Any tools including AI may be used to understand the code and write it, but contributors must understand, test and be able to explain every change. AI-generated messages are not allowed in the development community, apart from help with spelling, grammar or translation, and LLMs should not be pointed at the code to find problems.
Policy by area
- Code contributionsPatches, pull requests and other changes written with AI tools.
- Friendly
- Contributor takes full responsibility
- A human must review the output
- Issues & bug reportsBug reports, security reports and issues found or written with AI tools.
- Unfriendly
- Only minor help (autocomplete, grammar)
- AI-written textPull request descriptions, issue comments and summaries written by AI.
- Unfriendly
- Only minor help (autocomplete, grammar)
In their own words
Code contributions
You can use any tools that help you understand the Zulip codebase and write good code, including AI tools.
Do not submit an AI-generated PR you haven't personally understood and tested
Issues & bug reports
Don't point an LLM at the code and ask it to find problems or things to work on.
AI-written text
Do not post AI-generated messages
we want to read your own genuine expression of your thoughts.
It's fine to use whatever tools you like for help with spelling, grammar, or translation.
Sources
- Zulip contributing guidegithub.com/zulip/zulip/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.mdSnapshot 9 Oct 2026