Tools Team
The IETF community works largely online and Tools Team volunteers from the IETF community develop tools to support all aspects of the work of the IETF.
![Tools Team Code Sprint](../../../media/images/codesprint-1024x764_RTmh0za.original.jpg)
The IETF Tools Team members and the team leader are appointed by the General Area Director. The team investigates open source software tools to help IETF participants work together more efficiently. When no tools are available, the Tools Team designs, develops, and maintains custom tools. Whenever possible, standards-based solutions are greatly preferred..
Tools Team members participate in a variety of ways. Daily, members participate in the tools-discuss mail list, exchanging ideas, answering questions, and collaborating. Monthly, the Tools Team holds a conference call to discuss progress and plan for future steps and directions. Liaisons from the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), IETF communications, IETF Secretariat, and RFC Editor join the calls for information sharing and coordination. Finally, on the Saturday before each IETF meeting, the Tools Team hosts the IETF Code Sprint, where a day-long coding effort makes improvements to IETF tools.
The Tools Team is always seeking more people who are interested in helping to make the IETF tools better. All are welcome and wanted! If you want to get involved, please start by joining the tools-discuss mail list, then once you have a feel for the activities that are of interest, send email to the IETF Chair to become more deeply involved.