# An Important Update on Mozilla WebThings

**URL:** <https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/an-important-update-on-mozilla-webthings/67764>\
**Category:** WebThings\
**Created:** [September 18, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/an-important-update-on-mozilla-webthings/67764 "2020-09-18T21:31:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 11

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**Author:** ![bfrancis](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/flex001/user_avatar/discourse.mozilla.org/bfrancis/32/43355_2.png) [@bfrancis](https://discourse.mozilla.org/u/bfrancis)\
**Post date:** [October 19, 2020, 1:47pm UTC](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/an-important-update-on-mozilla-webthings/67764/11 "2020-10-19T13:47:28Z")

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Hi @chas_iot,

Thanks for asking! Yes, this is still the main forum for discussing WebThings for now, along with the #iot channel over at [chat.mozilla.org](http://chat.mozilla.org).

Community support will definitely be needed for the project to continue to thrive and grow. As mentioned in the original post, WebThings will be governed with a module ownership system along the lines of [the one used by the Mozilla project](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/governance/policies/module-ownership/), with Mike and I as module owners for the top level WebThings module. I will document this all on the wiki but you can assume it will work pretty much the same way as the Mozilla system.

Mike and I have started to contact some previous contributors to invite them to be module owners or peers of various sub-modules, but anyone can jump in and start contributing wherever they have an interest as a first step. There are no specific roles to fill or a minimum time commitment needed in order to contribute, but some examples of ways that you can contribute include:

- **Development** - Pick a bug, task or feature off the [Product Backlog](https://github.com/orgs/WebThingsIO/projects/3) and start hacking
- **Testing** - Either writing or fixing [automated tests](https://github.com/webthingsio/gateway#running-tests), or manual testing of builds of the latest master branch
- **Add-ons** - [Write an add-on](https://github.com/WebThingsIO/wiki/wiki/HOWTO%3A-Create-an-add-on) (or help maintain [an existing one](https://api.mozilla-iot.org:8443/addons/info)), to add support for a new type of device or protocol, add new notification mechanisms or extend the UI for new use cases
- **Things** - Build a new web thing using the [WebThings Framework](https://iot.mozilla.org/framework/) to expand the Web of Things ecosystem, or even create a web thing library in a new programming language
- **Documentation** - Our [documentation](https://github.com/WebThingsIO/docs) could do with some love, and we’re planning on overhauling [this section of the website](https://iot.mozilla.org/docs/)
- **Support** - Help other community members with questions and problems here on the forums and in the Matrix chat channel
- **Localisation** - Help translate the WebThings Gateway into new languages [using Pontoon](https://pontoon.mozilla.org/projects/webthings-gateway/) (though we may have to transition off Pontoon at some point)
- **Evangelism** - Talk about WebThings at events, on blogs and on social media, give talks and run workshops to help spread the word
- **Standardisation** - Help with standardising the [Thing Description](https://www.w3.org/TR/wot-thing-description/) and [Web Thing Protocol](https://www.w3.org/community/web-thing-protocol/) (see the recent [call for use cases & requirements](https://www.w3.org/community/web-thing-protocol/2020/07/06/call-for-use-cases-requirements-web-thing-protocol/))

**Next Steps**

After a bit of a break for some family time/parental leave, @mrstegeman and I are hard at work preparing for the transition to [webthings.io](http://webthings.io), with help from @dbryant inside Mozilla.

As you’ve noticed Mike has been very busy working on a bunch of things including various bits of re-branding, but also moving the hosting of some add-ons off Mozilla infrastructure. He will now be starting on stepping up the replacement cloud infrastructure for the remote access and automatic update services, which my startup [Krellian](https://krellian.com) will be sponsoring.

I’m currently working on the new website and designing the UI for the gateway to allow users to opt-in to the new services.

At some point before the end of the year we plan to push out an update for the WebThings Gateway which includes the re-branding and transition UI and a bunch of other new features currently on the master branch. We’ll try to give as much notice as possible for people to opt-in to the new services before the Mozilla servers are shut down at the end of the year.

Stay tuned!

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_[View the full topic](https://discourse.mozilla.org/t/an-important-update-on-mozilla-webthings/67764)._
