zulip/docs/outreach/gsoc.md

# GSoC project ideas

This page describes ideas you can use as a starting point for your project
proposal. If you have not done so yet, you should **start by reading our [guide on
how to apply](./apply.md)** to a Zulip outreach program. As noted in the guide:

> Your first priority during the contribution period should be figuring out how
> to become an effective Zulip contributor. Start developing your project proposal
> only once you have experience with iterating on your PRs to get them ready for
> integration. That way, you'll have a much better idea of what you want to work
> on and how much you can accomplish.

## Project size

GSoC offers two project size options: 175 hours and 350 hours. We have
designed all our projects to have incremental milestones that can be
completed throughout the program. Consequently, Zulip projects
described below are generally compatible with either project size. Of
course, the amount of progress you will be expected to make depends on
whether you are doing a 175-hour or 350-hour project.

It's also important to understand that how much progress one can
accomplish over the course of the summer is as much a function of the
project as of the contributor. Contributors who learn to consistently
package their work into [reviewable pull
requests](../contributing/reviewable-prs.md) tend to accomplish the
most during GSoC.

## Focus areas

For 2023, we are particularly interested in GSoC contributors who have
strong skills at full-stack feature development, Typescript, visual design,
HTML/CSS, or performance optimization. So if you're an applicant with
those skills and are looking for an organization to join, we'd love to
talk to you!

The Zulip project has a huge surface area, so even when we're focused
on something, a large amount of essential work goes into other parts of
the project. Every area of Zulip could benefit from the work of a
contributor with strong programming skills, so don't feel discouraged if
the areas mentioned above are not your main strength.

## Project ideas by area

This section contains the seeds of project ideas; you will need to do research
on the Zulip codebase, read issues on GitHub, read documentation, and talk with
developers to put together a complete project proposal. It's also fine to come
up with your own project ideas. As you'll see below, you can put together a
great project around one of the [area
labels](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/labels) on GitHub; each has a cluster of
problems in one part of the Zulip project that we'd love to improve.

### Full stack and web frontend focused projects

Code: [github.com/zulip/zulip](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/) -- Python,
Django, JavaScript, and CSS.

- Contribute to Zulip's [**migration to user groups for
  permissions**][user-group-permissions]. This migration is intended to replace
  every setting in Zulip that currently allows organizations to assign
  permissions based on role (admin, moderator, etc.) with a setting based on
  arbitrary "user groups", making it much more customizable. This is very
  important for large organizations using Zulip, including businesses and
  open-source projects. Much of the basic design, API structure, and scaffolding
  is complete, but there is a lot of work that remains to complete this vision.
  The project can likely support a couple students; there is considerable work
  to be done on the settings UI, both for user groups and for stream and
  organization-level settings, dozens of existing settings to migrate, and [many
  new settings][organization-settings-label] that users have long requested that
  we've delayed adding in order to avoid having to migrate them. 175 or 350
  hours; moderate difficulty. **Skills required**: Python, JavaScript, and CSS.
  Attention to detail around code reuse/duplication, thoughtful testing, and
  splitting large migrations into reviewable chunks.

  Experts: Purushottam Tiwari, Sahil Batra

[user-group-permissions]: https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues/19525
[organization-settings-label]: https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22area%3A+settings+%28admin%2Forg%29%22

- Help **migrate our JavaScript codebase to Typescript**. Zulip is in the process of
  porting the main web app JavaScript codebase to TypeScript; at present we've
  done much of the necessary tooling setup, and about 8% of lines have been
  migrated (mostly in libraries used widely); the goal for this project will be
  to get that to ~75%. [This topic in the Zulip development
  community][typescript-migration] is a good place to coordinate work on this
  project. Multiple students are possible; 175 or 350 hours; difficult.
  **Skills required**: TypeScript and refactoring expertise; we're specifically
  interested in students who are a type theory nerd and are invested in writing
  types precisely and checking their work carefully.

  Experts: Zixuan James Li, Priyank Patel, Anders Kaseorg

[typescript-migration]: https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/stream/6-frontend/topic/typescript.20migration

- **Add an Inbox view** to the web app. We intend to add a new
  home screen option for the Zulip web application that works like
  the mobile app's home screen -- showing just topics containing
  unread messages, in an organized fashion, in the web app's center
  pane. Details are available in the
  [issue](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues/22189) and a [draft pull
  request](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/pull/22408) with prototyping
  towards this was done in GSoC 2022. The goal for this project would be
  to extract preparatory refactoring changes to make it nicely
  parallel to the similar "Recent conversations" panel so that it can be
  merged in a maintainable fashion, work with the community to
  integrate those changes, complete the Inbox feature through being
  merged, and then spend the remainder of the summer polishing it. 175
  or 350 hours; moderate difficulty. **Skills required**: JavaScript,
  CSS, and reading and understanding a complex code path.

