Join the CoTrackPro developer community.

New: the CoTrackPro Builder Hackathon — ship a tool that helps a family-law professional do one hard thing better, no code required, in the no-code builder.

Who it's for#

• Developers — build tools and contribute code with the typed CLI and SDK.
• Solution builders — assemble solutions for organizations and clients on the platform.
• Researchers & faculty — bring a clinic, capstone, or research cohort.
• Students & interns — start on the Students program and grow from there.

All of it is interdisciplinary by design — CS, law, social work, psychology, public health, design, and public administration solving the same real problems.

What's free vs. what you unlock by joining#

The public catalog is open so you can evaluate before you commit. The build, publish, and Slack surfaces are gated to verified developers — joining is how you cross that line (it's free).

Choose your role: join the developer community#

“Developer community” is a role you select when you join — it makes you a member of the CoTrackPro Developers organization (your CoTrackPro/Clerk identity), starting at the Explorer tier. It's a capability role, separate from the professional roles (attorney, GAL, clerk, …) that gate confidential case data.

Three ways to join — they all link the same identity:

1. Sign up on the web — sign in here and choose “Developer community.” Self-serve; starts you at Explorer.
2. Apply on GitHub — open the application; a maintainer provisions your identity + tier.
3. From the CLI — cotrackpro community join explains the role, the tiers, and the link steps.

After you join, link your accounts once so everything resolves to you: Slack (“Sign in with CoTrackPro” → your tier's channels) and GitHub (connect your username for repo / proposer access).

Three ways to use it#

Once you're in, the same identity works across all three surfaces:

🖥 The CoTrackPro tools — CLI + SDK#

npx cotrackpro — browse the catalog offline, scaffold a module, propose a new skill/role/guardrail with cotrackpro propose, and mint short-lived scoped tokens to pull gated data. Start at the Quickstart; connect AI assistants via MCP.

🐙 GitHub#

Contribute through reviewed pull requests — scaffold a contribution with cotrackpro propose, open an RFC, or pick a good first issue. Your GitHub username links to your identity for proposer access; see gated access for how tokens stay short-lived and least-privilege.

💬 Slack — slack.cotrackpro.com#

Join the community workspace and use the CoTrackPro companion: /cotrackpro catalog to search, /cotrackpro link to verify you're a developer, and chat with the AI assistant for catalog answers and help. Coordination and the AI companion live here; confidential family-case data never does — only public summaries and links back to the secure platform.

Membership tiers & what they unlock#

Tiers gate building capability and community access — they grow as you contribute. They do not grant access to confidential family-case data; that lives on a separate professional-role axis (attorney, GAL, clerk, …) and is never unlocked by a developer tier.

You apply at Explorer or Builder; Scholar and Maintainer are earned through sustained, trusted contribution. This table is generated from the typed tier contract in @cotrackpro/sdk/community (browse it offline with cotrackpro community), so it can't drift from what the CLI and the cotrackpro-slack app provision against.

How access works (and why it's safe)#

The community Slack is a consumer surface — your permissions don't live in Slack, they come from your CoTrackPro identity:

1. Your identity is the source of truth. Roles, permissions, and tier come from your CoTrackPro (Clerk) account, enforced server-side — the same model the CLI uses. Your Slack login by itself grants nothing.
2. Account-link, not guesswork. After you're approved you link your Slack user to your CoTrackPro identity once; from then on every action resolves to you.
3. Least privilege, short-lived. Tools mint short-lived, scoped tokens per action — no long-lived credentials live in Slack.
4. A sensitivity gate on top of permissions. Even when you're allowed to read something, confidential artifact bodies are never posted into Slack — you get a link back to the secure platform instead.

Today a maintainer provisions tier + Slack access by hand after approving your application; automatic provisioning lands with the cotrackpro-slack app. The tiers above are the target mapping either way.

How you grow — XP & badges#

Contribution is recognized, not just remembered. Shipping, publishing, mentoring, and contributing earn XP and badges that inform when Scholar and Maintainer are offered. Recognition is celebratory — it never grants scopes or tiers by itself (those stay human-reviewed and server-enforced). Browse it offline with cotrackpro community events and cotrackpro community badges.

How to apply#

1. Open the application — tell us who you are, what you want to build, and your starting tier.
2. A maintainer reviews it and sets up your CoTrackPro identity, tier, sandbox org, and Slack invite.
3. Link your account and start building — install the CLI (npm i -g @cotrackpro/cli), run cotrackpro setup, and ship your first thing.

Community agreement & safety#

By joining you agree to the same contract that governs everything on the platform:

• Child-centered, court-neutral language — describe behavior, never characterize a parent; use a child's initials or a pseudonym.
• Educational, not legal or clinical advice — every output, always.
• Never place confidential family-case information in Slack, issues, PRs, or any shared community space.

If you or someone you're helping is in crisis, reach out first: 988 (Suicide & Crisis Lifeline), text HOME to 741741 (Crisis Text Line), 1-800-799-7233 (National Domestic Violence Hotline), 1-800-422-4453 (Childhelp), or 911 for immediate danger.