There were a lot of discussions this Frappeverse about how do we bring community collaboration back. We experimented with ERPNext Foundation a few years ago, but maybe then the community was too small or we were ahead of time. Now we have several active contributors and maybe it is time to bring this back.
After several discussions with community contributors - @revant_one@MiteshPC@buildwithhussain@nikkothari22@glz@rmeyer@Smit_Vora@Mina_Ezzat@rahul286 and others we agreed to put some structure to bring back community participation. Rahul Bansal (rtCamp) @rahul286 is a veteran of the WordPress community, and there were many things he shared that we can take it forward. One of the first ideas to organise the community is to create “Working Groups”.
A Working Group is a set of members who come together to collaborate on any new idea or proposal. They could be part of any organisation. The creation of a new working group will be proposed on this platform (discuss.frappe.io) and if there are no un-resolved objections from any community members, then the working group can start collaborating and contributing. They have to ensure transparency and fairness by updating their ideas on the forum.
This might be the right moment to reimagine what community collaboration could look like. Instead of simply reviving the Foundation in its earlier form, we could explore models that match our current scale—whether that’s a lighter structure for coordination, working groups around specific focus areas, or a mix of online and offline initiatives that keep momentum alive.
We’ve all seen communities rise and fall over the years for many reasons: getting acquired by enterprises, lack of consistent support from the foundation, leadership burnout, or simply losing direction. The good news is that Frappe has already made a strong commitment to openness. But true openness will only be realized when there is deep community engagement and transparency in how things are run.
Why Software Communities Matter
Learning → peer-to-peer support and knowledge sharing.
Collaboration → shared ownership of projects, leading to faster innovation.
Support → guidance for beginners and a helping hand for professionals.
Sustainability → governance models that ensure long-term health of projects.
Networking → opportunities for contributors, maintainers, and companies to grow together.
Tools for Collaboration
discuss.frappe.io → Great for discussions, structured Q&A, and long-term knowledge sharing.
Discord (Proposed) → Ideal for quick, real-time interactions through chat and voice. Already popular among developer and tech communities, Discord also supports rich integrations (GitHub, bots, automation, etc.), making it a natural fit for faster collaboration.
While there may be plans for a dedicated app or extended platform in the future, Discord is recommended as the immediate solution for real-time community needs.
Proposed optional names below (initially named Self-Hosting)
How about a public instance of Raven (Frappe would be happy to host)? Let’s use FOSS tools? I am sure it will also accelerate the adoption of Raven in the community
edit: We should also migrate discuss to Gameplan - @netchampfaris is game. The best way to improve our own tools is to use them heavily! Also we can adopt it to exactly how we want.
That would be brilliant! A public instance of Raven, especially if hosted by Frappe, would not only showcase its potential but also encourage more people to start using it. Using FOSS tools aligns perfectly with the spirit of the community and will definitely accelerate adoption. More importantly, it will give us a homely experience while ensuring security. cc @revant_one
Frappe Already has Gameplan, IF we ar ebuildign Gameplan to be what we need it to be, why dont we make use of Gameplan, instead of Discord, for these kind of community manageemnt enagement, this way, we cna also fgure out, the challenges of gameplan and imrpove it
I was Even thinking of a more grander idea,
The Possibility of MErging, or Deeper and tighter integration between Gameplan and Raven.
A Tabbed Mode, where, i can switch between Gameplan and Raven, Gameplan for contextual discussions, while raven, for P2p and group chats.
