coverage](https://img.shields.io/badge/mypy-100%25-green.svg)](http://blog.zulip.org/2016/10/13/static-types-in-python-oh-mypy/)
[![docs](https://readthedocs.org/projects/zulip/badge/?version=latest)](http://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)
[![Zulip chat](https://img.shields.io/badge/zulip-join_chat-brightgreen.svg)](https://chat.zulip.org)
[![Twitter](https://img.shields.io/badge/twitter-@zulip-blue.svg?style=flat)](http://twitter.com/zulip)

## Next steps

Click on the appropriate link below. If nothing seems to apply,
join us on the
[Zulip community server](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/chat-zulip-org.html)
and tell us what's up!

I am interested in:

* **Contributing code**. Check out our
  [guide for new contributors](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing.html)
  to get started. Zulip prides itself on maintaining a clean and well-tested
  codebase, and a stock of hundreds of
  [beginner-friendly issues](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22good+first+issue%22).

* **Contributing non-code**.
  [Report an issue](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing.html#reporting-issue),
  [translate](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/translating.html) Zulip
  into your language,
  [write](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing.html#zulip-outreach)
  for the Zulip blog, or
  [give us feedback](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing.html#user-feedback). We
  would love to hear from you, even if you're just trying the product out.

* **Supporting Zulip**. Advocate for your organization to use Zulip, write a
  review in the mobile app stores, or
  [upvote Zulip](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing.html#zulip-outreach) on
  product comparison sites.

* **Checking Zulip out**. The best way to see Zulip in action is to drop by
  the
  [Zulip community server](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/chat-zulip-org.html). We
  also recommend reading Zulip for
  [open source](https://zulipchat.com/for/open-source/), Zulip for
  [companies](https://zulipchat.com/for/companies/), or Zulip for
  [working groups and part time communities](https://zulipchat.com/for/working-groups-and-communities/).

* **Running a Zulip server**. Setting up a server takes just a couple of
  minutes. Zulip runs on Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial and Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty. The
  installation process is
  [documented here](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/prod.html).
  Commercial support is available; see <https://zulipchat.com/plans> for
  details.

* **Using Zulip without setting up a server**. <https://zulipchat.com> offers
  free and commercial hosting.

* **Applying for a Zulip internship**. Zulip runs internship programs with
  [Outreachy](https://www.outreachy.org/),
  [Google Summer of Code](https://developers.google.com/open-source/gsoc/),
  and the
  [MIT Externship program](https://alum.mit.edu/students/NetworkwithAlumni/ExternshipProgram),
  and also takes summer interns from Harvard, MIT, and Stanford.  More
  information is available
  [here](https://zulip.readthedocs.io/en/latest/contributing.html#internship-programs).

You may also be interested in reading our [blog](http://blog.zulip.org/) or
following us on [twitter](https://twitter.com/zulip).

## License

Copyright 2011-2017 Dropbox, Inc., Kandra Labs, Inc., and contributors

Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
You may obtain a copy of the License at

    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0

Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
limitations under the License.

The software includes some works released by third parties under other
free and open source licenses. Those works are redistributed under the
license terms under which the works were received. For more details,
see the ``docs/THIRDPARTY`` file included with this distribution.