  Experts: Aman Agrawal, Shlok Patel

- **Extended notification settings**. Extend Zulip's powerful
  notification settings model to support additional configuration
  options. The top priorities in this area are [unmuting topics in
  muted streams](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues/2517) and
  [following a topic](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues/6027);
  these are two of the 5 most requested features for the Zulip project
  overall. For this project, one will likely want to start with some
  simpler issues in the [notifications (messages)
  area][notifications-messages] in order to get familiarity with the
  code paths in question. There is enough to do in this project that
  we could have two students working in this area. 175 or 350 hours;
  moderate difficulty. **Skills required**: Python and JavaScript,
  with a bit of CSS, database design, and other aspects of full-stack
  feature development. Attention to detail, thinking through subtle
  corner cases, designing good abstractions to help ensure
  correctness, and writing tests to verify correct behavior in them
  will be important for this work.

  Experts: Abhijeet Bodas, Ryan Rehman

[notifications-messages]: https://github.com/zulip/zulip/labels/area%3A%20notifications%20%28messages%29

- **Cluster of priority features**. Implement a cluster of new full
  stack features for Zulip. The [high priority
  label](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3A%22priority%3A+high%22)
  documents hundreds of issues that we've identified as important to
  the project. A great project can be 3-5 significant features around
  a theme (often, but not necessarily, an [area
  label](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/labels); the goal will be to
  implement and get fully merged a cluster of features with a
  meaningful impact on the project. Zulip has a lot of half-finished
  PRs, so some features might be completed by reading, understanding,
  rebasing, and reviving an existing pull request. 175 or 350
  hours; difficulty will vary. **Skills required**: Depends on the
  features; Tim Abbott will help you select an appropriate cluster
  once we've gotten to know you and your strengths through your getting
  involved in the project.

  Experts: it depends

- Zulip's [**REST API documentation**](https://zulip.com/api), which is an
  important resource for any organization integrating with Zulip, as
  well as the developers of our API clients. Zulip has a [nice
  framework](../documentation/api.md) for writing API documentation
  built by past GSoC students based on the OpenAPI standard with
  built-in automated tests of the data both the Python and curl
  examples. However, the documentation isn't yet what we're hoping
  for: there are a few dozen endpoints that are missing, several of
  which are quite important, the visual design isn't perfect
  (especially for, e.g., `GET /events`), many templates could be deleted
  with a bit of framework effort, etc. See the [API docs area
  label][api-docs-area] for some specific projects in the area; and
  `git grep pending_endpoints` to find the list of endpoints that need
  documentation and their priorities. Our goal for the summer is for
  1-2 students to resolve all open issues related to the REST API
  documentation. 175 or 350 hours; difficulty easy or medium. **Skills
  required**: Python programming. Expertise with reading documentation
  and English writing are valuable, and product thinking about the
  experience of using third-party APIs is very helpful.

  Expert: Lauryn Menard

[api-docs-area]: https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22area%3A+documentation+%28api+and+integrations%29%22

- **Improve the UI and visual design** of the Zulip web app. We are working on a
  major redesign for the core surfaces of the Zulip web app -- see the [redesign
  label][redesign-label] for specced out work, with more to come. We're
  particularly excited about students who are interested in making our CSS clean
  and readable as part of working on the UI. 175 or 350 hours; medium to
  difficult. **Skills required**: Design, HTML and CSS skills; most important is
  the ability to carefully verify that one's changes are correct and will not
  break other parts of the app; design changes are very rewarding since they are
  highly user-facing, but that also means there is a higher bar for correctness
  and reviewability for one's work. A great application would include PRs making
  small, clean improvements to the Zulip UI (whether logged-in or logged-out
  pages).

  Experts: Aman Agrawal, Alya Abbott

[redesign-label]: https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3Aredesign

- **Optimize performance and scalability**, either for the web frontend or
  the server. Zulip is already one of the faster web apps out there,
  but we have a number of ideas for how to make it substantially
  faster yet. This is likely a particularly challenging project to do
  well, since there are a lot of subtle interactions to
  understand. 175 or 350 hours; difficult. **Skill recommended**:
  Strong debugging, communication, and code reading skills are most
  important here. JavaScript experience; some Python/Django
  experience, some skill with CSS, ideally experience using the Chrome
  Performance profiling tools (but you can pick this up as you go) can
  be useful depending on what profiling shows. Our [backend
  scalability design doc](../subsystems/performance.md) and the
  [performance label][perf-label] may be helpful reading for the
  backend part of this.

  Experts: Tim Abbott, Yash RE

[perf-label]: https://github.com/zulip/zulip/labels/area%3A%20performance

- Fill in gaps, fix bugs, and improve the framework for Zulip's **library of
  native integrations**. We have about 120 native integrations, but there are a
  number of others we would like to add. Also, several extensions to the
  framework that would dramatically improve the user experience of using
  integrations, e.g., being able to do callbacks to third-party services
  like Stripe to display more user-friendly notifications. The [the integrations
  label on GitHub](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/labels/area%3A%20integrations)
  lists some of the priorities here (many of which are great preparatory
  projects). 175 or 350 hours; medium difficulty with various possible difficult
  extensions. **Skills required**: Strong Python experience, will to install and
  do careful manual testing of third-party products. Fluent English, usability
  sense and/or technical writing skills are all pluses.

