Description
Wikimedia Starter Kit (starterkit.toolforge.org) is a tool designed to support administrators and users with extended rights on small and new Wikipedias. This ticket tracks the outreach strategy, entry point development, and phased launch plan for the tool, starting with a pilot in the first week of August 2026.

Target audience: Users with extended rights (admins, interface admins, etc.) on Wikipedias with fewer than 50,000 articles.

Phase 1: Pre launch (July)

• Create a user manual / documentation page for the Starter Kit on Meta-Wiki (meta:Wikimedia Starter Kit). This becomes the reference page for all outreach efforts https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Language_Onboarding_and_Development/Starter_kit
• List the Starter Kit on Toolhub for discoverability within the Wikimedia tool ecosystem https://toolhub.wikimedia.org/tools/starter-kit

Phase 2: Pilot launch (first week of August)

• Mass Message to admins and users with extended rights of new wikis (<50000 articles), inviting them to try the tool and give feedback.
• Language Diversity Hub ambassador program - Brief LDH ambassadors on the tool so they can introduce it organically in their own community interactions during the pilot period.
• Use the Community CRM (via Office Wiki) to identify and directly reach users with extended rights on chosen wikis

Phase 3: Broader community outreach (August–September)

• Host community office hours - Invite pilot wiki communities to a live demo of the tool, answer questions, and gather feedback. Announce via direct messages to pilot wiki admins and LDH ambassador network in Phase 2
• Conduct short surveys and interviews with users during onboarding as they try out the Starter Kit.
• Write a Diff blog post introducing the Starter Kit, what problem it solves, who it's for, and how to get started
• Share via internal WMF channels, team and department meetings
• Submit a mention to Tech News
• Reach out to communities via movement-wide newsletters
• Promote the tool via mailing lists:
  • wikimedia-l - general movement list
  • wikitech-l - for the technical/tool angle
  • Language Committee mailing list
  • African wikis mailing lists and other regional small wiki community lists
• Mass Message to Village Pumps of new wikis (under 50,000 articles).
• Identify and post in Telegram groups for new and small wiki communities, particularly language-specific groups

Phase 4: Longer term entry points (October - )

• Incubator integration - Add a mention of the Starter Kit to the Incubator manual or the graduation checklist for wikis that have just graduated to their own subdomain.
• Work with the Language Committee to include the Starter Kit in post-approval documentation or any communication sent when a new wiki is created.
• Wiki.learn course - Develop a short course on the Starter Kit platform at Wiki.learn, walking small wiki admins through using the tool.
• Organize trainings around the tool via events (e.g., WikiConference India, Language Diversity Conference Ghana)
• Work with admins of new and small wikis to introduce persistent entry points on individual wikis (admin-driven):
  • Document the steps for admins to add the Starter Kit to their wiki's MediaWiki:Sidebar under "Tools". This might likely require adding a JavaScript snippet in MediaWiki:Common.js. Example: MediaWiki:Gadget-ReasonatorTools.js on Wikidata.
  • Consider creating a page (Wikipedia:Starter Kit or equivalent) that admins can create on their own wiki - model it on pages like Wikipedia:Education program on English Wikipedia
  • Add the Starter Kit to any other relevant wiki pages where users with extended rights frequently go (e.g. admin noticeboards, help pages for new admins)
• Partner with user groups, chapters and affiliates working with small language communities to promote the kit through their own channels and events