# Contributing

VIC is an [open source](open-source-philosophy.md) research model.  All development activity is coordinated via the [VIC github page](https://github.com/UW-Hydro/VIC), where you can also find all archived, current, beta, and development versions of the model.

## Features Under Development

There are currently a number of active development projects working on VIC. To see which features are slated for future release, take a look at the issues in our [development milestones page on GitHub](https://github.com/UW-Hydro/VIC/milestones).

## Development and Collaboration

If you are a VIC user and have found a bug or have improved your private version of VIC in some way, please let us know by submitting an issue at the [UW-Hydro VIC GitHub Issues Page](https://github.com/UW-Hydro/VIC/issues). We also welcome discussion about larger updates and new features in VIC.

## Beta Testing

Do you consider yourself a pioneer? Are you eager to try new features of the VIC model before anyone else? Do you enjoy helping make the world a better place? If so, then volunteer to be a tester for the model.

We are actively developing VIC 5. A publicly available version of the development branch for this release is kept at the [UW-Hydro/VIC GitHub page](https://github.com/UW-Hydro/VIC).  If you would like to try out the current development version, feel free to check out the [_develop_ branch](https://github.com/UW-Hydro/VIC/tree/develop).
