Documentation/Find docs

This page provides an overview of the wikis and other repositories where Wikimedia technical documentation exists. It is an incomplete overview due to the scope and complexity of the technical ecosystem. If you're a developer looking for information, the Wikimedia Developer Portal can help you navigate the complex landscape of Wikimedia technical content. Start there before you read this page!

Use the Developer Portal to find docs

Where to find Wikimedia technical documentation

There are many Wikimedia technical projects, and sometimes it can be difficult to determine the best place to find or publish technical documentation. Following is a list of the main places to find Wikimedia technical documentation.

Documentation wikis

mediawiki.org

Documentation for the MediaWiki software, extensions, skins, and related projects. This is the default site for documentation about Wikimedia technology.

Location

mediawiki.org

Languages

multilingual

Contributing

Anyone can edit

Wikitech

Documentation for Wikimedia Foundation infrastructure and services, including production clusters, Wikimedia Cloud Services, and deployments. Includes runbooks for critical infrastructure.

Location

wikitech.wikimedia.org

Languages

English

Contributing

Requires a Wikimedia developer account

Meta-Wiki

Documentation and coordination for Wikimedia projects. Meta-Wiki includes documentation for data dumps, research, and some user-facing tools.

Location

meta.wikimedia.org

Languages

multilingual

Contributing

Anyone can edit

Documentation sites

Developer Portal

Find technical documentation, and connect with Wikimedia developer communities.

Location

developer.wikimedia.org

Languages

multilingual

Contributing

Requires a Wikimedia developer account and contributions to the code base

doc.wikimedia.org

Automatically generated documentation for Wikimedia software, including MediaWiki, libraries, infrastructure, and apps.

Location

doc.wikimedia.org

Languages

English

Contributing

Requires a Wikimedia developer account and contributions to the code base

Documentation in code repositories

Some Wikimedia code repositories store documentation in a /docs directory or a README file. To search code repositories, use the code search tool.

Documentation on project wikis

Each Wikimedia project wiki includes some documentation related to that project. You can search these docs by selecting the project namespace on the wiki's search page. For example, for documentation about Wikidata, search the Wikidata namespace on wikidata.org.