  Expert: Zixuan Li

- **Make Zulip integrations easier for nontechnical users to set up**.
  This includes adding a backend permissions system for managing bot
  permissions (and implementing the enforcement logic), adding an
  OAuth system for presenting those controls to users, as well as
  making the `/integrations` page UI have buttons to create a bot,
  rather than sending users to the administration page. 175 or 350
  hours; easy to difficult depending on scope. **Skills recommended**:
  Strong Python/Django; JavaScript, CSS, and design sense
  helpful. Understanding of implementing OAuth providers, e.g., having
  built a prototype with [the Django OAuth
  toolkit](https://django-oauth-toolkit.readthedocs.io/en/latest/)
  would be great to demonstrate as part of an application. The [Zulip
  integration writing guide](../documentation/integrations.md) and
  [integration documentation](https://zulip.com/integrations/) are
  useful materials for learning about how things currently work, and
  [the integrations label on
  GitHub](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/labels/area%3A%20integrations)
  has a bunch of good starter issues to demonstrate your skills if
  you're interested in this area.

  Expert: Zixuan James Li

  [all-settings-issues]: https://github.com/zulip/zulip/issues?q=is%3Aopen+is%3Aissue+label%3A%22area%3A+settings+%28admin%2Forg%29%22%2C%22area%3A+settings+%28user%29%22%2C%22area%3A+stream+settings%22%2C%22area%3A+settings+UI%22

- Work on Zulip's **development and testing infrastructure**. Zulip is a
  project that takes great pride in building great tools for
  development, but there's always more to do to make the experience
  delightful. Significantly, about 10% of Zulip's open issues are
  ideas for how to improve the project's contributor experience, and
  are [in](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/labels/area%3A%20tooling)
  [these](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/labels/area%3A%20testing-coverage)
  [four](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/labels/area%3A%20testing-infrastructure)
  [labels](https://github.com/zulip/zulip/labels/area%3A%20provision)
  for tooling improvements.

  This is a somewhat unusual project, in that it would likely consist of dozens
  of small improvements to the overall codebase, but this sort of work has a
  huge impact on the experience of other Zulip developers and thus the community
  as a whole (project leader Tim Abbott spends more time on the development
  experience than any other single area). 175 or 350 hours; difficult. **Skills
  required**: Python, some DevOps, and a passion for checking your work
  carefully. A strong applicant for this will have completed several projects in
  these areas.

  Expert: Tim Abbott

### Terminal app

Code: [Zulip Terminal](https://github.com/zulip/zulip-terminal)

Experts: Neil Pilgrim, Aman Agrawal

- Work on Zulip Terminal, the official terminal client for Zulip. zulip-terminal
  is out in beta, but there's still a lot to do for it to approach parity with
  the web app. We would be happy to accept multiple strong students to work on
  this project. 175 or 350 hours; medium difficulty. **Skills required**: Python
  3 development skills, good communication and project management skills, good
  at reading code and testing.

### Desktop app

Code:
[Our cross-platform desktop app written in JavaScript on
Electron](https://github.com/zulip/zulip-desktop).

Expert: Anders Kaseorg

- **Contribute to our [Electron-based desktop client
  application](https://github.com/zulip/zulip-desktop)**. There's plenty of
  feature/UI work to do, but focus areas for us include things to (1) improve
  the release process for the app, using automated testing, TypeScript, etc.,
  and (2) polishing the UI. Browse the open issues and get involved! 175 or 350
  hours. This is a difficult project because it is important user-facing code
  without good automated testing, so the bar for writing high quality,
  reviewable PRs that convince others your work is correct is high. **Skills
  required**: JavaScript, Electron; you can learn Electron as part of your
  application.

- **Prototype a next generation Zulip desktop app implemented using
  the Tauri Rust-based framework**. Tauri is a promising new project
  that we believe is likely a better technical direction for client
  applications than Electron for desktop apps, for security and
  resource consumption reasons. The goal of this project would be to
  build a working prototype to evaluate to what extent Tauri is a
  viable platform for us to migrate the Zulip desktop app to. 350
  hours only; difficult. **Skills required**: Ability to learn
  quickly. Experience with Rust and secure software design may be
  helpful.

### Mobile apps

Code:
[React Native mobile app](https://github.com/zulip/zulip-mobile); [Flutter
prototype app](https://github.com/zulip/zulip-flutter)

Experts: Greg Price, Chris Bobbe

We're exploring rewriting Zulip's mobile apps, which are currently implemented
using React Native, using Flutter. See [this development community
thread][flutter-thread] for details.

If you are a Flutter expert and excited about getting involved, feel free to
introduce yourself in the [#mobile stream][mobile-stream] in the development
community. However because the project and the development process around it are
not yet established, **we expect not to accept any GSoC contributors for the Zulip
mobile apps** for GSoC 2023.

[flutter-thread]: https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/stream/2-general/topic/Flutter
[mobile-stream]: https://chat.zulip.org/#narrow/stream/48-mobile