Believe it or not, both Kodi itself, and the Kodi addon community are maintained by people just like you. Once upon a time, there was a much greater contributor to user ratio, but over time the user base has skyrocketed, while the number of contributors pretty much remained the same. In order to ensure the longevity of our community, it is imperative that new developers continue to step forward and either create new addons or contribute code to existing ones. Contributing code will not only improve functionality, but boost morale amongst existing developers.
All it takes to get started is a little knowledge of Python, which is something that isn’t too difficult to learn if you already have experience with any other type of development. We understand that most people don’t have the time to develop or maintain their own addons, which is why what we’re asking for most is a merge request with some code here or there. We’re sure that many of our users with development experience certainly see something they’d like to see improved. More people involved, means more cool things to come!
Please find information on getting started with Kodi addon development below, you’re encouraged to start by contributing to existing addons before jumping into developing your own:
- Unofficial Kodi Addons Development Git Site – this is our own GitHub-style site where you can submit merge requests to existing addons, or create your own!
- GitKraken GUI Git Client – this is our app we recommend using as your Git GUI interface. It’s free and runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.
- Unofficial Kodi Addons Development Forums – a section of our discussion forums dedicated to Kodi addon development.
- Official Kodi Development Wiki – we don’t have many of our own Kodi addon development guides yet, so we’ll refer you to the official Wiki on the topic.
- Translate Kodi Addons – you don’t need programming experience to help us translate your favourite addons through Transifex.
- URLresolver GitHub Project – help us maintain the resolvers that so many other Kodi addons depend on.
- OffshoreGit.com Release Distribution – this is where we recommend hosting your release repo, it’s free and far safer than GitHub.
- Unofficial Kodi Addon Release Forum – announce the release of your new Kodi addons here!
We’d all really appreciate anyone who comes to contribute, new talent keeps things fresh and leads to everyone being inspired to continue to become better Kodi addon developers. Everyone involved in our community had to start somewhere, and rest assured no one started day one as the best developer around, it takes time. We’re going to be announcing some exciting Kodi addon development contests soon, so stay tuned for more on that.
