I am Ashini, a new Backend Developer joining the OpenMRS community. I’m excited to contribute to the project and learn from all of you!
I have successfully set up my local development environment using the OpenMRS SDK:
OpenMRS Core: 3.0.0-SNAPSHOT
Reference Application: 3.7.1 (O3)
Environment: Java 21, MySQL 8.0, running on Windows 11 with H2/MySQL database setup.
As I start my journey as an OpenMRS backend contributor, I would love some guidance on the following:
Finding Introductory Issues: What are the best places or Jira/GitHub filters to find good introductory/first-time backend issues (Java/Spring/REST/FHIR)?
Staying Updated: Where can I follow ongoing backend architecture discussions, developer updates, and squad meetings?
Tips for New Developers: Do you have any recommended tips or best practices for navigating the codebase and learning OpenMRS core architecture effectively?
Looking forward to collaborating with everyone and making my first contributions!
Welcome, @ashini Great to have another backend contributor on board.
Quick pointers:
Finding issues — Search Jira for issues labeled intro in the TRUNK project.
Staying updated — Join the developers Slack channel for architecture discussions and squad updates. The dev forum here on Talk is also active.
Codebase tips — Start with the OpenMRS Developer Guide. The core architecture is Spring-based with a REST API layer — openmrs-core is the main repo. Look at webservices.rest package for REST controllers and api package for services. Reading existing PRs is a great way to learn conventions.
Thank you so much for the warm welcome and the helpful pointers!
I’m really excited to join the community and start contributing to openmrs-core. The guidance on finding intro issues on Jira and exploring the api and webservices.rest packages is super helpful as I get familiar with the codebase.
I’ll definitely check out the Slack channel and developer docs. Looking forward to learning from everyone and making my first contribution soon!
